Displaying items by tag: California

US: Orcem Americas, a subsidiary of Ireland’s Ecocem, has been refused planning permission to build a slag cement plant in Vallejo, California. The cement producer was hoping to build a US$50m grinding plant but it faced opposition from local residents on environmental grounds, according to the Irish Times. The issues for the planners was an anticipated increase in the number of trucks on local roads and pollution from the plant. Orcem Americas can now appeal the decision to Vallejo’s City Council if it chooses.

US: The Center for Biological Diversity, a non-government agency, has described plans to give Mitsubishi Cement a 120-year permit to mine limestone from a new quarry in San Bernardino National Forest in southern California as ‘unreasonable.’ Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, made the comment on the basis that local flora and fauna would be adversely affected by the decision, according to the San Bernardino Sun newspaper. The US Forest Service and the County of San Bernardino are seeking comment on the proposal until 1 February 2017.

The new quarry will be located on public land abutting Mitsubishi Cement’s existing quarries at the site. It will serve the nearby Lucerne Valley cement plant.

US: Cemex USA’s Victorville cement plant in California has been awarded Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) Conservation Certification for work towards sustainability, environmental-protection and land-stewardship. The WHC presented the Victorville plant with the certification on 3 November 2016 during a ceremony at the 2016 WHC Conservation Conference in Baltimore. The designation means that all Cemex USA’s cement plants are now WHC-certified. WHC focuses on healthy ecosystems and connected communities. Cemex now has 18 WHC-certified sites in North America, of which fifteen are in the US

Cemex’s WHC Conservation Certification programs are mainly focused on habitat restoration and sustainability. In 2013, two wind turbines were commissioned at the Victorville plant. The plant also earned its fifth Energy Star certification earlier in 2016 for reducing its energy use and environmental impact and the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District awarded Cemex USA’s Victorville plant operation the 2015/2016 Exemplar Award.

"This plant has persevered through good times and bad: two world wars, three different owners and countless upgrades to its facilities and equipment. Through all of the changes, two things have remained constant: a commitment to safety and a commitment to producing a high-quality product," said Hugo Bolio, Cemex USA’s Executive Vice President of Cement Operations and Technology. The Victorville Cement Plant was established in 1916 and was upgraded in 1997 and 2001. It has a production capacity of 3Mt/yr.

US: The Lehigh Southwest Cement Company has ordered a cement mill upgrade from FLSmdith for its Tehachapi cement plant in California. The upgrade is planned to increase cement-grinding capacity at the plant by 23% by installing and using the hydraulic roller press for pre-grinding.

The scope of contract for the engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) project including engineering, a new clinker bin, heavy duty roller press HRP-C 1.25 with its auxiliaries, weigh feeder, set of belt conveyors, nuisance filters, bucket elevators and new electrical room for this circuit. The project will also use the new FLSmidth Tribomax wear surface. H&M Construction will provide the civil/structural engineering and construction portion of the work, working for FLSmidth. This will be the first roller press supplied in North America for FLSmidth in the last two decades.

"Our customers focus on productivity. They want high utilisation rates and minimum downtime. Wear parts are one of the key components when it comes to reducing overall maintenance cost and wear solutions like Tribomax reduce the total cost of ownership of the equipment considerably," said FLSmidth Executive Vice President for the Cement Division, Per Mejnert Kristensen.

Deliveries for the project will begin in the third quarter of 2016 and the roller press is expected to be in operation by April 2017.