Displaying items by tag: Industry 40
Carbon Re receives Euro1.19m in funding
28 October 2021UK: The Clean Growth Fund has led a Euro1.19m investment in cement industry decarbonisation software developer Carbon Re. Other investors are Blue Impact Ventures, Cambridge Enterprise Fund and UCL Technology Fund. The supplier says that its deep reinforcement learning AI product can reduce cement plants’ operating costs by Euro1.97 – 5.09/yr and eliminate 20% of Scope 1 emissions. Five pilot installations of its Delta Zero platform are installed at cement plants in the EU, India, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
CEO Sherif Elsayed-Ali said “Our mission is to reduce global emissions at the gigatonne scale, starting with the cement industry, and to become the leading global AI company to deliver industrial decarbonisation. Carbon Re’s AI technology provides heavy industry with an effective solution to address their critical challenges of energy costs and emissions reduction.” He added “The road to a zero-carbon world will be long, but with the support of the Clean Growth Fund and our other investors, our AI-products and solutions will evolve to accelerate the transition of energy intensive industries.”
LafargeHolcim Maroc to launch Agadir-Souss cement plant before 2022
24 September 2021Morocco: LafargeHolcim Maroc says that it is on schedule to commission its new 1.6Mt/yr Agadir-Souss cement plant in Souss-Massa region before 2022. The Ajourd’hui le Maroc newspaper has reported that the plant will rely on artificial intelligence (AI) in its cement production process. The total cost of the project is US$335m. The producer says that, when operational, the plant will create 1400 jobs.
Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies launches H-Iona clinkerless cement on bagged cement market
16 September 2021France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has launched H-Iona clinkerless cement, its first cement to be made available to retail customers in bagged form. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that H-Iona cement production’s CO2 emissions are 150kg/t, according to the producer. It claims that this is just 17% that of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies produces H-Iona, primarily from ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and gypsum, heat-free at its fully automated Bournezeau plant.
Co-founder Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmannsaid "By launching H-Iona, the lowest carbon cement on the European market, Hoffmann Green Cement is following its continuous innovation approach.” They added “This is the first low-carbon cement to have received CE marking. Thanks to this ground breaking technology, we are democratising access to low-carbon cement.”
Drone usage by the cement industry
25 August 2021Holcim Schweiz hit a milestone recently with the aerial drone programme at its Siggenthal cement plant. The project with Voliro, a Switzerland-based technology start-up, has started to use multi-rotor drones to conduct official measurement flights. They used them to take measurements to determine the steel wall thicknesses of the cement kiln and the cyclone preheater. The work has been part of Holcim’s ‘Plants of Tomorrow’ industrial automation plan with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Key features of the particular drones being used are that they can be rotated around all axes by a special rotor system and can even fly upside down.
Holcim has been using drones in and around cement plants for a few years now. When it launched the Plants of Tomorrow plan in 2019, Switzerland-based drone supplier Flyability said that the cement company had chosen its Elios 2 model to perform confined space inspection. Earlier in 2017 another supplier, SenseFly, said that LafargeHolcim Tanzania had been using its fixed-wing products. Holcim is also far from alone in its use of drones. A few examples among many include Cemex USA’s work with Kespry earlier in 2021, HeidelbergCement’s work in North America and Germany in 2020 and 2021 and Votorantim’s testing at its Córdoba and Niebla plants in Spain back in late 2015.
UAV usage by armed forces dates back to examples like unmanned incendiary balloons being deployed in the 19th century to Azerbaijan’s reported decisive use of drones in its war against Armenia in late 2020. The current era of industrial UAVs began after 2000 when governments starting issuing civilian permits, miniaturisation occurred and improvements in cameras, sensors and computing power followed. For the mineral processing sector the trend started with drones being used for stockpile management and quarry surveying. At present this is the main area that UAVs are used for by the sector, often coupled with photogrammetry techniques. CalPortland’s Adam Chapman’s paper at the 2021 IEEE-IAS/PCA Virtual Cement Conference described one company’s use of UAVs in the cement industry since 2016, looking at licensing, cost, quality of data, drone technology, fleet management and field experiences.
