September 2024
Shree Digvijay Cement invests in green energy project 13 April 2022
India: Shree Digvijay Cement has executed a share purchase agreement to acquire a 27% stake in a hybrid wind and solar power project from Trinethra Renewable Energy, a power producer, and Continuum Green Energy. It will spend US$1m on the deal, implying a value of US$0.13m/MW. The total installed capacity of the project is 8.1MW.
The hybrid power contract will generate about 37% of total power needed by the plant. When combined with the plant’s waste heat recovery (WHR) system, it will constitute over 65% of the total power needs of the company, representing considerable savings in the cost of power and an improved environment footprint.
Financing revealed for Power Cement’s solar project 13 April 2022
Pakistan: Meezan Bank, an Islamic bank, and Burj Solar Energy (BSE) have announced the completion of a US$5m syndicated Islamic finance facility for BSE's portfolio of renewable distributed power generation in Pakistan.
A first tranche of US$3.2m will be used to finance the construction of a 7MW solar power plant for Power Cement on the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway. The solar power plant will be rented to Power Cement under a 20-year equipment rental agreement to supply the company's cement plant in Nooriabad. It will generate 220GWh solar units for 20 years and, in addition to reducing cost of electricity, will offset 112,000t of CO2 emissions. The project is expected to start generating power in July 2022.
Margins being eroded for cement producers in Mexico 13 April 2022
Mexico: Increases in raw material prices and energy costs, as a result of high inflation levels, will affect the operating margins of cement companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange in the first quarter of 2022, according to analysts quoted by CE NoticiasFinancieras.
Jacobo Rodríguez, director of Economic Analysis at Black Wallstreet Capital, explained that, "Despite the fact that companies are slow to pass on the increase in their costs to their final products, we will see pressure on their margins in their results in the first quarter of the year and from now on.”
Heriberto Sandoval, investment advisor at Increase Kapital, said “The cement industry is strongly affected by the increase in energy costs and, considering that the high cost pressures worldwide will be longer lasting than originally thought, this will lead to a decrease in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) this year.”
Mexican cement companies recorded a decline in the price of their shares between January and March 2022. Market leader Cemex led the way, with a 23.59% drop in the value of its shares. The second largest drop was seen by GCC, which lost 9.5% of its value. Cementos Moctezuma’s shares also lost 3.05% of their value in the first quarter of 2022.
Brazil: The Brazilian cement market closed the first quarter of 2022 with a decline in sales year-on-year, according to data from the Brazilian National Cement Industry Association (SNIC). This was in part due to strong rains that affected parts of the country in January and February 2022. In March 2022, however, there was some recovery, with a 0.3% year-on-year increase in sales, to 5.53Mt.
Between January and March 2022, 14.8Mt of cement were shipped within Brazil, compared to 15.2Mt in the same period in 2021, a fall of 2.6%. Total sales, which include exports, totalled 14.91Mt, a 2.2% contraction compared to 15.25Mt in the same quarter of 2021.
SNIC said that the sector’s March 2022 performance had been bolstered by real estate projects, although this was not expected to continue. According to SNIC head Paulo Camillo Penna, self-construction, an important inducer of cement consumption, continues to slow down due to high unemployment
Akkermann acquires Kaluga Cement Plant 13 April 2022
Russia: Akkermann Cement, a subsidiary of USM Holding, has acquired Kaluzhsky Tsementny Zavod (Kaluga Cement Plant) for US$111m from state development corporation VEB.RF. VEB.RF provided a loan for construction of the plant in 2011 but the borrower was acknowledged bankrupt in 2018, according to Prime News. The plant is not yet fully built, but it is anticipated that the 3.5Mt/yr facility will create 400 jobs when commissioned.
“The asset is good,” said Akkermann Cement’s managing director Alexander Ivanov. “The dry process is one of the most efficient and budget-friendly technologies for production of cement, but the conclusion of the plant’s construction will need additional investment.”
