Displaying items by tag: Coal

Nigeria: The Senate of Nigeria has urged the Federal Ministry of Transportation to complete the construction of the Ajaokuta - Otukpo railway line. The legislative chamber also advised the ministry to include a siding at Okaba to Ankpa as part of the project to make coal transportation easier, according to the Vanguard newspaper. Cement companies, including Dangote Cement’s Obajana plant and the Kogi State Super Cement Company at Allo-Itobe, would benefit from reduced coal prices. At present their coal is delivered by road. The railway project would also aid the Ajaokuta Steel Company.

Russia: Italy’s Bedeschi has set up a new subsidiary in Moscow. The company is working on a project for OTEKO at its dry bulk terminal at the port of Taman on the Black Sea. It consists of the supply of a fully automated coal export terminal with a total aggregated capacity of more than 50,000t/hr on six loading lines. The supply includes bucket wheel stacker-reclaimers, several kilometres of conveyors and shiploaders. The system allows the blending of different types of coal. The new company in Russia joins existing subsidiaries in the US, Morocco, India and the UAE.

India: Dalmia Bharat has blamed the general election for its slow cement sales volumes growth in its first quarter. Its sales volumes of cement increased slightly to 4.55Mt. Its revenue grew by 7% year-on-year to US$365m in the first fiscal quarter to 30 June 2019 from US$340m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 27% to US$95.7m from US$75.2m.

The cement producer also said that its power and fuel costs per tonne had been negatively affected by its Kalyanpur plant operating at low capacity utilisation levels, partly due to a lack of coal. However, it noted that its raw material costs had been ‘moderated’ due to falling slag prices.

US: Keystone Cement plans to convert its Bath cement plant in Pennsylvania to gas firing from coal. The project will cost US$2.2m, with a US$0.32m grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, according to the Express-Times newspaper. Gas supplier UGI Utilities will work with Keystone to install a new underground gas line from an existing substation to a new substation at the plant. The project is scheduled for competition by mid-2020.

US: The Japan Coal Energy Center (JCOAL), GreenOre Clean Tech, Columbia University and Wyoming Infrastructure Authority (WIA) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to test carbon utilisation and recycling technology. GreenOre Clean Tech, using technology under license from Columbia University, will use testing space at the Integrated Test Center (ITC) near the Dry Fork Station coal-fired power station in Gillette, Wyoming. Calcium carbonate produced through CO₂ mineralisation could then potentially be used for aggregates, concrete production or in paper production. The test will be funded by JCOAL with additional support from project partners.

The State of Wyoming and JCOAL have been working together since 2016, when they signed an initial MOU committing to cooperation in coal research and development of technologies and coal trade. JCOAL operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and is supported by more than 120 member coal-related businesses, including Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Nippon Steel and Toshiba. Kawasaki is scheduled to test its solid sorbent capture technology at the ITC beginning in 2021.

Pakistan: DG Khan has signed a deal with Sinoma Energy Conservation for upgrades at the integrated Hub cement plant in Baluchistan. The agreement includes a 10MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit and a 30MW coal power plant. No cost of the project or date of completion has been disclosed.

Myanmar: June Cement Industry’s new 5000t/day plant is waiting for permission from the government to use 15MW of electricity generated from two coal power plants. The US$471m unit is based at PyarTaung, KawPaNaw Village, Kyaikmayaw Township in Mon State, according to the Mon News Agency. The plant will extract limestone from the Pyartaung Mountain area. Coal for the plant is expected to be delivered via the River Attran. Local residents have expressed concern that barges may cause flood damage along the river’s banks.

Vietnam: Cement producers including Vissai Cement and the Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (VICEM) have reported difficulties in buying coal domestically. Hoang Manh Truong, the chairman of Vissai Cement, said that the company mostly used imported coal in 2018 and this experience has been mirrored by VICEM, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. The situation has been blamed on a sharp rise in local demand due to new cement plants and no new coal mines.

India: GE Power India has been award a contract by Aravali Power worth US$107m for a flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) system. The contract is for design, engineering, civil work, supply, erection and commissioning of wet FGD systems along with auxiliaries like limestone and gypsum handling systems and wet stack on full turnkey basis.

Aravali Power is a joint venture company between NTPC, Haryana Power Generation Company and Indraprastha Power Generation Company. It operates a coal power station near Jharli, Jhajjar in Haryana with three 500MW units. An additional two 660MW units are planned for a future expansion project.

South Korea/Thailand: Austria’s Unitherm Cemcon has commissioned a MAS kiln burner at a cement plant in South Korea. The order was issued in late 2018 for three MAS burners. The first burner was delivered in February 2019 and the other two in March 2019. In May 2019 Unitherm Cemcon says it supported the commissioning of the first burner.

The scope of supply included two 43MW MAS/4/KO SO type burners for coal and heavy oil and one 87MW MAS/7/KO SO.X type rotary kiln burner for coal, heavy oil and solid secondary fuels. All three burners have been executed with a divisible burner jacket tube. One MAS/7/KO.SO.X is already successfully operating in another line, firing up to 6t/hr of coal and around 10t/hr of solid secondary fuel.

The burner manufacturer has also been awarded a contract to supply a hot gas generator for a plant in Thailand. The scope of supply includes: engineering and manufacturing drawings for the hot gas generator combustion chamber; a combined 45MW oil and coal burner; a primary air fan; a gas electric pilot burner; a flame monitoring device; and an oil valve train with burner management system.