Displaying items by tag: certification

US: Two Cemex USA terminals in California have achieved the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star Challenge for Industry status by reducing their energy consumption by more than 10% each. The San Diego terminal achieved a 12.2% reduction in 2016, compared to the prior year. The La Mirada terminal achieved a 23.2% reduction year-on-year. The Energy Star Challenge for Industry is a national call-to-action to improve energy efficiency by 10% within five years.

The La Mirada and San Diego terminals reduced their energy consumption by completing projects and executing strategies to improve their onsite energy intensity. Workers were educated on energy-management practices and procedures for the proper operation of plant equipment. Out-dated light bulbs at the terminals were replaced with more energy-efficient LED lighting. The process of enhancing lighting at the terminals continues in 2017, and workers at the terminals are focused on looking for more ways to save energy in the future. Cemex also plans to roll out programme to all of its logistics operations.

Nepal: Jagdamba Cement said that it has rebranded its Jagdamba Ultra Premium OPC Cement product with new packaging and appointed Bhusal Dahal as its brand ambassador. The cement producer added in a statement that its products can now compete with any international product available in Nepal, according to the República newspaper. It added that it has received NS 49, ISO 9001:2008, ISO 9001:2015/ISO 14001:2015 certifications as well as letter of appreciation 2014 and 2015 in NS Quality Awards.

UAE: Gulf Cement has received certification from the American Petroleum Institute to produce oil well cement. Its sales revenue fell by 8% year-on-year to US$153m in 2016 from US$167m in 2015 and its profit fell by 30% to US$13.6m from US$19.4m, according to Mubasher. The cement producer operates a plant in Ras Al Khaimah.

Lithuania: Mandatory cement certification in Russia has forced Akmenės Cementas and other cement producers based in the European Union (EU) to send their exports elsewhere. The Lithuanian cement producer has compensated for this by moving its sales in other markets, according to the Verslo Zinios newspaper. Akmenes Cementas’s sales fell by 8% year-on-year to Euro51m in 2016 from Euro55.4m in 2015.

Around 60% of its sales revenue came from local sales in Lithuania, 20% from sales in other Baltic countries and Belarus and 20% from Scandinavian countries. Previously, exports to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad accounted for 30% of the company’s revenue. The company expects to generate sales of Euro54m in 2017 based on existing contracts.

US: Titan America's Pennsuco plant, which includes cement manufacturing, aggregates, quarrying, block manufacturing and ready-mix concrete operations, has been officially recognised as a Gold Level Zero Waste facility, making it the only facility of its kind in the US to achieve Zero Waste Status.

"The Zero Waste Certification is a remarkable accomplishment and consistent with Titan America's commitment to striving for best-in-class sustainability practices. Congratulations to our Environmental Department and thanks to everyone at Pennsuco for their help and support. We should all feel very proud of this," said Randy Dunlap, president of Titan America's Florida business.

To qualify for Zero Waste Certification, the Pennsuco Complex was required to demonstrate greater than 90% diversion from landfill use for a minimum of 12 consecutive months. This includes reducing, reusing, recycling or composting discarded materials or recovering the materials for productive use in nature of the economy at biological temperatures and pressures. It requires implementing sustainable strategies for resource and waste management. The process for certification process also included an extensive on-site audit, which was performed by Zero Waste Council members.

Zero Waste recertification occurs every three years. The Pennsuco site is now aiming for Platinum Certification. Titan's Pennsuco Plant has also been recognised for other sustainability initiatives, including Wildlife Habitat Certification and EnergyStar Certification. Titan's two cement plants at Pennsuco and Roanoke have been EnergyStar certified for 10 consecutive years.

Russia: The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has issued warnings to companies certifying cement products that certification has been mandatory since March 2016. The competition body reported that the decision by Cemiscon and SibNIIcement to refuse some applications for certification without adequate grounds could restrict competition in the cement market. The FAS has since warned the companies that their actions broke the law.

Nepal: Government plans to grade domestic brands of cement have been delayed due to administrative issues at the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM). The NBSM prepared a draft for the certification in the autumn of 2016 but it has failed to approve it internally before forwarding it to the Nepal Standard Council, according to the Himalayan Times. The delay has been blamed on the busy schedule of NBSM employees. Under the plan, cement produced by local companies will be certified under three quality categories: 33-grade, 43-grade and 53-grade cement.

