Displaying items by tag: Upgrade
UK: Cemex UK has announced plans for two new plastic packing production lines at Rugby cement plant. The company said that the lines will directly serve the plastic packing needs of packed cement production at the plant. The total investment cost of the installation will be Euro5.6m. Work will begin in early 2021 and be completed from June 2021. Cemex first entered the plastic packed cement market in 2011.
Odisha government approves Shiva Cement’s expansion plans
07 January 2021India: The government of India has granted licences to JSW Cement subsidiary Shiva Cement for the expansion of its cement plants in the state. The New Indian Express newspaper has reported that the company has received approval for an integrated capacity expansion of 1.1Mt/yr and a clinker capacity expansion of 1.3Mt/yr.
The state government approved a total of US$730m-worth of planned investments in various industries on 6 January 2020.
Exporting Chinese cement overcapacity
06 January 2021One of the last news stories we covered before the Christmas break was that Lafarge Poland had selected China-based Nanjing Kisen International Engineering as the general contractor for a Euro100m-plus upgrade to its Małogoszcz cement plant. This appears to be the first major European cement plant upgrade project to be publicly run by a Chinese contractor. There may be other European projects in the sector run by Chinese companies ‘on the down-low.’
If it is the first then this is a significant milestone for the growth of the Chinese industry. It is a noteworthy first for Nanjing Kisen in the European Union. Europe is the home, after all, of a number of locally-based contractors and companies that can build or upgrade cement plants including FLSmidth, Fives, ThyssenKrupp, IKN and others. Indeed, all of the work on this project might actually be conducted by local companies, selected by the general contractor. For example, Lafarge Poland says that the general contractor will select a subcontractor on the Polish market.
It’s easy to fall into jingoistic nostalgia but should we really be surprised that China can competitively build cement plants given the ferocious growth of its own industry over the last few decades? Arguments by Western critics against growing Chinese dominance in industry have tended to home in on excuses why they might be ‘cheating’ such as intellectual property theft, unfair state aid or the use of low-cost infrastructure loans to countries along its Belt and Road Initiative. That last one carries some irony given that not so long ago discussions about developing world debt were framed in the context of the Cold War and the oil crisis in the 1970s. Western countries were seen as the bogeymen depending on one’s political outlook. With this in mind, the Financial Times recently reported on data released in December 2020 that suggested that China might be heading into its own overseas debt crisis. The takeaway message here is that attempting to apply China’s whopping infrastructure boom elsewhere might not work so well without the same level of control. Exporting production overcapacity abroad may simply turn out to be something like a giant Ponzi scheme! For the cement industry this may mean a pause or wind-down in the number of new plants backed by Chinese money, often with Chinese contractors tied in, and that the rise of Chinese engineering firms might not seem as unassailable as all that after all.
This leads into another noteworthy story that we also published before Christmas on China’s latest proposal to further reduce production capacity at home. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) wants to tighten the ratio of production capacity that has to be closed before new capacity can be built from 1.25:1 to 1.5:1. The kicker is that the new rules also include a clause intended to restrict the use of so-called ‘zombie’ capacity in the swapping process by limiting eligibility to productions lines that have been operated for two or more consecutive years since 2013. These rules seem targeted at the present day but they could potentially push Chinese cement production capacity per capita to rates more similar to those found in developed economies elsewhere (i.e. halve existing Chinese production capacity). Many of the country’s kilns were built in the early 2000s and the average lifespan of a clinker kiln is 50 years. This suggests that the ministry is thinking seriously about culling capacity by the administration’s carbon neutrality target of 2060.
Chinese penetration in the European cement plant market is more of an after-thought given the pace of projects in Asia and Africa over the last decade and the maturity of the sector. It can also be misleading given that some very-European-sounding engineering companies are actually owned by Chinese concerns. Yet no doubt local contractors and suppliers would like to keep any business they can. On the other hand, more market share may be found in Europe over the coming decades from retrofitting CO2 mitigating equipment or building the anticipated hydrogen revolution once the regulatory and financial framework starts to favour it. Or maybe shifts to service and/or machine intelligence-style packages are the way forward. Nanjing Kisen may be the first Chinese company to upgrade a European cement plant but the market focus may quickly move on. Time will tell.
Happy New Year from Global Cement
India: LafargeHolcim subsidiary ACC has commissioned a new 1.4Mt/yr unit at its Sindri cement grinding plant in Jharkhand. The plant now commands a total grinding capacity of 4.4Mt/yr. The company began work on the expansion in December 2019 in order to strengthen its presence in the Eastern region. It said that the state government and local authorities aided smooth commissioning.
