September 2024
Wärtsilä to supply 70MW power plant for BUA Cement’s Sokoto cement plant 22 September 2021
Nigeria: Finland-based Wärtsilä has secured a contract to supply a 70MW dual-fuel power plant for the upcoming 3Mt/yr Line 4 of its Sokoto cement plant. The power plant is scheduled for commissioning alongside the line before 2023. BUA Cement previously ordered a dual fuel plant for the Sokoto cement plant’s Line 3, which is also scheduled for commissioning alongside that line, in November 2021.
Chair Abdul Samad Rabiu said “BUA Cement is happy and pleased with the progress that Wartsila made with the construction of the power plant we initially purchased for our BUA Cement Sokoto Line 3. We believe Wärtsilä will bring the same level of efficiency, technical expertise and professionalism to bear in ensuring that this new power plant for the 3Mt/yr BUA Cement Sokoto Line 4 will be completed on schedule by the end of 2022 as we look towards bringing BUA’s total capacity in its Sokoto plant to 8Mt/yr by early 2023 and across all its plants to 17Mt/yr by the same time.”
CimMetal Group and Intercem Engineering near completion of 2.5Mt/yr Lomé grinding plant 22 September 2021
Togo: Germany-based Intercem Engineering says that CimMetal Group’s upcoming 2.5Mt/yr Lomé grinding plant is on track for commissioning ‘at short notice’ in late 2021. The supplier has delivered a 1000tph truck unloading station, a 25,000tph storage facility for additives, a 1000tph truck loading station, two 50,000t clinker silos, four Rotopackers, eight truck loading stations, ten truck scales and laboratory equipment, alongside steel construction, sheet metal fabrication, subsystems, electrical equipment and complete engineering services.It is also supervising the erection and commissioning of the plant. It said that all material conveyor belts are mounted in a closed gallery to ensure dust-free transport. The belt system is also designed for fully automatic ship unloading.
The plant is the third delivered for CimMetal Group by InterCem Engineering and partners InterCem Installation and Switzerland-based InterCem Cement, after one in Burkino Faso and one in Ivory Coast.
Federbeton publishes cement industry decarbonisation strategy 22 September 2021
Italy: The Italian cement association Federbeton has launched its comprehensive plan for cement industry decarbonisation in line with the EU’s European Green Deal target of a 55% reduction in CO2 emissions between 1990 and 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. The strategy entails Euro4.2bn of total new investments andEuro1.4m/yr of extra operating costs across the industry. This will cover the adoption of transition technologies and the large-scale application of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The association says that while some such actions, such as alternative fuel (AF) substitution,are immediately available, others require further development. The sector’s primary fuel is petcoke, mainly imported from the Gulf of Mexico. As such, Federbeton has identified the 100% replacement of all fossil fuels with ‘low-carbon impact’ alternatives as a means of reducing the industry’s carbon footprint by 12% achievable in the short term. Renewable green hydrogen use can cut a further 3% of CO2 emissions, an energy transition to renewable sources can cut 5%, clinker factor reduction can cut 10%, alternative raw materials in clinker can cut 6%, CCS can cut 43%, supply chain and logistics changes can cut 16% and the optimisation of construction can cut the remaining 5%.
President Roberto Callieri said “The cement and concrete supply chain wants to be one of the protagonists of the ecological transition.” He added “Only with adequate and immediate support tools will it be possible to prevent the impoverishment of the industrial fabric, preserve the competitiveness of the supply chain and prevent relocation. Last but not least, a new environmental culture must be shared, based on dialogue and no longer on the preconceived opposition to any choice of industry.”
Colacem to stop cement grinding at Maddaloni plant 22 September 2021
Italy: Colacem plans to stop grinding cement at its Maddaloni Plant in Campania from the start of October 2021. The unit will be converted into a sales and logistics site, according to the Il Mattino newspaper. The cement producer purchased the Maddaloni plant from Italcementi in mid-2018 as part of the measures required by the Italian Competition Authority when Italcementi acquired Cementir. The kiln at the plant was later shut down in early 2019.
Hanson updates on cement and building materials supply to Hinkley Point C power plant 22 September 2021
UK: Hanson has delivered 171,000t of cement to the site of the upcoming Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset. It has also delivered 1Mm3 of ready-mix concrete via the customer’s on-site batching plants, 5Mt of aggregates and 443,000t of sand. Its Port Talbot site in Neath Port Talbot has supplied 230,000t of Regen ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) for use in concrete production, reducing the product’s carbon footprint by a total of 200,000t compared with concrete produced using ordinary Portland cement (OPC) only.
Iraqi cement producers complain about cut to fuel subsidies 22 September 2021
Iraq: The Cement Producers Association in Iraq (CPAI) has complained about a government decision to reduce subsidises on fuel for the industry. It has warned that the cut could risk plants closing and cement prices rising, according to the Agence France Presse. The Ministry of Oil raised the price of fuel sold to cement manufactures to US$0.17/l in September 2021 from US$0.10/l litre previously. This followed a rise earlier in 2021. CPAI has warned of ‘enormous losses’ in the sector and has lobbied the government to reverse the decision. It added that producers would have to decide whether to stop production and lay off workers or raises cement prices by at least US$10/t. The subsidised fuel price for cement manufacturers was originally approved in exchange for an agreement to cap the price of cement.
Libya: Ahmed Abuhisa, the Minister of Industry and Minerals, has met with a delegation of officials from Chinese companies working in the mining and cement industry. The Chinese delegates reportedly expressed their desire to build cement plants in several regions within the country, according to the Libya Herald newspaper. General investment work was also discussed. The minister has referred the companies to the National Mining Corporation to determine investment priorities and follow up on the meeting.
Lehigh Hanson launches new bag design for EcoCemPLC product 22 September 2021
US: Lehigh Hanson has launched a new bag design for its EcoCemPLC product, a Portland Limestone Cement. Features of the refreshed packaging design for EcoCemPLC include the ‘reduced carbon footprint’ icon, featured prominently in the new bag design to emphasise EcoCemPLC’s carbon-reduction benefit. The newly designed bag will be released to retail and dealers in October 2021.
“The new bag design and transition to EcoCemPLC is about more than aesthetics - it’s about clearly communicating the proven benefits of EcoCemPLC to sustainably minded customers,” said Alex Car, president of Lehigh Hanson’s Northeast Region.
Punjab government instructs cement producers to commence plant building within six months of No Objection Certification 21 September 2021
Pakistan: The state government of Punjab has instructed cement producers that they risk losing their No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for planned cement plants if they fail to begin building the plants within six months of receiving the certification. The News International newspaper has reported that for the latest raft of cement plant plans given NOCs, this period will elapse in March 2022. The government has asked the producers to submit timelines for the execution of the projects by 28 September 2021.
Water recirculation initiative reuses 88 - 100% of cooling water in cement grinding in Panama in 2020 21 September 2021
Panama: Panamanian cement producers reused cooling water used in cement grinding at a rate of 88 – 100% nationally in 2020. The development is part of a concerted water conservation effort first launched by Argos Panamá. The La Estrella newspaper has reported that Cementos Panamá’s Quebrancha grinding plant reduced its water consumption by 88% in five years, to 59,600m3 from 477,000m3 in 2015. The plant’s cement now has a water consumption of 100l/t, compared to 537l/t in 2015.