Namibia: Ohorongo Cement has inaugurated upgrades to its cement plant in Otavi including a composite cement unit and a third packaging line. The US$10.6m expansion is expected to increase the plant’s production capacity to 1Mt/yr. Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy Kornelia Shilunga presided at the event.

The composite cement unit will enable the plant to produce various types of cement. The new packaging line will increase the plant’s packaging rate to 6800bags/hr from 4400bags/hr. Ohorongo Cement has also installed a 2t big bag filling station for special projects, aimed at optimising logistics.

The Namibian Standards Institute also certified Ohorongo Cement’s products at the inauguration for fulfilling the requirements of the Namibian Standard NAMS/EN 197-1:2014. The scope of certification covers five types of cement manufactured by Ohorongo Cement: CEM II A-LL 42.5N, CEM II B-LL 32.5N, CEM II B-V 42.5N, CEM I 42.5R, and CEM I 52.5N. The new certification should allow Ohorongo Cement to enter markets in Zambia and Botswana without additional certification and inspections.

Nepal: The government will start certifying domestic brands of cement with quality grades by early 2017. Cement produced by local companies will be certified under three quality categories: 33-grade, 43-grade and 53-grade cement, according to the Himalayan Times. At present both domestically manufactured Ordinary Portland Cement and Portland Pozzolana Cement are labelled as 33-grade cement as the government provision doesn't allow producers to label their brands higher than grade 33. However, large-scale projects require higher grades of cement that have to be imported.

"We are in the last stage of finalising the draft of quality certification for domestic cement brands," said Bishwo Babu Pudasaini, director general of Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM). Once NBSM finalises a quality certification draft, it will be sent to Nepal Standard Council (NSC) for final approval.

USA: Titan America's Roanoke Cement has earned the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Energy Star certification for the tenth consecutive year and Titan's Pennsuco plant celebrates nine years of certification. To qualify for Energy Star, Titan's plants must perform in the top 25 percent of cement plants in the US for total energy efficiency (thermal and electrical) and meet strict environmental performance levels set by the EPA.

To further its efforts, Titan America has implemented a series of processes that enable Titan employees to maintain and improve energy performance across the entire enterprise. The Titan Energy Management System (EnMS), operating at Titan's three largest facilities (the Roanoke Cement plant in Virginia and both the cement plant and aggregate plant located in Medley, Florida) enables employees to systematically manage total consumption of all energy sources. This program, which addresses the energy performance standard ISO 50001, also ensures that the company's business operations are as efficient as possible, increases plant reliability and supports Titan's operational goals.

"At Titan America we are passionate about continuously developing efficient, sustainable operating practices," said Bill Zarkalis, Titan America's CEO. "Titan's EnMS program is an excellent example of innovation and of our commitment to make our business operations more efficient, while contributing as much as we can to make the locations in which we operate better places to live and work. We are very proud of this recognition, but we do not take it for granted. We are poised to continue our efforts."

"We are extremely proud of the Energy Star certifications we have earned over the past decade," commented George Pantazopoulos, Senior Vice President of Titan America Cement Operations and Corporate Engineering. "We also consider this milestone to be a catalyst for reinvigorating our teams and increasing our efforts. We have no doubt that we can gain further efficiencies in our manufacturing processes using the EnMS program."

Roanoke Cement has applied electricity management best practices during the previous 18 months and has delivered an 11% reduction in electricity consumed per tonne of cement produced. Additionally, the company has partnered with electrical utilities to reduce their contribution to peaks on the power grid due to demand management and demand response. These efforts ensure that inefficient peak generators owned by the utilities can remain offline during times when homeowners and businesses place a large demand on the electrical grid.

"The EnMS program is scheduled to be fully operational by 3Q 2017," reported Chris Bayne, Titan America's Corporate Energy Manager and director of the EnMS program. "We organised teams to oversee the program at our three main facilities. Roberto Duran will lead the Pennsuco Aggregates Plant team, Sonny Cruz will lead the Roanoke Cement Plant team and Diwakar Mishra will lead the team at Pennsuco Cement." Bayne also noted that the implementation teams would routinely incorporate energy management practices into the daily operations of Titan's manufacturing facilities. Titan is targeting a reduction in total energy consumption of 3%, year-over-year.

Energy Star was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the Energy Star label can be found on more than 60 different kinds of products as well as new homes and commercial and industrial buildings that meet strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the EPA. Over the past twenty years, American families and businesses have saved a total of nearly $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.7 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions with help from Energy Star.