- Written by Thomas Börrnert, ABB Switzerland Ltd.
The energy intensive cement industry faces high and rising energy costs and must meet requirements for reducing CO2 emissions. One remedy for these challenges is to increase energy efficiency by recovering waste heat and converting it to electricity.
Modern cement plants can be thought of as huge heat exchangers. After firing the kiln (and eventually the precalciner), the heat in the stack gas and from the hot clinker can be used to a large extent in the plant for:
- Secondary air preheating,
- Tertiary air preheating,
- Preheater tower with 3–6 stages to preheat raw meal,
- Preheater waste gas to dry raw meal in the raw mill,
- Waste heat recovery to dry and preheat conventional or alternative fuels,
- Use of clinker cooler waste heat to feed districtheating systems.
Waste heat recovery is the most important measure towards decreasing heat losses and therefore has the highest priority. It is the most efficient way to increase energy efficiency because the efficiency of heat recovery is high, 1kWh of waste heat reused in the plant ends in 1kWh of useful heat.
- Written by Çaglan Becan, Turkish Cement Manufacturers' Association (TCMA)
2011 sees the 100th anniversary of the start of the Turkish cement industry. Since 1911 the cement sector has developed rapidly from a production capacity of just 20,000t/yr in 1911 to over 66Mt 100 years later.
In terms of production, the Turkish cement sector is ranked number one in Europe and number four in the world after China, India and the US. In terms of cement exports it is first with a global share of 12%, leaving China and many countries of South Eastern Asia behind.
By 2010 the sector became a vital branch of industry for the national economy, with turnover of around US$4.5bn, exports valued at US$1bn and direct employment of 15,000 people. Based on achievements during 100 years, the sector entered the new millennium with a new vision and mission enabling to serve as a model all over the world.
- Written by Teutrine GmbH
Teutrine GmbH has established itself as a reliable service partner for multi-faceted engineering, assembly and repair solutions for cement plant operators and plant engineering contractors. Companies from the chemical and wood-processing industries, from the waste disposal and power station sector also form part of Teutrine's customer base.
The ongoing performance increases and availability of process plant in the cement and mineral industry result in an increased need for large spare part stocks with resultant higher costs for procuring parts. The degree of wear in plant components that are subjected to heavy-duty operation increases exponentially. As a service partner and in very close customer contact, Teutrine GmbH from Oelde,
Westphalia, Germany, has solution strategies for greater planning assurance in the realm of maintenance and repairs. The upshot above all is an increase in lifetimes of highly stressed machine components.
In this regard a significant role is played by mobile processing machines for clients' on-site applications. Of major importance for the success of on-site operation is efficient preparatory work. Matching the mobile Teutrine processing machinery to clients' needs must be researched and precisely clarified in order that workshop quality can be achieved on site in reality.
- Written by Dr Peter Edwards, Global Cement Magazine
Malaysia has one of the most developed infrastructures in south-east Asia, but while the west coast of the country is highly developed and supports the bulk of the country's 27.5m inhabitants, there is still significant ongoing development and potential for further development in rural areas in the east of Peninsular Malaysia and in Malaysian Borneo.
Introduction
Malaysia has often been described as being two countries in one, with environments ranging from high-rise Kuala Lumpur in the west and wild forests in the east.
This description certainly rings true for the domestic cement indutry. As one would expect, the high level of development in Peninsular Malaysia is supported by a significant cement industry. Indeed nine of the 10 cement plants in Malaysia are on the pensinsular side, with only one integrated cement plant, the 1Mt/yr CMS Cement Sdn Bhd (CMS) plant at
Kuching in Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo. This means that this region, which has around 7.5 million inhabitants, roughly 27% of the population, has just 4.3% of the country's total cement production capacity.
This discrepancy highlights the relative development of the two regions and the high potential for development in Malaysian Borneo, which has not seen additional capacity addition since 1998 when CMS opened its 0.75Mt/yr Bintulu grinding plant in the north-eastern part of Sarawak.
Peninsular Malaysia has a mixture of plants run by local producers and those run by multinationals, two run by Lafarge Malayan Cement Bhd and an Aalborg white cement plant.
- Written by Kamal Kumar, P Somarajan & Anupam, Holtec Consulting Pvt. Ltd, India
Given the disparate nature of the emerging cement scenarios in the MENA region, success and even survival depends on the ability to adapt. Most companies have consequently initiated focused efforts covering various aspects of their cement operations. While conventional focus may yield marginal to moderate results, incremental benefits can be reaped by harnessing the multi-functional dimensions of all internally controllable variables through an integrative approach. From ingeniously exploiting the hidden potential of the raw material portfolio to uncovering untapped value in the geographic market mix, innovative initiatives in the entire value chain of operations results in far higher success.
The key features of such initiatives include ensuring comprehensive coverage of the entire value chain, a focus on bottom-line results, exploration of the potential of non-conventional areas, adding value to on-going initiatives in terms of time and cost savings, use of optimisation tools to achieve superior solutions and employing a three-phased approach consisting of assessment, action and monitoring.
