Displaying items by tag: Product

Sweden: Cementa says it is has supply problems delivering its Bascement product. The delivery issues have been caused by frequent power cuts to its Slite plant, weather-related delays to its shipping schedule and high cement demand. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement said that it was keeping its customers regularly updated.

Qatar: Al Khalij Cement Company has obtained certification from the American Petroleum Institute (API) to produce oil well cement. The certification allows it to make Grade (s) HSR class G oil well cement at its Umm Bab plant, according to the Gulf Times newspaper. The API has awarded Al Khalij Cement a three-year licence to apply the API monogram on its products. 11 other companies are certified to produce by the API to produce oil well cement in the Middle East.

France: Ciments Calcia has launched Hop’ pour les Pros, a dissolvable cement bag product. Cement sold in the bags can be placed directly into a mixer to make ready-mix concrete. Its puported beneifts include reduce spillage, time savings and no packaging. CEM II 32.5 R cement will be used in the product manufactured at he company’s Bussac-Forêt cement plant in Charente-Maritime.

Malaysia: Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) has launched a new Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) product. The 32.5N strength product is targeted for low-rise concrete structures such as single storey residential, office and commercial buildings. It is also intended for plastering, bricklaying and for use in the construction of drains and rural or kampong roads. CMS has also been conducting trials with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) on testing it as a binder for soil stabilisation. The new cement type will compliment CMS’ existing Portland Cement 42.5N product.

CMS operates one integrated cement plant and two grinding plants. Both grinding plants, at Pending in Kuching and Bintulu, have direct access to ports allowing entry to export markets for bagged and bulk product. The state-owned cement producer also operates two bulk marine terminals at Sibu and Miri.

Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim has launched Bélier Cement CemRoute, its first road cement product in the country. It was presented at the Exhibition of Infrastructures of Abidjan. It follows joint work between LafargeHolcim’s research centre and the Laboratory of Public Works of Ivory Coast.

The cement producer says that the new product offers specific advantages to road builders including releasing less heat than other comparable products, less cracking and increased durability of pavements by improving the bearing capacity of the soil.

LafargeHolcim also used the product launch to introduce the ‘LaboMobile,’ a mobile laboratory for on-site analysis. The laboratory is intended to help builders improve the performance of their work through material identification, concrete formulation, optimisation studies and/or control.

Mexico: Cemex says that its digital platform, Cemex Go, has reached over 20,000 customers in 18 countries in the first year of its operation. This figure represents about 60% of Cemex’s total recurring customers worldwide or about 20% of its global sales. The system allows the company and its customers to manage order placement, live tracking of shipments and invoices and payments for the company’s main products, including bagged and bulk cement. Cemex also expects that analytics data from the platform will enable it to make efficiency savings.

Neoris is also helping to commercialise the platform to other heavy building material companies in partnership with IBM. This builds upon Neoris and IBM’s experience helping Cemex develop and launch the digital product.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines is promoting the use of its blended cement products by local contractors for use in road building on environmental and performance grounds. The initiative follows the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure program. In July 2018 the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported that 3945km of roads had been built by the current administration, with more projects underway until 2022.

Holcim Philippines Senior Vice President for Sales William Sumalinog said that DPWH has allowed the use of blended cement for roads since mid-2016 through Department Order 133, which amends building standards for concrete pavements that previously specified Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). OPC has a higher clinker factor and so releases more CO₂ during production. He added that blended cement could perform better in some cases compared to OPC as it can be customised to address the specific durability challenges present in sites where structures will be built.

Sumalinog said that, since the issuance of the directive, the company has been working with its business partners and regional DPWH offices to highlight the benefits of blended cement over OPC through its engagement programs such as Holcim Building Bridges.

Ireland/UK: Lagan Group’s bagged cement, brick and tile products have been rebranded within the Breedon Group. The Irish company was acquired by Breedon Group earlier in 2018. It manufactures a range of bagged cement, concrete roof tiles and clay facing bricks, which it supplies to builders’ merchants across the UK and Ireland. The newly branded range has widened the product range available through Breedon’s distributor network.

As James Cousins, regional director responsible for Breedon’s specialist building products, said, “It’s a very exciting time to be part of Breedon. We’ve spent the last few months getting to know our new colleagues, as well as the products and plants within the group, and the rebranding from Lagan to Breedon demonstrates our commitment to the market to move forward as a single brand, leveraging the strength of the enlarged group to offer our customers high quality products and the highest level of customer service.”

Canada: CEMSI, a subsidiary of Kontrol Energy, has received an order worth US$0.8m for an emissions analyser for an unnamed ‘global’ cement company. The product offers on-going regulatory compliance and process data to meet government requirements and reduce fuel and energy costs associated with production. The company said that it has withheld the name of the customer due to ‘industry competitive purposes.’

CEMSI, Is an integrator of turnkey continuous emissions and process monitoring equipment solutions, serving the Canadian and US market. Currently, up to 40% of CEMSI’s revenues are recurring under multi-year service agreements. It was acquired by Kontrol Energy in September 2018.

“This is a significant new order for the CEMSI operating team and adds to a growing vertical line of business in emissions compliance,” said Paul Ghezzi, chief executive officer (CEO) of Kontrol Energy.

Europe: US-based company GCP Applied Technologies has received a European patent for increasing the efficiency of cement grinding by using sustainable raw materials. The grinding aids and quality improvers allow the use of bio-derived glycerol and reduce the use and the impact of oil-derived chemicals. The new Opteva and Tavero brand cement additives enable cement producers to reduce the energy consumption and the CO₂ emissions associated with cement production, with a reduced use, or no use at all, of oil-derived chemicals.

European Patent No. EP 1 728 771 B1 has been granted and registered into 17 European countries. The patent addresses methods for increasing the efficiency of cement and mineral grinding by using sustainable raw materials.

The patent relates to methods for improving the efficiency of grinding materials such as clinker and limestone, using glycerol derived from biofuel production, in combination with various grinding additives. GCP products can help to reduce the carbon footprint of cement and concrete. Grinding aids and quality improvers make cement manufacturing more efficient, while concrete admixtures can reduce the amount of cement needed to achieve a given strength specification.