Displaying items by tag: Tamil Nadu

India: The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has fined ACC subsidiary Madukkarai Cement US$61,000 for fugitive emissions of clinker and cement dust in mid-2020. The Hindu newspaper has reported that inspections found dust in the village Kurumbapalayam, Coimbatore District, located on the eastern side of the cement plant. An ambient air quality survey in September 2020 revealed higher-than-prescribed particulate volumes.

In addition to paying the fine, the producer must comply with 19 instructions of the TNPCB for air pollution control and monitoring by 7 January 2021.

India: The government of Tamil Nadu has responded to a labour shortage resulting from the coronavirus lockdown by training up local minors for construction jobs. The Hindu newspaper has reported that the regular workforce consists mainly of some of India’s 9m annual migrant workers who travel from rural areas to construction hubs such as Tamil Nadu’s state capital of Chennai.

The state-owned Tamil Nadu Cement Corporation (TANCEM) has said that it will increase cement production at its Arasu plant in Ariyalur to 3000t/day from 2000t/day in anticipation of construction growth in the second half of 2020.

Dalmia Cement threw down the gauntlet this week with the announcement of a large-scale carbon capture unit (CCU) at one of its plants in Tamil Nadu, India. An agreement has been signed with UK-based Carbon Clean Solutions Limited (CCSL) to use its technology in building a 0.5Mt/yr CCU. The partnership will explore how CO₂ from the plant can be used, including direct sales to other industries and using the CO₂ as a precursor in manufacturing chemicals. No exact completion date or budget has been disclosed.

The move is a serious declaration of intent from the Indian cement producer towards its aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2040. Dalmia has been pushing its sustainability ‘journey’ for several years now hitting targets such as reaching 6Mt of alternative raw materials usage in its 2018 financial year and reaching a clinker factor of 63% at the same time. In an article in the November 2018 issue of Global Cement Magazine it said it had achieved CO₂ emissions of 526kg/t from its cement production compared to 578kg/t from other Indian members of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI). In its eastern operations it had gone further to reach 400kg/t.

Using CCU is the next step to this progression but Dalmia’s approach is not without its caveats. Firstly, despite the size of the proposed project it is still being described as a ‘large-scale demonstration.’ Secondly, the destination of all that captured CO₂, as mentioned above, is still being considered. CCSL uses a post-combustion capture method that captures flue gas CO₂ and then combines the use of a proprietary solvent with a heat integration step. Where the capture CO₂ goes is vital because if it can’t be sold or utilised in some other way then it needs to be stored, putting up the price. Technology provider CCSL reckons that its CDRMax process has a CO₂ capture price tag of US$40/t but it is unclear whether this includes utilisation sales of CO₂ or not.

The process is along similar lines to the Skyonic SkyMine (see Global Cement Magazine, May 2015) CCU that was completed in 2015 at the Capitol Cement plant in San Antonio, Texas in the US. However, that post-combustion capture project was aiming for 75,000t/yr of CO₂. Dalmia and CCSL’s attempt is six times greater.

Meanwhile, Cembureau, the European cement association, joined a group of industrial organisations in lobbying the European Union (EU) on the Horizon Europe programme. It wants the budget to be raised to at least Euro120m with at least 60% to be dedicated to the ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’ pillar. This is relevant in a discussion on industrial CO₂ emissions reduction because the scheme has been supporting various European cement industry projects, including HeidelbergCement’s work with the Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) consortium and Calix at its Lixhe plant in Belgium and its pilots in Norway. As these projects and others reach industrial scale testing they need this money.

These recent developments provide hope for the future of the cement industry. Producers and their associations are engaging with the climate change agenda and taking action. Legislators and governments need to work with the cement sector to speed up this process and ensure that the industry is able to cut its CO₂ emissions while continuing to manufacture the materials necessary to build things. Projects like this latest from Dalmia Cement are overdue, but are very encouraging.

Tamil Nadu's subsidised cement scheme attracted negative attention this week when a prominent Indian politician called for it to be investigated. PMK party founder S Ramadoss alleged in a statement covered by Indian press that cement from the scheme is either being not being procured at the levels the state government are declaring or it is being sold on the black market.

Without investigating Ramadoss' comments too deeply in this article the Amma scheme does deserve looking at along with the pressures that have created it in the Indian cement market. The scheme takes its name from the nickname, Amma or mother, of the current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa. It follows previous populist subsidy schemes such as Amma Vegetables, Amma Water and Amma Theatres. As such it is exactly the kind of initiative you might expect a rival politician might criticise.

The scheme was created in mid-2014 to cope with fluctuating cement prices in the state. At that time Tamil Nadu consumed 1.7 – 1.8Mt/month of cement and around 400,000 – 450,000t was supplied by Andhra Pradesh. Subsequently prices rose in the neighbouring state, the purchases from Andhra Pradesh fell to 150,000 – 300,000t/month and the price went up in Tamil Nadu. The Amma Cement Scheme was created in response. It was intended to purchase 200,000t/month from private manufacturers. This would then be sold in eligibility bands with limits on the number of cement bags that could be bought dependent on size and type of project.

When the scheme launched in January 2015 the Times of India saw it as a politically canny move that would benefit middle-income rural citizens who could afford to build their own homes. Urban residents are less likely to build their own homes and so they wouldn't use the scheme as much. For example, at the start of the scheme sales in one rural district massively overtook sales in the city of Chennai.

Looking nationally, in July 2015 the Cement Manufacturers' Association (CMA) cried out that 100Mt/yr of India's production capacity was not being used due to supply and demand mismatching. It placed the value of this 'dead investment' at US$8.66bn. At present, the CMA places installed capacity at 380Mt/yr and utilisation at 275Mt/yr (70%). Previously utilisation was 94% in 2007 – 2008. Locally, Global Cement Magazine placed cement production capacity in Tamil Nadu at 33.9Mt/yr at the start of 2015. Demand was recorded at 20Mt in 2014, giving the state a capacity utilisation of 60%.

Cement demand was reported down in the southern states of India in 2014. Producers subsequently cut production to hold prices and stem their losses. With the CMA hoping for national infrastructure and housing projects to whip up demand generally, it seems possible that producers have little incentive to provide cement for the Amma scheme. One economist the Times of India quoted wondered whether the private producers would continue to sell cement to the state government at the necessary volumes. Sure enough, one of Ramadoss' criticisms of the scheme is that it may not be procuring the targeted volumes. If this is the case then the state government will have to pay more for their cement to hit the volumes they want.