Displaying items by tag: Plant
Shree Cement completes grinding plant at Aurangabad
24 June 2016India: Shree Cement has completed the expansion of its cement grinding plant at Aurangabad in Bihar. The plant increased its production capacity to 3.6Mt/yr from 2Mt/yr.
Environmental Protection Agency calls for two cement plants in Pakistan to stop production
24 June 2016Pakistan: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued directives to the Hazara and Kohat administrations to stop production at two cement plants in breach of EPA regulations on dust pollution. Muhammad Bashir Khan, the director general of the EPA, has issued directives to shut down the Dewan Hattar Cement plant in Hattar and the Kohat Cement plant, according to the News International newspaper. Khan said that the Dewan Hattar plant had requested an eight-month period to install dust control measures but had failed to do so. The Kohat plant’s dust control unit is currently out of order.
FLSmidth wins plant order in Tamil Nadu
24 June 2016India: FLSmidth has signed a contract with Larsen & Toubro Limited for engineering, procurement and supply of equipment for a complete cement production line with a capacity of 3000t/day. The plant will be located in Ariyalur, approximately 300km south of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The end client of the project is Tamil Nadu Cement Corporation Limited (TANCEM), a wholly owned undertaking of the Government of Tamil Nadu, with whom Larsen & Toubro Limited has an EPC contract. The order will be delivered over the next 16 months.
The order includes a complete range of equipment from crushing to the packing plant: ATOX® 35.0 vertical mill for raw grinding, ATOX® 20.0 vertical mill for coal grinding, Pyro Processing System with low-NOx ILC calciner, FLSmidth Cross-BarTM CB10 x 40 cooler and a UMS 5.0 x 15.0 ball mill for cement grinding. FLSmidth’s supply also includes equipment from product companies of FLSmidth, such as planetary gear units for vertical mills from FLSmidth MAAG Gear, bag filters and an electrostatic precipitator from
FLSmidth Airtech, packing plant from FLSmidth Ventomatic, a control system and plant automation from FLSmidth Automation and weighing and metering systems from FLSmidth Pfister.
Syria: LafargeHolcim has dodged accusations by La Monde that Lafarge entered into deals with armed groups in Syria, including Islamic State (IS), to protect its business interests in the country. In a statement LafargeHolcim said that its first priority was the safety and security of its employees at its Jalabiyeh cement plant before it eventually closed the plant. It did not deny the accusations.
Le Monde reported it had seen letters sent by Lafarge managers in Syria revealing arrangements that Lafarge made with the jihadist group to continue production until 19 September 2014 and to arrange access for staff and supplies. The French newspaper also alleges that Lafarge bought licences from and paid taxes to IS middle-men and oil traders.
Lafarge operated the 3Mt/yr Jalabiyeh cement plant from 2010 to 2014. In September 2014, Lafarge stopped operating the plant. After that, all employees were evacuated, put on paid leave and were no longer allowed to access the plant. In December 2014 Lafarge decided to terminate all employee contracts, and where possible, transfer employees to other parts of the group.
Nepal: Cement producers in Nepal are upgrading their plants in preparation for the start of operation by a number of foreign owned cement companies. Dhruba Thapa, the president of the Cement Manufacturers' Association of Nepal (CMAN), said that the imminent ‘invasion’ by foreign cement producers has led to unease amongst local producers, in comments to the Kathmandu Post
Dangote Cement from Nigeria, Hongshi and Huaxin from China and Reliance Cement from India have all been granted clearance to start operations in Nepal. Their combined foreign direct investment amounts to US$1.45bn and their proposed output stands at 22,000t/day.
Local projects include Cosmos Cement’s plan to build its first clinker plant. It is expected to start production in the second half of 2016. At present the cement producer operates two cement grinding plants with a combined capacity of 800t/day. It is also upgrading the capacity of these plants to a total of 2000t/day.
Arghakhanchi Cement has announced that it will nearly triple its capacity to 3000t/day by the end of 2017. At present the plant has a production capacity of 1200t/day. Agni Cement Industry has planned to set up a new plant with a daily capacity of 1200t/day. Currently, its capacity is 300t/day.
