04 October 2018
US: LafargeHolcim has upgraded its terminal at Weirton in West Virginia following a 10-year furlough. The site will be used to store and distribute oil well cement products for markets in the Appalachian region.
“We have made a significant investment in the Weirton terminal in direct response to the growing needs of our energy industry customers. Demand for access to our oil well cement has increased dramatically, yet existing distribution channels had grown congested,” said Jamie M Gentoso, chief executive officer (CEO) of US Cement operations.
The upgrade project included expanding the site, building a new water-based off- loading facility and restoring its silos. During the work LafargeHolcim collaborated with the Army Corps of Engineers, the West Virginia Department of Commerce, the Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle and the local community. In addition, the company worked closely with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and Environmental Protection Agency to assure all operating and environmental permits were in place. As part of this collaboration, LafargeHolcim has also been granted additional funding for surrounding site infrastructure improvements and build-out through the conditional grant program known as the West Virginia Industrial Access Road Program (IAR).
Elixsys completes pilot test on coal ash extraction technology 04 October 2018
US: Elixsys has completed a 100hr continuous pilot test to extract ammonium sulphate and calcium carbonate from flue gas desulphurisation solids at a coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania. Products made using the company’s proprietary process meet the specifications for fertiliser-quality ammonium sulphate and technical-grade calcium carbonate.
The company intends to start a commercial-scale project of its technology in 2019 once it finds a utility partner. Full-scale operations are planned by 2022. The company is also starting pilot testing on another process to extract metals from coal ash.
Zimbabwe: Edith Matekaire, the commercial director of Lafarge Zimbabwe, has blamed a backlog of foreign currency exchange as the cause of a shortage of cement. The US$2m backlog has caused plant maintenance shutdowns to take longer than they normally would, according to the Herald newspaper. Due to the lack of adequate funding, the shutdowns have been forced to take place during periods of peak production, causing effects in the market.
Despite this, Matekaire said that the local cement sector has more than enough production capacity to meet customers’ needs. Demand is 1.3Mt/yr and cement production is 2.4Mt/yr. Demand is only expected to exceed production from 2020 onwards.
Myanmar political group blocks construction of cement plant 04 October 2018
Myanmar: General Saw Johnny, chief of staff of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), says that the group has not granted permission for Yadanar Sai Kaung Myat Kyaw Company to build a new cement plant at Hnget Pyaw Taw near Hlaingbwe. The representative of the military wing of the Karen National Union, a local political organisation, said that it had met with the company but that no final decision had been made, according to Burma News International. Yadanar Sai Kaung Myat Kyaw Company plans to build a 10,000t/day plant with an investment of US$760m. It intends to pay compensation to the owners of farmlands and plantations that are included in the project area and it has reached an initial agreement with respective state ministry to build the plant.
Turkey: Sanko Holding is planning start a 7MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit, supplied by Italy’s CTP Team, at its Cimko Narli Cement plant in early 2019. CTP Team signed a turnkey contract for the WHR unit in March 2018. It will be the first unit in Turkey to use Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology. The unit will provide approximately 12% of the current plant’s electricity needs, with an annual uptime efficiency of 7920hr and energy of 36kWhr/yr.
“The project will be the first project based on ORC technology with a thermal oil loop in Turkey for heat recovery from the cement industry,” said CTP Team Assistant General Manager Acelya Arik and Sales Director Marco Ernesto Donghi when the contract was signed. They added that since the project is the first ORC-based heat recovery plant in a Turkish cement plant it will be a milestone that will push further WHR projects in this field.