Displaying items by tag: Upgrade

Kenya: Mombasa Cement has completed construction of a 36MW wind farm consisting of 12 3MW turbines in Vipingo. Bahrain News Agency has reported that the plant will power Mombasa Cement’s 1.6Mt/yr integrated Vipingo cement plant, with surplus to be sold to the state-owned power provider Kenya Power. The power plant will supply electricity for the completion of Mombasa Cement’s planned US$73m upgrade to its grey cement clinker production process at the Vipingo plant.

Uzbekistan: Construction has begun at Russia’s Eurocement’s 2.0Mt/yr integrated Ankhangarancement plant in the Tashkent region of a facility to house the limestone and clay used in cement production. When the installation is operational, the materials will be relayed from it to the plant’s four wet lines by a conveyor belt and 1400t/hr stacker, whence the mixture is conveyed by 600t/hr-capacity truck to one of the vertical roller mills.

India: HeidelbergCement India is targeting expansion options to increase its production capacity to 20Mt/yr from 12.5Mt/yr. Managing director Jamshed Cooper said that the company is looking at companies in the range of 5 – 10Mt/yr in order to avoid the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) process, according to the Indo-Asian News Service. The cement producer is also planning to build a 22MW waste heat recovery unit at its Zuari plant in Yerraguntla, Andhra Pradesh at a cost of US$28m. Debottlenecking initiatives are also being conducted at a cost of US$7m to increase overall production capacity by 0.5Mt/yr when completed in 2021.

The group operates two subsidiaries locally: HeidelbergCement India and Zuari Cement. HeidelbergCement India serves the central markets and Zuari Cement, a former Italcementi subsidiary, focuses on the south of the country.

Pakistan: DG Khan Cement has asked the government of Punjab province if it can expand the production capacity at one of its cement plants by 12,000t/day. Bloomberg said that it had seen a letter sent to the local government and that Javed Iqbal Malik, a senior economic adviser at Punjab province's industries department, had confirmed receiving it. The approval process could take up to 12 months. If accepted the upgrade could see DG Khan Cement surpass Bestway Cement to become the country’s largest cement producer with a production capacity of 10.7Mt/yr.

Kenya: Mombasa Cement has started building a 36MW wind farm at its integrated Vipingo plant. The project is intended to support a new grinding unit being constructed at the site, according to the Business Daily newspaper. It is intended to reduce the cost of electricity and minimise disruptions caused by power cuts. The wind farm will consist of 12 turbines with a capacity of 3MW each. The cement plant is also installing a high-power voltage line from the Kaloleni substation to improve its connection to the local electricity grid.

Zimbabwe: PPC Zimbabwe is looking to enter into a partnership with investors to build a solar energy plant of up to 16MW to supply its two plants in Bulawayo and Colleen Bawn. It also intends to have a 28hr battery back-up facility.

The company said that the move to solar would ensure uninterrupted power supplies to its plants, which have been badly affected by the prevailing power shortages in the country. Power utility Zesa Holdings has been forced to ration power in mid 2019 as production at its main hydro-power plant dwindled due to water shortages. Its main thermal power station experiences constant breakdowns due to its old age.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s 1.3Mt/yr Vernasca plant in Piacenza will receive a Cleanker Project pilot system for carbon capture and storage (CCS). The installation is EU-funded as part of Horizon 2020, a seven-year research and innovation framework programme, and its success will be closely monitored for possible implementation at other cement plants in the EU and beyond.

India: Tamil Nadu Cement has constructed a second 1.0Mt/yr production line at its 0.7Mt/yr Ariyalur cement plant, bringing its total capacity to 1.7Mt/yr. Projects Today has reported that Tamil Nadu Cement, which also operates a 0.4Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Alangulam, will employ 250 at the second line, the development of which will cost US$115m. In the 12 months to 31 March 2019, Tamil Nadu Cement sold 74% of cement produced at its plants (0.4Mt) to the Rural Development Agency and other government departments at lower than market rate.

Russia: Eurocement Group’s subsidiary Kavkazcement has installed a gas-piston power plant at its 4Mt/yr clinker production plant in Karachay in the Karachay-Cherkass republic. The US$20.4m project forms part of a US$39.2m investment in the plant by the company and regional government, which includes the construction of an automated packing and shipping facility. Eurocement Group president Mikhail Skorokhod spoke of the impact of the power plant in terms of ‘improving energy efficiency and environmental friendliness, as well as cutting production costs.’

Japan: Taiheyo Cement’s 1.4Mt/yr integrated Saitama cement plant is to receive a 53,000MWh/yr waste heat recovery (WHR) unit. The company says that the installation, which will become operational in September 2022, will reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by roughly 27,000t/yr.