Displaying items by tag: HeidelbergCement
Ukraine starts cement anti-dumping probe
05 July 2018Ukraine: The Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade has started an anti-dumping investigation on imports of cement from Russia, Belarus and Moldova. It will look at the conduct of Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine, HeidelbergCement Ukraine, Podilsky Cement and Ivano-Frankivskcement, according to the Uryadovy Courier newspaper. The probe will examine the cement market between 2015 and 2017.
Taking the industry pulse at Hillhead 2018
26 June 2018Hillhead 2018 is on this week and where better to capture a feel of the UK’s quarrying and construction industries? For those that don’t know, Hillhead is a biennial show that takes place in a quarry in Derbyshire. The show bills itself as the largest quarrying, construction and recycling event in the world. A large scale UK show gives us the opportunity to look at the local cement industry and we did exactly that in the June 2018 issue of Global Cement Magazine with Edwin Trout’s feature on the UK cement sector in 2017 and 2018. Following on from that article we’ll pick up a few threads.
Graph 1: Domestic cement production in the UK, 1996 - 2016. Source: Mineral Products Association (MPA).
Cement production in the UK fell by 5Mt/yr during the financial crisis of 2007 - 2008. Since then, as Graph 1 shows, production has been growing almost uniformly. However, it may have reached a plateau in 2017, with the major producers complaining about a weakened market due to Brexit uncertainty.
Main points from a news angle are the rise of the Breedon Group with its acquisition of Ireland’s Lagan Cement in April 2018, investments at Hanson’s Padeswood cement plant and Tarmac’s Dunbar cement plant and a fairly static market reported by the major producers. Alongside this, Ireland’s Ecocem opened a terminal in Sheerness in June 2017 and, more recently, has just inaugurated its slag grinding plant on the other side of the English Channel at Dunkirk.
The decision by Breedon to straddle an impending UK-European Union (EU) border seems wise with Hanson’s parent company HeidelbergCement actively blaming Brexit for market uncertainty in the UK. The rise of Ecocem, a slag cement grinder and distributor, also seems to suit the atmosphere with its smaller, more nimble operation than a clinker producer. It’s into this situation that Hanson is reusing a mill from Spain for its Padeswood project and Tarmac is buying its mill from Cemengal, a manufacturer known for making modular mills that can be moved after installation if so desired.
Banging on about Brexit, and indeed Brexit uncertainty, can’t last forever and once clarity appears then the building industry can focus on various pressing issues. One is the country’s lack of residential housing supply. One possible solution for this is a new national planning policy. The government finished a consultation period in May 2018 for the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and industry bodies like the Mineral Products Association (MPA) have been making their views known. The MPA worries that that the proposed changes will weaken the mineral planning system and threaten the replenishment of aggregate and other mineral reserves. It argues that to secure the essential minerals required to build all those new houses the government needs an, “...efficient and effective mineral planning system with up to date plans, well-resourced planning departments and good data, which are prerequisites, as is appropriate capacity and capability in the ministry to ensure the system is planned, monitored and managed.” Detractors may point out that once the NPPF gets sorted we can all get on with the job of actually, like, building things but, as ever, the MPA has its part to play in the process.
Another indicator for the resumption of ‘business as normal’ might be the number of exhibitors at a trade show like Hillhead. The oranisers say that the exhibitors have grown by 10% in 2018 from 2016. With a heatwave forecast, the group stages of the football World Cup continuing and live demonstrations ongoing there are worse places to be to ponder the state of the industry. Come and find Global Cement at our stand (PC45) in the main pavillion at Hillhead 2018 and tell us what you think.
Germany: IKN has revealed that first clinker was created on schedule at HeidelbergCement’s Burglengenfeld cement plant in April 2018 following an upgrade to one its kiln lines.
IKN was awarded a contract for engineering, supply and installation to upgrade the pyro-processing line to 4000t/day, from raw meal feeding to clinker discharge. The contract included integration engineering, supply and installation of add-on components for the raw meal grinding plant. The new production line comprises a two-string, five-stage preheater tower with inline calciner and Fire Bed Combustor for coarse refuse-derived fuel (RDF). IKN says that its most modern preheater and calciner design ensures minimum pressure drop at maximum performance and high efficiency. The kiln line has been designed for maximum use of a broad range of alternative fuels.
