Displaying items by tag: Refractory

US: Allied Minerals has completed a US$11m upgrade to its Pell City plant in Alabama. The refractories manufacturer has been working on the project since mid-2018. The company originally operated two sites in Alabama at Anniston and Pell City. After it purchased Riverside Refractories in 2017 it decided to focus on the Pell City unit.

Austria: RHI Magnesita, a global supplier of refractory products, systems and services, achieved a revenue of Euro1.54bn in the first half of 2019, an increase of 2.2% year-on-year despite challenges in some of its major markets. Its adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) increased by 12.3% to Euro234m from Euro209m, driven by the realisation of a further Euro10m of synergies and the strength of its Industrial Division. RHI Magnesita’s operating free cash flow of Euro129m was driven by EBITA growth.

“I am pleased to announce a robust financial performance in the first half of 2019,” said Stefan Borgas, CEO of RHI Magnesita. “Despite difficult end markets, we have seen a very strong performance from our Industrial Division, offsetting a slightly softer performance from the Steel Division in more challenging market conditions.”

India: Dalmia Seven, a joint venture between Dalmia Bharat Group and Austria’s Seven Refractories, has launched a new monolithic refractory production line at its Katni plant in Madhya Pradesh. Following the upgrade the unit has a production capacity of 45,000t/yr, according to the Press Trust of India. The new production line is intended to meeting growing demand nationally from the cement, steel and iron industries.

RHI Magnesita has taken the step this week of raising its prices globally by 5% for its products for its industrial and steel divisions. It has applied the increase to both its basic (magnesia and dolomite based) and non-basic products, varying in a range of 3% to 20%. It has blamed this on a global scarcity of raw materials caused mostly by Chinese environmental regulations on mining and processing. It goes on to attribute the issue to increased export taxes, more restrictive allocation of explosives and the nationalisation or controlled consolidation of mining operations in China. All of this has, “...structurally altered the production, pricing and dynamics for industrial minerals.”

Graph 1: Revenue in 2018 from industrial divisions at selected refractory producers. Source: Company reports.

Other major refractory producers, including Imerys and Vesuvius, reported similar mounting raw material costs in 2018. They also implemented price changes to maintain income and/or sales growth. As can partly be seen in Graph 1 some of the major refractory producers reported mixed fortunes in 2018 for their divisions that produce products for the cement industry.

RHI Magnesita noted that 2018 was a year of steady refractory market growth and relative stability for cement and lime from a global market perspective, with some significant variances on a regional basis. Imery’s Energy Solutions & Specialties division suffered due to flat markets. However, its High Resistance Materials division (not shown in Graph 1) benefited from the ongoing integration of Kerneos into the group. The group restructured its businesses at the end of 2018 creating a High Temperature Materials & Solution segment that brings together its various refractory concerns. Vesuvius' Steel Advanced Refractories division, which include monolithic products, reported particular growth in the Americas in 2018. Although it noted some market share loss in North Asia and in certain European countries, the latter due in price increases.

Refractories aren’t the only material or commodity used by the cement industry that has been distorted by Chinese domestic policy. Regulations on imports of waste streams including plastics started in 2017 leading to European and US suppliers struggling to find alternate markets. One implications of this appears to have been waste firms focusing on separating plastic into high and low calorific fractions to fight the downward price trends of a market glut. The outcomes are different but the sheer size and variety of China’s economy is increasingly affecting the cement industry in new and different ways.

RHI Magnesita’s travails in China and the debacle of waste imports bring to mind the quote by the 19th century Austrian diplomat Klemens von Metternic, ‘When Paris sneezes, Europe catches a cold.’ Metternic was referring to Napoleonic-era France and its aftermath. The modern version may have been used to reference the US but maybe it should be instead, ‘When China sneezes, the world catches a cold.’ Gesundheit.

UK: Refractory manufacturer RHI Magnesita has increased its prices for industrial and steel users by 5%. It says the rise is a consequence of the persistent increase in operating, raw materials, manufacturing, environmental and regulatory costs. The increase has been applied to the whole product range including basic (magnesia and dolomite based) and non-basic products, varying in a range of 3% to 20%. Customers have already started to be informed accordingly.

The company said that global scarcity of raw materials was still evident, mainly due to Chinese environmental regulations that have restricted mining and processing. Since 2017 there has been a ‘step’ change in refractory raw material production as China has implemented new environmental standards, which adjusted the level of production to global standards. Consequently, the refractory industry has been faced with supply shortages, leading to elevated raw material prices especially in higher grade dead burned and fused magnesia. This situation is expected to continue in 2019 although in the medium term prices are expected to fall below levels seen before 2017.

Poland: Germany’s Bilfinger is installing refractory linings at Cemex Polska’s Rudniki cement plant. It is also carrying out assembly work at various parts of the unit. The industrial services company is installing the refractory linings for parts of the plant, which entails using around 2000t of refractory material within a five-month period. It is part of the installation of a new cement clinker production line at the site.

The contract comes under Bilfinger’s Engineering & Maintenance Continental Europe division. Companies for which Bilfinger has worked on past contracts in Poland include cement producers CRH and Dyckerhoff.

US: Plibrico has appointed Roger Smith as its Technical Manager. He will be responsible for development of refractory formulas and providing technical guidance to the company’s partners and customers. Smith will report to Plibrico’s Vice President of Engineering, Dan Szynal.

Smith holds 15 years of experience in the processing, characterisation and testing of traditional and advanced ceramics. Prior to Plibrico, his previous positions include RHI Magnesita and Bucher Emhart Glass, where he was a ceramist for almost 10 years. As a ceramist, Smith conducted technical customer visits to address performance concerns, developed and commercialised new refractory material.

Smith is a member of the America Ceramic Society, serving as chairman of the St Louis, Missouri section from 2014 - 2016. He also was a member of the ASTM Committee C08 on refractories from 2010 - 2017. Smith holds a Master’s degree in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Austria: Franz Struzl, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of RHI, has died at the age of 76 years. He was the CEO of the refractory producer from 2011 to 2016.

Struzl studied at the Vienna University of Economics and Business in 1965. After more than 40 years at Alpine Steel Group (later Voestalpine), he became the chairman of Voestalpine in 2001. He held this position until 2004 and soon afterwards became CEO of Voestalpine, Brazil (Villares Metals), remaining there until 2010. In 2011, he joined RHI as CEO. Struzl also participated in the first negotiations regarding the merger of RHI and Magnesita. He retired in 2016 due to illness.

US: Plibrico has appointed John Finch has joined its team as the Southeastern Territory Manager. He will be based in the greater Omaha, Nebraska area. His appointment supports Plibrico’s strategic direction of strengthening partner relationships as well as increasing its nationwide refractory support coverage. He will report to Norm Phelps, Plibrico Vice President of Sales.

Finch began his career in the industrial market working with a boiler and refractory contractor. His background includes over 20 years of experience in technical and project management roles with several different refractory contractors. In these positions, he honed his skill set and areas of expertise including managing projects in mineral processing companies, power plants, boilers, foundries and heat treatment facilities. Finch is an active member of several different industry and refractory associations. He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Nebraska.

US/Europe: US refractory manufacturer Plibrico has entered into a distribution partnership with the Pli Group Europe, a refractory distributor contractor based in Vienna, Austria. Under the new alliance, Pli Group Europe will provide full-service distribution of Plibrico’s Plico brand refractories in Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, with immediate effect.

“Adding Pli Group Europe to our ranks of Pli Partners allows Plibrico to reinforce its expertise, enhance its service offering and strengthen the value chain offered to customers throughout Europe,” said Brad Taylor, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Plibrico.