Displaying items by tag: Upgrade

Russia: Eurocement has announced the completion of Phase 2 of an upgrade project at its 2.4Mt/yr integrated Pikalevsky Cement plant. Following the modernisation of the grinding unit in the first phase of the upgrade in August 2019 at a cost of US$2.14m, Phase 2 work consisted of an expansion to ‘the assortment of high-quality products,’ including ‘large-scale construction and installation, reconstruction of air supply and aspiration systems and power supply and repair of existing buildings and structures’ at a total cost of US$2.86m. Eurocement completed the upgrade without any downtime to the existing lines.

Pikalevsky Cement director general Andrei Vashchilov said, “We have tested the new cement. The activity of cement at the age of 28 days increased by an average of  10MPa, which allows for cost-optimised concrete production. The modernisation also enabled the improvement and stabilisation of another important indicator - water separation.

US: CalPortland has awarded a supply contract to FLSmidth for a new raw mill at its integrated Mojave plant in California. The scope of supply includes engineering, equipment and installation of a new OK 48-4 Raw Mill with a Condition Monitoring System and an ECS/ProcessExpert system. The mill is scheduled to be in operation in late 2021. No value for the current order has been disclosed.

“The new OK Raw Mill from FLSmidth will increase reliability and efficiency at our Mojave plant," said Bruce E Shafer, Senior Vice President for Cement Operations at CalPortland. It follows the purchase of a FLSmidth OK Cement Mill at the same plant in 2004. FLSmidth added that as both OK mills at the plant will share the same gearbox design, the unit will be able to streamline maintenance and manage inventory costs by sharing the one spare FLSmidth MAAG WPU-200 assembly.

Turkey: HeidelbergCement and Sabancı Holding subsidiary Akçansa has used the coronavirus lockdown period to install a new burner at its Büyükçekmece cement plant in Istanbul, where production has been suspended due to the outbreak. FCT Combustion supplied the burner, which it said will improve ‘combustion, emissions control and clinker quality.’

Akçansa will undertake a burner upgrade on its second kiln during a scheduled stoppage in mid-2020.

US: The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has granted permission to Lhoist North America for the installation of a new vertical kiln at its New Braunfels, Texas plant. The company says that the kiln will form the basis for a plant expansion to meet the growing lime demand of the construction and steel sectors.

Lhoist North America chief executive officer (CEO) and president Ron Thompson said, "We are proud that this investment at New Braunfels aligns with our company's commitment to environmentally sustainable growth."

Uzbekistan: Namangan Cement has announced the beginning of work at its 0.3Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Namangan region on a second line to boost the plant’s capacity to 1.2Mt/yr. The National News Agency of Uzbekistan has reported that the project will be completed in late 2021, creating 250 jobs. It will cost US$49m, of which Namangan Cement will provide US$14m directly, with the remaining US$35m taken on loan from Hamkorbank.

Belarus: Krasnoselskstroymaterialy has announced that its US$7.8m refuse-derived fuel (RDF) plant at its 1.6Mt/yr Krasnoselskstroymaterialy plant will be completed in September 2020. The plant is installed with equipment worth US$4.5m from Czech suppliers. The Ministry of Construction and Architecture has said that waste from the Grodno Recycling and Mechanical Sorting Plant will replace Belarusian peat and Russian coal as the cement fuel in the plant’s kilns, fulfilling Krasnoselskstroymaterialy’s goals of renewability and national self-reliance.

Ministry of Construction and Architecture energy conservation head Sergey Nikitin said, “The transition to RDF will create an opportunity to reduce the cost of cement production in the future, strengthen the financial and economic situation of the Krasnoselskstroymaterialy enterprise and create additional competitive advantages over producers operating on traditional fossil fuels.”

Canada: Votorantim Cimentos subsidiary St Mary’s Cement has completed a 30m-high stack extension at its 0.8Mt/yr integrated St Mary’s plant in Stonetown, Ontario. The Canadian Press newspaper has reported that the upgrade is a response to increased odour complaints from Stonetown residents.

Votorantim Cimentos St Mary’s plant manager Jose Soraggi said, “Growing along with the community also means adapting along with it. We consider ourselves fortunate to maintain good relations with local residents and the town and to serve as an integral part of the business community in St Marys and Perth County. We take every opportunity to hear from our constituents and find solutions toward a positive and mutually beneficial future. The stack extension is an excellent example of that.”

Vietnam: Lam Tach Cement has upgraded Kiln 1 of its integrated cement plant with a new Turbu-Flex burner supplied by FCT Combustion. The upgrade follows the successful installation of an FCT Combustion Turbu-Flex burner in Kiln 2 of the plant in late 2019.

US: Lhoist North America has received permit approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to build a new lime kiln at its Marble Falls plant. The new vertical kiln, which is expected to be operational in 2021, is primarily driven by growing demand for Lhoist's dolomitic lime products for the steel industry. The upgrade is also expected to create new jobs at the site.

"This project at Marble Falls aligns with our company's commitment to environmentally sustainable growth," said Ron Thompson, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Lhoist North America. The building materials company added that, despite the impacts of coronavirus on the economy, it is investing to create jobs and meet critical supply chain demands, like steel production, which support future infrastructure growth in North America.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s sales of cement, masonry and lime fell by 26% year-on-year to 1.13Mt in first quarter of 2020. The decline was driven by the coronavirus lockdown in Argentina, where the subsidiary of Brazil’s InterCement has most of its sales. Concrete and aggregate sales volumes declined also. The company’s new revenue dropped by 29.6% to US$115m and its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 17.9% to US$38.6m. However, the company’s accountant adjustment for use in so-called ‘hyperinflationary economies’ made a negative impact on these figures. With this adjustment removed both revenue and earnings reportedly rose in the first quarter.

“By the end of the first quarter the coronavirus broke out, bringing additional challenges to the already adverse background,” said Sergio Faifman, Loma Negra’s chief executive officer (CEO). He added that cement demand in Argentina nationally contracted by around 29% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020.

The cement producer temporarily suspended its production facilities and its L´Amalí Expansion project in late March 2020 due to the government lockdown. Production and dispatches of cement were restarted in early April 2020 following the implementation of new sanitation protocols. The company has now resumed working on its upgrade project at L´Amalí.