September 2024
Sanghi Industries to invest US$41.8m in cement business 31 March 2014
India: Sanghi Industries Ltd (SIL) will invest US$41.8m in the next 18 months to increase its cement production capacity by 30%, to acquire ships and construct sea terminals.
Of the US$41.8m, SIL will use US$25.1m to acquire new ships and to construct new sea terminals and the remaining US$16.7m will be used to raise cement production capacity from 2.6Mt/yr to 3.5Mt/yr by the end of 2015.
"Currently, clinker production is higher than cement production at our plant. To correct the mismatch, we are investing US$16.7m to increase the grinding capacity. This will take 14 months before commissioning," said Alok Sanghi, SIL director. The debottlenecking will increase the grinding capacity by 30% of the Abdasa plant in Kutch.
SIL will acquire six vessels in the next five years for the transportation of its products into newer markets to reduce fuel costs and increase distribution capabilities. "We currently charter ships from market for distribution. We will acquire two vessels immediately and then two vessels every 18 months," added Sanghi.
SIL is also in the process of setting up terminals at Navlakhi port in Gujarat and at Mumbai port in Maharashtra. SIL exports 20% of its total production, mainly clinker to the Middle East, Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
SIL has invested over US$334m on the Abdasa plant that began production in 2003."We will have debts of US$75.1m by the end of the current financial year," added Sanghi.
UK: Saxlund International Ltd, a subsidiary of Opcon AB, is preparing to commence construction on the materials handling contract won late in 2013 for Hope Construction Materials' Hope Valley cement plant in Derbyshire, UK.
As part of Hope's move to replace fossil fuels with more sustainable solutions, Saxlund will provide an alternative fuel system for the use of Solid Waste Fuel (SWF). Saxlund's scope includes supplying the design, manufacture and delivery of a push floor storage system, reclaim conveyor, process tower with drum magnet, star screen and feed into the weighing and pneumatic injection system to the main burner on both kilns.
"We've worked hard to expand our portfolio in this sector and to provide clients with some of the best solutions in the market," said Rob Leighton, business development manager for Alternative Fuel Systems at Saxlund. "It's good to work with clients like Hope, who are doing as much as they can to run their businesses as efficiently and sustainably as possible. With increasing costs of fossil fuels and the increasing range of waste-derived fuels available, Hope is keen to use more and more alternative fuels in order to reduce their energy costs and improve environmental performance where possible."
Slovakia: Technology provider A TEC, in collaboration with raw materials company Ferro Duo GmbH and Holcim's Rohožník plant in Slovakia, are now able to provide a complete solution for the recovery of bypass dust in the cement industry for various conditions.
In recent years, A TEC has engaged in technologies for the use of alternative fuels, chlorine bypasses and the re-use and recycling of bypass dust in cooperation with Holcim. Ferro Duo has specialised in the recovery and processing of cement and steel industry dusts and has developed a patented process for treatment and recycling of bypass dust.
Ashaka Cement faults plan to ban 32.5 grade cement 28 March 2014
Nigeria: Ashaka Cement plc has come out against the Nigerian government's plan to ban the production of 32.5 grade cement in Nigeria. The Chairman of Ashaka Cement, Alhaji Umaru Kwairanga, said that rather than ban 32.5 grade cement, it should be produced alongside 42.5 grade cement. This would not only provide consumers with the freedom of choice, but also assist in securing jobs that have already been created through the production of 32.5 grade cement.
There had been arguments that the use of the 32.5 grade cement in the construction sector was a major reason for the increase in building collapse, which resulted in the formation of a technical committee to review cement standardisation by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
"Cement is not responsible for building collapses in Nigeria," said Kwairanga." So much research has already been done and we have seen that building collapse is more related to issues other than the cement itself. It's either from the professionals or consultants that are handling the building jobs, who have not followed the specifications."
Kwairanga added that Ashaka Cement has approved plans to expand its operation with a US$606m investment in cement production in Gombe. The amount would increase the cement production capacity of the company to 2.5Mt/yr. Barring any last minute change, the ground breaking ceremony for the project will be performed by the Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan in early April 2014.
Kwairanga said, "We are taking our US$606m investment to the north-eastern state of Gombe. The total value of setting up the 2.5Mt/yr cement plant and a power plant is US$705m.
CBI may probe CCI’s selection process 28 March 2014
India: The selection for the post of chief executive of the Cement Corporation of India (CCI), which is run by the state of New Dehli, has triggered controversy with regards to the preparation of the list of candidates and the criteria for selection, which was allegedly changed to include some names at the last minute. The CBI has taken note of complaints and is expected to order a probe soon.
The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) issued a list on 11 March 2014 with the names of 15 candidates who has been shortlisted for the interview. After about a week, the PESB released a list of 16 candidates, allegedly flouting its own guidelines on the upper limit on the number of candidates. In the second list an external candidate was added, with no explanation given. The candidate who was seventh on the first list was moved to number one position on the second list. The only internal candidate was allegedly downgraded to the second position on the second list after being put on top of the league on the first list.
Canada: Mantra Energy Alternatives has struck a deal with Lafarge Canada to deploy an electrochemical reduction technology at one of Lafarge cement plants. The technology will convert carbon dioxide emissions into useful chemicals.
"This will be the first pilot plant of its kind in the world," said Mantra's vice president Patrick Dodd. If the system works as advertised it could be deployed at all of Lafarge's facilities.