More recently though, tests of drones used to survey cement plant buildings and structures have started being publicised such as Holcim’s work at Siggenthal. A presentation by consultant John Kline and Chris Place of Exelon Clearsight summarised the use of drones for structural inspection at cement plants at the Global CemProducer 3 webinar in January 2021. The key benefits they promoted of using an UAV in this way were: improved safety because workers have reduced risk from climbing, working at height or in confined spaces; less time to conduct a survey; higher resolution photographs and video; better coverage through grid method surveying; and an overall lower cost. However, on that last point, other commentators have noted that market-leading drones for surveying are relatively expensive and easy to damage. Drones have since been used to start going inside structures at cement plants with Kline demonstrating their use to inspect the condition of refractory within the cooler, kiln, pre-heater and cyclone of a production line at the Global CemProducer 2 webinar in July 2020. HeidelbergCement has also been doing similar things, with an inspection trial using a drone of the kiln at the Schelklingen plant in Germany during the 2021 maintenance shutdown period at the site.
So far the use of drones by the cement industry has mostly been in a surveying or inspection capacity. Given the short time that UAVs have been used like this there is likely to be scope for lots more development both within existing fields and new ones as the sector works out how best the technology can be used. One application we couldn’t find in the research for this short article was the use of drones for security and surveillance tasks at cement plants and quarries although this may be happening already. However, there could be a more active role for drones if or when a company finds a way for them to start making basic repairs or carrying out simple maintenance in those hard to reach areas that drones excel at accessing. Research examples exist of UAVs being used to spray concrete or repair materials onto minor defects in concrete structures. Yet considerable challenges face these kinds of applications such as the weight of a loaded multi-rotor drone or damage from rebound. Before we all get too worried about drones replacing our jobs though it is worth considering that Amazon’s plan to deliver packages by UAV was first announced in 2013 and it still hasn’t happened yet. It may yet, but for now in most situations humans remain cheaper and more practical than robots or drones.
Colombia: Cementos Argos has signed a contract with Klaveness Digital for the supply of the latter’s CargoValue cement terminal logistics platform throughout its supply chain. The move follows a successful trial project carried out by the parties during the second quarter of 2021. Cementos Argos says that it solidifies its digitisation agenda to preserve its strong market foothold in the Americas.
Trading and business intelligence senior director Gabriel Ballestas said “Our business model is focused on the customer and on creating added value for our stakeholders. CargoValue has enabled us to digitise existing processes to improve visibility and make better decisions throughout the supply chain towards that goal.” He added “This wider rollout will improve collaboration between stakeholders and allow us to identify and improve supply chain efficiencies between sites.”
Fives selects Wallix to secure production data
25 January 2021France: Fives has selected Wallix’s Wallix Inside software to improve the online security of its subsidiary Fives Cortx’s industrial data products. The supplier says that this will give cement plant users secure access to energy bills, cost optimisation, site maintenance and production line analytics.
Fives CortX chief executive officer David Zak said, “Fives provides flexible and tailored solutions to optimise industrial sites’ production and maintenance by capitalising on field data. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the core of our systems and cybersecurity at the forefront of our minds. Therefore, we ensure the security of flows and data by design. With the solution Wallix Inside, we incorporate the best technologies in our solutions to guarantee an increased level of security between connected machines and our Gateway Internet of Things (IOT), enabling our clients to fully enter Industry 4.0.”
Huaxin Cement wins award for digital projects
17 April 2020China: The China Building Materials Federation and the China Silicate Society have named Hauxin Cement as the winner of the Science and Technology Award 2019 for its digitisation project. The project, entitled ‘Development and Innovation of a Cement Enterprise Operation Digital System,’ aims to modernise management at a pan-business level by using monitoring and analysis, intelligent logistics and a service centre system across 11 different software platforms. 39 Huaxin-affiliated companies currently use the product.