LafargeHolcim India chief executive officer (CEO) and non-executive director ACC Limited Neeraj Akhoury said, "Strong ambition aimed at deliverance of high performance is what guided ACC to establish the commissioning of the Sindri GU-Phase-II within a record period.” He added, “I am proud of the flexibility and agility demonstrated by the team."
ACC managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Sridhar Balakrishnan said, “The commitment, meticulous planning and collaborative approach by the Project Sindri team in these unprecedented times and commencing the cement production in a record time have set a new benchmark for ACC.”
Argentina: Holcim Argentina has confirmed that it will stop milling activity at its Yocsina cement grinding plant in Córdoba province at the end of March 2021. The decision is part of a move to unify all cement grinding in the region at its integrated Malagueño plant, according to Agência CMA. The latter unit is currently being upgraded with start-up scheduled for the first quarter of 2021.
Dalmia Cement (Bharat) to upgrade Bengal Cement Works plant
05 January 2021India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat), plans to spend around US$50m on a 2.3Mt/yr upgrade to its Bengal Cement Works plant in West Midnapore. The project will increase the unit’s production capacity to 4Mt/yr. The company says that it will make the cement plant the biggest in the state of West Bengal. It intends to take advantage of expected growth in cement demand, following the coronavirus-related slowdown, due to affordable housing schemes, real estate and infrastructure projects.
“We have deployed the latest machinery and technology for this addition and will be producing only 100% blended cement so as to ensure reduced carbon footprint as part of our commitment to become carbon negative by 2040,” said Ujjwal Batria, chief operating officer (COO) of Dalmia Cement (Bharat).
France: Vicat started using a CO2ntainer system supplied by UK-based Carbon8 Systems at its Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant in November 2020. It uses captured CO2 from the unit’s flue gas emissions to carbonate cement-plant dust and produce aggregate, which can then be used to make products such as concrete. The system has particular relevance for a plant burning alternative fuels due to the additional chlorinated dust created compared to the use of conventional fossil fuels. The company says it is the first European cement producer to use the process at an industrial scale. Previously, Carbon8 Systems said that its CO2ntainer would process and convert up to 12,000t of cement bypass dust in its first phase of operation.
Vicat Group scientific director Laury Barnes-Davin said, “We were drawn to Carbon8 Systems’ two-part technology: capturing the CO2 that Montalieu emits, and using it to produce an aggregate that can be marketed in the construction industry. It opens up great potential for our operations not just in France but also in all the countries where we work across the globe.” The group hopes to reach a 100% alternative fuel substitution rate in France by 2024.
Cementos Moctezuma invests US$10m in solar power plant
04 January 2021Mexico: Cementos Moctezuma is installing a 10MW solar power plant at its San Luis Potosí cement plant. Forbes Mexico has reported the estimated cost of the project as US$10m. It will consist of between 32,000 and 33,000 panels.
The company said, "The energy generated will be used at the Cerritos de Cementos Moctezuma plant, in order to replace a percentage of the electricity purchased from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), which is produced with fossil fuels and emits greenhouse gases.” It added that it aims to generate economic savings in the medium term as well as following its sustainability policies.
Aumund to supply conveying equipment to new line at Ciments du Sahel project in Senegal
24 December 2020Senegal: Aumund Group says that it is supplying conveying equipment to a new production line that will be built at Ciments du Sahel’s Kirene plant. The order package includes 23 bucket elevators, seven pan conveyors, eleven drag chain conveyors, two Samson material feeders, four Centrex silo discharge machines and 19 silo discharge gates. The machines will operate in all stages of the production process, from raw materials discharge to conveying between the clinker silo and the cement mill, and in the packing plant. Supply will be made in several tranches between March and June 2021. Commissioning is planned for the first quarter of 2022.
China-based Sinoma International Engineering and its subsidiary CBMI Construction are the main contractors for the project. Aumund France and Aumund China, with support from Aumund Foerdertechnik, are the main divisions of Aumund working on the upgrade.
Lafarge Poland awards upgrade project at Małogoszcz cement plant to Nanjing Kisen International Engineering
23 December 2020Poland: Lafarge Poland has chosen China-based Nanjing Kisen International Engineering as the general contractor for a Euro100m-plus upgrade to its Małogoszcz cement plant. The subsidiary of China Triumph International Engineering will deliver an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract and it intends to select a local Polish subcontractor. This is the first project by the Chinese engineering company in Poland and the European Union.
The first works related to project started in October 2020. First clinker production from the upgrade is scheduled for December 2022 with overall commissioning planned for spring 2023. Part of the investment will be implemented in cooperation with the Krakow Technology Park as part of the Polish Investment Zone. LafargeHolcim says the upgrade project is part of its scheme to reduce its CO2 emissions by 55% by 2025 compared to 1990 levels.