The technology would convert carbon dioxide into useful chemicals like formic acid and formate salts. The pilot plant would convert 100kg/day of carbon dioxide emitted from the cement plant into concentrated formate salts. Colin Oloman and Hui Li of the Clean Energy Research Centre developed the technology at the University of British Colombia. Mantra Venture Group then purchased it in 2008.
Mantra plans to use the formic acid for use in its patented fuel cells, which it bills as a significantly less expensive fuel cell with greater power density.
Now that the deal between Mantra and Lafarge has been signed, work will begin on the detailed engineering for the plant and the purchase of custom equipment.
Uzbekistan: OJSC Akhangarancement, a subsidiary of Russia's CJSC Eurocement Group, has received a limestone and marl production license for the Shavazsay field in the Almalyk region of Uzbekistan. A special commission of the Uzbekistan government issued the license, which covers the extraction of non-ore mineral resources.
The Shavazsay field, which was opened in 1974, has resources of 36.4Mt of limestone. Preliminary data shows that these resources will last for 25 years given Akhangarancement's current capacity.
Akhangarancement is one of the largest cement producers in Uzbekistan, with a 30% share of the market. It exports mainly to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. The company is projected to produce 1.99Mt of cement in 2014. Cement production increased by 6% in 2013, while clinker production increased by 13% in the same period. The company's mountain division produced 1.64Mt of limestone in 2013, up by 19% on 2012.
Changing the fuels mix in North America 26 March 2014
Three news stories this week cover the gamut of fuels used by the cement industry in North America.
First we had an example of the changing trends in fossil fuel usage when TruStar Energy announced a deal to supply compressed gas to Argos USA. Then we moved to an example of recycled fuels used in co-processing when chemical waste firm ChemCare trumpeted its 100 million gallon milestone (that's 379,000m3 to the rest of the world) in supplying fuel-quality waste to the Lafarge co-processing subsidiary Systech Environmental. Finally, Cemex rounded off the main fuels groups with renewables, when it released pans to build a US$600m wind farm project in north-east Mexico.
Obviously fossil fuels still dominate in kilns north of the Darian Gap, as they do almost everywhere else, and fuel buyers wouldn't be doing their job properly if they weren't searching for the next best deal. Yet the range here shows a dynamic industry.
Jan Theulen from HeidelbergCement pointed out one example in the US at the recent Global CemFuels Conference held in Vienna. Here, rising landfill prices are increasing opportunities for alternative fuels use alongside changing US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permitting for solid recovered fuel. Alternative fuels consultant Dirk Lechtenberg, in an interview with Global Cement Magazine in February 2014, singled out the US as one country that is developing its alternative fuels use. As he explained, "Even though the fossil fuel prices are quite low in the US, the industry is developing supply chains for alternative fuels to be more independent with their fuels sourcing."
This race between cheaper fossil fuels in the US (via shale gas) and increasing development in alternative fuels is fascinating. Specifically: why is it happening now? Gas prices have fallen and demand for cement is returning in the US. The annual mean Henry Hub natural gas spot price in the US fell from US$8.86/million BTU in 2008 to a low of US$2.75/million BTU in 2012. This compares to up to US$15/million BTU in Japan and US$9/million BTU in Europe.
Public environmental pressure made manifest by the policies of the EPA and general increased knowledge about co-processing may be factors for the surge in alternative fuels investment. Long lead times for alternative fuels schemes may be another. Planners making a decision about what fuels mix to pursue in 2008 at the start of the recession might well have bet on alternatives to spread their risk. Yet the cause could be something else, as shale gas takes over higher paying industries, such as electrical generation, and the cement industry continues to be priced out of the leftovers.
Ultimately what burns in a cement kiln comes down to price. Depending on how the shale gas market plays out in North America it would be ironic if 'frackers', the bogeymen of current environmentalists, inadvertently cleaned up the cement industry.
South Africa: The board of directors of Sephaku Holdings have announced that Johannes Wilhelm Wessels died on 23 March 2014. Wessels was an alternate director to Rudolph de Bruin since 2007 on the Sephaku Holdings board.
Wessels originally provided legal counsel on the emerging business structure in 2005 and he later joined Sephaku Holdings as Head of Corporate Affairs holding key responsibility for group legal counsel, transaction structuring advice and contractual negotiations. He led the process of the group's unbundling strategy and worked on the legal and tax aspects of the process. Wessels helped reposition the company from a multiple mineral exploration company to a construction and building materials focused company.
"Wes was pivotal in negotiating the relationship agreement with Dangote Industries PLC to establish Sephaku Holdings' partnership in South Africa's newest cement producer since 1934, Sephaku Cement. At the time of his untimely death Wes was also serving as a director of the Sephaku Cement board. We will always remember him for his astuteness, legal savvy, business acumen and spontaneous sense of humour," said Chief Executive Officer, Lelau Mohuba.
Bangladesh: Asadul Haque Sufyani has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer of Seven Circle (Bangladesh), a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Shun Shing Group. Previously Sufyani had been working as the General Manager (Sales, Marketing & Distribution) of Seven Circle. He joined in Shun Shing Group in 2009.
Sufyani, aged 40, started his career in the Brand Management department of Sanofi-Aventis and later worked as a Senior Marketing Manager in Bengal Group and Head of Trade Marketing in Robi (formerly AKTEL). Sufyani graduated in Commerce from Delhi University, India and later gained his MBA from the Lincoln School of Management, University of Lincoln in the UK.