Domestic demand for cement is 5.5Mt/yr and production is 4.6Mt/yr according to CMAN. Domestic cement manufacturers claim that they have become able to meet 80% of the country's requirement with a capacity utilisation of 50 – 60%. However, foreign investors have said that there is unexplored potential demand for cement in Nepal as infrastructure development grows. Local producers have countered this claim, saying that foreign direct investment has been promoted by offering foreign investors more tax incentives than what domestic producers receive.
China: Shanshui Cement has regained control over Liaocheng Shanshui, a subsidiary that was illegally occupied by ‘unidentified people’. The local government and police helped the company take back the cement plant and its offices. Normal production has resumed.
During the occupation the offices were ransacked and the official seal and business license of Liaocheng Shanshui were stolen. Shandong Shanshui and Liaocheng Shanshui have announced that, the stolen seal of Liaocheng Shanshui has been invalidated since 16 June 2016.
In a statement the company has confirmed that a corporate dispute is on-going between Shanshui Zhonggong, Shandong Shanshui and Liaocheng Shanshui. It believes that the occupation was related to this. Shanshui Cement has faced financial troubles since a shareholder battle for control of the company took place in late 2015.
India: All options are being considered by the state government for the Mawmluh Cherra Cement plant in Meghalaya including handing the plant over to private investors. Chief minister Mukul Sangma refused to rule out the option when asked about the state owned cement plant, according to the Indian Telegraph.
"In the process of trying to turn any public sector undertaking of the government into a profit-making body, the authorities concerned have been asked to consider all options. Let them come up with the options and then the best one will be considered," said Sangma.
The cement plant stopped production in 2014. It has since been dogged by high staff costs. In early June 2016 the Meghalaya government approved a voluntary retirement scheme for 145 of the plant’s 445 employees.
Myanmar: The state-run No. 33 cement plant in Kyaukse, Mandalay will be upgraded to produce up to 5000t/day of cement in a partnership with Myanmar Conch Cement. The plant was established in 1983 and has been running under the Ministry of Industry with a capacity of 300t/day. The upgrade is expected to be finished in three months, according to Myanmar Business Today.
The agreement with Myanmar Conch Cement will give the government profit from 2.71% of production in the first year and from 5% in the following 19 years. “In profit sharing, the government owns its net profit without investment for production and staff payment. The partnership company will pay for it,” said U Saw Aung, General Manager of Technology at the Development Department of the Ministry of Industry.
Domestic demand for cement in Myanmar is around 8Mt/yr with half of this figure imported from abroad.
Cambodia: Battambang Conch Cement, a joint venture between China’s Conch International Holdings and Cambodia’s Battambang KT Cement, has announced plans to build a US$230m cement plant in Battambang province. The plant will being operation in December 2017 and it will have a cement production capacity of 1.8Mt/yr, according to the Phnom Penh Post.
“We will be the fourth cement company to supply the market,” said Vinh Hour, director of Battambang Conch Cement. According to Hour, Cambodia’s demand for cement has reached 8Mt/yr and the existing three cement plants in Kampot province can only supply about half of this amount. The remainder is imported from Asian suppliers. Battambang Conch Cement has applied for an industrial mining licence to use limestone from a nearby mountain in the district. The company aims to supply five provinces in northwest Cambodia: Battambang, Pursat, Bantey Meanchey, Siem Reap and Preah Vihear.
Hort Pheng, director of industrial affairs at the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft, said the ministry has approved five cement factories to date – three of which are in Kampot province and already supply the market. Chip Mong Insee Cement has also received approval to build a production line in the southern province, with construction on the US$260m cement plant expected to finish in 2018.
FLSmidth receives Euro34m order in Vietnam
17 June 2016Vietnam: FLSmidth has signed an engineering and procurement contract worth Euro34m with the Tan Thang Cement Joint Stock Company for the supply of main equipment to new cement plant in the Nghe An province. The order includes all the main equipment from the raw mill grinding to the clinker silo, as well as a coal mill installation, civil design, commissioning and training. Once completed, the cement plant will have a capacity of 5000t/day.
"This order is the second significant order to FLSmidth in Vietnam within the past year and was won against two other international competitors due to FLSmidth's strong track record in Vietnam and the use of the most efficient equipment. Vietnam has, for many years, been an important market to FLSmidth and, after a number of years with limited growth within the cement industry, the market is starting to pick up again," said Group Executive Vice President of the Cement Division Per Mejnert Kristensen.
The order will be booked by the company’s Cement Division and contribute beneficially to FLSmidth's earnings until late 2017.