Germany: Mexico-based Cemex has joined a consortium with Sasol EcoFT and Enertrag that plans to use CO2 and hydrogen to produce aviation fuel. The project is part of Cemex’s Future in Action program and is part of its plan to develop a carbon neutral operation at its Rüdersdorf cement plant by 2030. The consortium will source green hydrogen generated from wind and solar energy from Enertrag. The CO2 will come from the Rüdersdorf cement plant, which will provide 100t/day CO2 in the project’s initial stages. Sasol will then contribute its technology to produce e-kerosene, which, once certified, can be blended to constitute up to 50% of jet fuel.
The Rüdersdorf carbon neutral alliance includes over 20 start-ups, universities, companies from other industries and authorities working to develop industrial-scale solutions achieve the first carbon-neutral cement plant in the world.
Enertrag is a renewable-energy company based in Brandenburg. It operates utility-scale integrated energy plants in 10 countries. Its plants produce electricity and green hydrogen from wind and solar sources.
Sasol EcoFT is part of Sasol Group. It uses its technology to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon sources, via the Power-to-Liquids process.
Ta-Ho Maritime to buy new cement carrier 13 April 2022
Taiwan: Ta-Ho Maritime has announced its decision to buy a new cement carrier. The subsidiary of Taiwan Cement said that the investment cost would be up to US$50m. The bulk shipping company transports dry bulk commodities around the world, including cement. Its fleet consists mostly of ‘Kamsarmax’ sized ships and cement carriers with a total deadweight upwards of about 700,000t. It operates five dedicated cement carriers, two of which use alternate maritime power (AMP) that are used to reduce pollution.
Titan America to expand Norfolk terminal in Virginia 12 April 2022
US: Titan America plans to spend around US$37m towards expanding its Norfolk terminal in Chesapeake, Virginia. The plans at the terminal, run by subsidiary Roanoke Cement Company, include building a 70,000t dome, enlarging truck and railway capacity and enabling the site to import and distribute raw materials such as fly ash, slag and aggregates. At present the unit has a bulk storage capacity of 35,000t. Titan says that the upgrade will enable it to meet growing demand for its products in the Mid-Atlantic region. The project also follows a similar investment in a 70,000t dome currently under construction at Titan's import terminal in Tampa, Florida.
"The major expansion and modernisation of these two marine terminals is another important step toward meeting fast-growing demand for our products and services in critical infrastructure, commercial and residential projects in our communities," said Bill Zarkalis, president and chief executive officer, Titan America.
The dome and associated expansion projects are scheduled for completion in 2023.
Elex starts up electrostatic precipitator at National Cement’s Ragland plant in Alabama 12 April 2022
US: Switzerland-based Elex has completed a cold start-up of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) it has supplied to National Cement’s Ragland plant in Alabama. The ESP will be used for primary dedusting and it has a separation area of approximately 7000m2. The cement plant, owned by France-based Vicat, is currently building a new 5000t/day production line that is due to be commissioned in mid-2022.
India: Aumund Engineering India has been selected by ACC to refurbish a 175.3m high bucket elevator, the tallest in the world. The elevator is installed at ACC’s Wadi Cement plant in Karnataka where it is used for raw meal pre-heater transport at a rate of 600t/hr.
Originally, the machine was fitted with a steel cord belt of width 1320mm and tension rating of 3150N/mm. Aumund has decided to offer an alternative based on its own design concept resulting in a belt width of 1300mm but with higher tension rating of 4000N/mm with a bucket size of 1250mm at bucket spacing of 450mm. The Aumund belt concept will use continuous close pitch longitudinal ropes without rope free bucket mounting spaces. However, it will use additional wire ropes running laterally across the width of the belt adding lateral stiffness without significantly changing the belt longitudinal flexibility. This cross-stabilised construction is intended to improve stability to the belt with improved bucket fixing.
To make the necessary belt punching, Aumund has developed a special punching machine design which gives clean fixing holes that are accurately aligned relative to the belt edge and at precisely the correct pitch. The belt is held in a cassette and advanced automatically under the punching frame using a precision encoder to measure the pitch. The belts are prepared at the Aumund production in Rheinberg, Germany and shipped to site at the exact required dimensions including a prepared joint and the required clamping connection.
In addition to the new belt the elevator will also be fitted with new drive pulley including friction linings and rubber bucket mounting strips. The casings, inlet and outlet plus the complete drive unit remain unchanged.
No commissioning date for the project has been announced.