Displaying items by tag: Upgrade

Spain: LafargeHolcim has decided to stop the expansion of its limestone quarry at its Sagunto cement plant. It decided this due to environmental issues with the local government and the lack of viable alternative for expansion in the area, known as Margas.

Lafarge originally signed at agreement with the government to expand the quarry in 2013. However the one licence requires renewal in 2017 and the local government has opposed the request.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) has shut down its clinker kiln for 30 days to start work on a fuel upgrade project. The US$45m project is intended to allow the kiln to use other fuels as well as the fuel oil it currently uses. A further 90-day stoppage period has been scheduled for mid-2016. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

INC’s president Jorge Mendez has reassured the public that the cement supply from his plant will not drop during the maintenance period. INC will continue delivering between 50,000 - 55,000 bags/day. The firm has 86,500t of clinker in stock. In addition the government will also import 200,000t of cement to maintain levels. INC is the country’s sole integrated cement plant.

India: HeidelbergCement India has successfully commissioned a waste heat recovery unit at its Narsingarh cement plant in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh. The new power plant will use waste heat generated by the clinker lines at the plant. It will be able to generate up to 12MW of power from this source.

Saudi Arabia: The Saudi Cement Company has decided to temporarily stop producing clinker on one of its production lines and postpone replacing three cement mills due to poor market conditions and a cement export ban. The company will stop its 3500t/day clinker kiln 6 until market conditions improve. The stoppage is not expected to affect the cement producer's financial results as its inventory currently stands at 4Mt. A plan to replace three 360t/hr cement mills with two 440t/hr mills has also been delayed due to market conditions. The upgrade was expected to add 0.6Mt/yr cement grinding capacity to the plant.

Egypt: Suez Cement plans to spend US$77m to convert its Helwan and Torah cement plants to use coal and refuse derived fuel (RDF), according to local media. The Kattameya and Suez cement plants were converted in 2015.

The company intends to start the conversion process in February 2016 at Helwan and July 2016 at Torah. The upgrade is expected to take 12 - 18 months. Subsequently both plants would use 70% coal for their energy. Helwan Cement will supplement this with 20 – 25% RDF and 5% natural gas. Torah Cement will use 30% heavy fuel oil. These conversions are expected to reduce the company's operating costs.

Zambia: Lafarge Zambia has successfully commissioned a Cemengal Plug & Grind cement grinding plant in Ndola which will produce 100,000t/yr of cement and take the plant's total capacity to 500,000t/yr. It has been constructed on available land within the Ndola plant.

"This project has utilised very minimal amount of land. It is fitted with state-of-the art technology and has bag filters to aid environmental management," said Lafarge Zambia CEO, Emmanuel Rigaux. He added that the plant will produce Supaset Cement. This will be exported to the Democratic Republic of Congo and other neighbouring countries.

Also present at the event was the LafargeHolcim Group Area Manager for East Africa and Indian Ocean, Dominique Drouet who was on a three day visit to Zambia.

Uzbekistan: Qizilqumsement and Bekabad Cement intend to conduct energy saving projects at their plants by the end of 2020, according to local press.

Bekabad Cement, in partnership with the World Bank, is upgrading its aeration system and the products transportation system at its cement silos. The upgrade will save more than 3MkW/hr of electric power per year. The plant is also installing a new cement ball mill with a capacity of 135 – 150t/hr. This is planned to reduce power consumption by 20%.

Qizilqumsement plans to reduce its gas consumption by 46.6Mm³, and power consumption by 57MkW/hr. A clinker silo will be built, the clinker plant will be upgraded and the closed circuit cement milling will be launched for mill #7.

Canada: Tony Levstik returned to Lafarge to pull the plug on the oldest piece of equipment at the Lafarge cement plant in Exshaw, Alberta, Canada. He was the first operator of the kiln when it was installed in 1975. He said that shutting it down was a lot easier than starting it up.

Kiln 6 is replacing kiln 4 as part of Lafarge's plant expansion project. The new technology will help to control dust and has fewer emissions. It will be approximately 30% cleaner with sulphur dioxide emissions, 75% cleaner with nitrous oxide emissions and have 25% less greenhouse gas emissions caused by combustion. The new kiln will also have better filter technology to help improve dust control. Kiln 4 used the gravel bed filter technology, which was prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s, but kiln 6 will have a state of the art bag house to collect dust.

"You can't make cement without using a lot of energy and these kilns that we're putting in are a lot more energy efficient, so we won't use as much fossil fuel, as much power to run the new plant," said Lafarge Plant Manager Jim Bachmann. "For a lot of reasons this is an exciting day." Kiln 6 will be operational in 2016.

Russia: The Slantsev cement plant, part of HeidelbergCement and operating in Cesla, Leningrad, plans to upgrade its production and continue development of the quarry. The investments in the project will amount to Euro14.5m.

Uganda: Tororo Cement Limited has invested US$25 - 30m towards the expansion of its cement plant, taking its capacity from the current 1.8Mt/yr to 3Mt/yr to meet regional demand.

Brij Mohan Gragrani, Tororo Cement executive director, said that the company would construct a new grinding mill, cement storage silos, rotary packers, clinker feeding system and clinker sheds. "The expansion is proposed in view of market demand in Uganda and neighbouring countries," said Mohan Gragrani.