The 56th IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference has successfully taken place in Washington DC, with approaching 1000 attendees and participants from 35 different countries. The 57th issue of the event will take place in Toronto on 26 - 30 April 2015.
The Gebr. Pfeiffer Convention 2014 has successfully taken place in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
The well-known German engineering firm Gebr. Pfeiffer has held its two-yearly Pfeiffer Convention, with the added bonus this year of celebrating an important milestone: 150 years of continuous business since the company was started back in 1864 in Kaiserslautern. Delegates travelled from around the world to attend the meeting and were treated to a variety of informative presentations on comminution and other topics.
Building materials have been produced on the site of the current Essroc Cement plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA since the late 1800s. Today the site is owned by Essroc's parent company Italcementi Group, which is celebrating 150 years of business in 2014. In 2010, the plant underwent a massive overhaul under Essroc, when it was switched from three wet-process kilns to a single FLSmidth dry-process line. The upgrade increased the plant's clinker production capacity from around 0.6Mt/yr to 1.6Mt/yr. Global Cement's Peter Edwards visited the plant and spoke to key members of staff ahead of the field trip by delegates of the 56th IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Conference.
Integrated cement plants are recognised as a source of undesirable airborne emissions. In an attempt to moderate the effects of these on the environment and local populations, local, regional and national governments legislate maximum permissable limits for a multitude of emission types. As with many other aspects of cement manufacturing, there are variations between jurisdictions and even individual plants. Here, Global Cement attempts to untangle the web of emissions regulations for four key pollutant categories: sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), mercury (Hg) and dust / particulate matter (PM).