Simotix Connect 400 forms basis of Currax and Siemens joint Industry 4.0 pilot project
24 March 2020Germany: Currax and Siemens have announced their collaboration on a mill operations digitisation pilot project involving the Simotics Connect 400 motor data collector and transmitter. They hope that analysis of data processed via the Simotics 400 will better enable the remote operating of mills ‘to increase efficiency and component life’ and speeding the shift towards automation and production that is resilient to crises such as the coronavirus outbreak.
RHI Magnesita launches Digital Hub
13 February 2020Austria: Refractory manufacturer RHI Magnesita has launched a digital hub in Vienna to support the development of so-called ‘Industry 4.0’ initiatives. Projects the new hub will explore include automated process optimisation in data analysis and quick (QCK) and broadband spectral thermometer (BST) in measurement.
2019 in cement
18 December 2019It’s the end of the year so it’s time to look at trends in the sector news over the last 12 months. It’s also the end of a decade, so for a wider perspective check out the feature in the December 2019 issue of Global Cement Magazine. The map of shifting production capacity and the table of falling CO2 emissions per tonne are awesome and inspiring in their own way. They also point towards the successes and dangers facing the industry in the next decade.
Back on 2019 here are some of the main themes of the year in the industry news. This is a selective list but if we missed anything crucial let us know.
European multinationals retreat
LafargeHolcim left the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, HeidelbergCement sold up in Ukraine and reduced its stake in Morocco and CRH is reportedly making plans to leave the Philippines and India, if local media speculation can be believed. To be fair to HeidelbergCement it has also instigated some key acquisitions here and there, but there definitely has been a feel of the multinationals cutting their losses in certain places and retreating that bit closer to their heartlands.
CRH’s chief executive officer Albert Manifold summed it up an earnings meeting when he said, “…you're faced with a capital allocation decision of investing in Europe or North America where you've got stability, certainty, overlap, capability, versus going for something a bit more exotic. The returns you need to generate to justify that higher level of risk are extraordinary and we just don't see it.”
The battle for the European Green Deal
One battle that’s happening right now is the lobbying behind the scenes for so-called energy-intensive industries in Europe as part of the forthcoming European Green Deal. The cement industry is very aware that it is walking a tightrope on this one. The European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) CO2 price started to bite in 2019, hitting a high of Euro28/t in August 2019 and plant closures have been blamed on it. The rhetoric from Ursula von der Leyen, the new president of the European Commission, has been bullish on climate legislation and the agitation of Greta Thunberg internationally and groups like Extinction Rebellion has kept the issue in the press. Cembureau, the European Cement Association, is keen to promote the industry’s sustainability credentials but it is concerned that aspects of the proposed deal will create ‘uncertainty and risks.’ Get it wrong and problems like the incoming ban on refuse-derived fuel (RDF) imports into the Netherlands may proliferate. What the Green Deal ends up as could influence the European cement industry for decades.
The managed march of China
Last’s week article on a price spike in Henan province illustrated the tension in China between markets and government intervention. It looks like this was driven by an increase in infrastructure spending with cement sales starting to rise. Cement production growth has also picked up in most provinces in the first three quarters of 2019. This follows a slow fall in cement sales over the last five years as state measures such as consolidation and peak shifting have been implemented. The government dominates the Chinese market and this extends west, as waste importers have previously found out to their cost.
Meanwhile, the Chinese industry has continued to grow internationally. Rather than buying existing assets it has tended to build its own plants, often in joint ventures with junior local partners. LafargeHolcim may have left Indonesia in 2018 but perhaps the real story was Anhui Conch's becoming the country's third biggest producer by local capacity. Coupled with the Chinese dominance in the supplier market this has meant that most new plant projects around the world are either being built by a Chinese company or supplied by one.