Helwan Cement receives offers for white cement plant
20 June 2018Egypt: Helwan Cement has received several preliminary non-bidding offers for its white cement plant located in Minya Governorate. The subsidiary of Suez Cement and HeidelbergCement is now conducting financial, legal and technical due-diligence on the offers, according to Reuters. No values or timescale for the sale have been disclosed.
UK: Hanson UK’s sustainability report for 2017 shows that its CO2 emissions per tonne of product have fallen by 7.2% to reach the lowest level for five years. However, the subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement may face issues meeting its target of a 10% reduction by 2020 from its 2010 figures as its CO2 emissions from production have rise by 5.7% since 2010.
Overall, the company described 2017 as a year of ‘solid’ progress. It passed its 2020 targets for reducing both mains water use and waste to landfill. The number of lost time injuries remained static at 21, but the frequency rate was down on the prior year and there was a three-month unbroken spell without a lost time injury. The building materials producer also launched HeidelbergCement’s Sustainability Commitments 2030, including a set of targets for the group to achieve by 2020.
Hungary: Germany’s IKN has provided information on its role with an environmental upgrade to Duna-Dráva Cement’s Vác plant. The Euro22m project was commissioned in April 2018. The 2400t/day clinker production line was modified by IKN to handle a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) substitution rate of up to 100% in the calciner. The two lower cyclone stages were replaced, a complete new preheater tower with the inline calciner was erected, a new bypass system and a new static inlet in the clinker cooler were installed. IKN says that it completed the project in just less than two years on an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) basis.
Denmark’s FLSmdith also worked on the project replacing the line’s bag filters with an electrostatic precipitator system. This part of the environmental upgrade cost Euro4.7m.
Kunda Nordic Tsement to spend Euro2.2m on upgrades
05 June 2018Estonia: Kunda Nordic Tsement plans to spend Euro2.2m on upgrades to its operations. The investment will be used for emission improvements, updating its plant’s power distribution system, starting to use clinker dust in cement grinding and dredging the port of Kunda, according to the Virumaa Teataja newspaper.
The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement increased its output of clinker and cement by 20% and 60% respectively in 2017. Its plant relaunched its second kiln in 2017 but this increased its CO2 emissions. It produced 1081kg of CO2 per ton of clinker compared to the European target of 766kg. The plant operates two wet process kilns but it plans to switch to a dry production process in the future as this would help it reduce its emissions.
HeidelbergCement holds a 75% stake in the company with the rest belonging to Ireland’s CRH.
Colacem buys Maddaloni plant from Italcementi
04 June 2018Italy: Colacem has purchased the Maddaloni cement plant from Italcementi. The transaction was part of the measures requried by the Italian Competition Authority when Italcementi acquired Cementir.
Spain: FYM, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, is facing a potential legal battle to expand the quarry at its La Araña cement plant near Malaga. It has applied to the local government for a compulsory order to buy land at the site, according to the Diario Sur newspaper. FYM says that it has the authorisation to use up to 176 hectares near its plant for mineral extraction but that it is only using 43 hectares at present. The agreement in place allows the cement producer to buy land on a compulsory basis if an agreement can’t be reached with the land owners. However, the current land owner and FYM have disagreed over the price.
Gebr. Pfeiffer starts installation of mill for Osho Cement and HeidelbergCement in South Africa
17 May 2018South Africa: Gebr. Pfeiffer has started installing a MVR 3750 C-4 mill for a joint venture between Osho Cement and HeidelbergCement that is building a cement grinding plant at Port Elizabeth. The deal was agreed in 2017 and TCDRI is the general contractor. It is Gebr. Pfeiffer’s first MVR mill in the country.
The new mill will be grinding 110t/hr of Ordinary Portland Cement (CEM I) to a fineness of 3500cm²/g Blaine and 80t/hr of blast-furnace cement (CEM III-A) to 4500cm²/g Blaine. A SLS 3750 BC classifier with high-precision cut will be mounted on top of the mill. The mill will have an installed power of 2600kW. It is intended to start operation later in 2018.