India consolidates but watches dust levels
Consolidation has been the continued theme in the world's second largest cement industry, with the auction for Emami Cement and UltraTech Cement’s acquisition of Century Textiles and Industries. Notably, UltraTech Cement has decided to focus its attention on only India despite the overseas assets it acquired previously. Growth in cement sales in the second half of 2019 has slowed and capacity utilisation rates remain low. Indian press reports that CRH is considering selling up. Together with the country's low per capita cement consumption this suggests a continued trend for consolidation for the time being.
Environmental regulations may also play a part in rationalising the local industry, as has already happened in China. The Indian government considered banning petcoke imports in 2018 in an attempt to decrease air pollution. Later, in mid-2019, a pilot emissions trading scheme (ETS) for particulate matter (PM) was launched in Surat, Gujarat. At the same time the state pollution boards have been getting tough with producers for breaching their limits.
Steady growth in the US
The US market has been a dependable one over the last year, generally propping up the balance sheets of the multinational producers. Cement shipments grew in the first eight months of the year with increases reported in the North-Eastern and Southern regions. Imports also mounted as the US-China trade war benefitted Turkey and Mexico at the expense of China. Alongside this a modest trade in cement plants has been going on with upgrades also underway. Ed Sullivan at the Portland Cement Association forecasts slowing growth in the early 2020s but he doesn’t think a recession is coming anytime soon.
Mixed picture in Latin America
There have been winners and losers south of the Rio Grande in 2019. Mexico was struggling with lower government infrastructure spending hitting cement sales volumes in the first half of the year although US threats to block exports haven’t come to pass so far. Far to the south Argentina’s economy has been holding the cement industry back leading to a 7% fall in cement sales in the first 11 months of the year. Both of these countries’ travails pale in comparison to Venezuela’s estimated capacity utilisation of just 12.5%. There have been bright spots in the region though with Brazil’s gradual return to growth in 2019. The November 2019 figures suggest sales growth of just under 4% for the year. Peru, meanwhile, continues to shine with continued production and sales growth.
North and south divide in Africa and the Middle East
The divide between the Middle East and North African (MENA) and Sub-Saharan regions has grown starker as more MENA countries have become cement exporters, particularly in North Africa. The economy in Turkey has held back the industry there and the sector has pivoted to exports, Egypt remains beset by overcapacity and Saudi Arabian producers have continued to renew their clinker export licences.
South of the Sahara key countries, including Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, have suffered from poor sales due to a variety of reasons, including competition and the local economies. Other countries with smaller cement industries have continued to propose and build new plants as the race to reduce the price of cement in the interior drives change.
Changes in shipping regulations
One of the warning signs that flashed up at the CemProspects conference this year was the uncertainty surrounding the new International Maritime Organistaion (IMO) 2020 environmental regulations for shipping. A meeting of commodity traders for fuels for the cement industry would be expected to be wary of this kind of thing. Their job is to minimise the risk of fluctuating fuel prices for their employers after all. Yet, given that the global cement industry produces too much cement, this has implications for the clinker and cement traders too. This could potentially affect the price of fuels, input materials and clinker if shipping patterns change. Ultimately, IMO 2020 comes down to enforcement but already ship operators have to decide whether and when to act.
Do androids dream of working in cement plants?
There’s a been a steady drip of digitisation stories in the sector news this year, from LafargeHolcim’s Industry 4.0 plan to Cemex’s various initiatives and more. At present the question appears to be: how far can Industry 4.0 / internet of things style developments go in a heavy industrial setting like cement? Will it just manage discrete parts of the process such as logistics and mills or could it end up controlling larger parts of the process? Work by companies like Petuum show that autonomous plant operation is happening but it’s still very uncertain whether the machines will replace us all in the 2020s.
On that cheery note - enjoy the winter break if you have one.
Global Cement Weekly will return on 8 January 2020