Displaying items by tag: commissioning

Ethiopia: The Lemi National Cement Factory is preparing to start production. The 8Mt/yr plant is expected to be completed in March 2024, according to the Xinhua News Agency. China-based Sinoma International Engineering is building the unit. The US$600m project is a joint venture between West International Holding, a subsidiary West China Cement, and the East African Holding Company. The plant is located at the Lemi Building Materials Industrial Park around 150km north of Addis Ababa.

Pakistan: Fauji Cement inaugurated its Shadan Lund cement plant in Dera Ghazi Khan on 30 November 2023. The Pakistan Observer newspaper has reported that the plant has a capacity of 2.37Mt/yr and brings Fauji Cement’s capacity to 10.6Mt/yr.

Algeria: Holcim Algeria successfully commissioned a new 18,000t/day clinker loader at the Port of Djendjen in late October 2023. The cost of the equipment was Euro3m. APS News has reported that port authorities have ordered two further such machines from China.

Austria: Alpacem inaugurated its new headquarters in Wietersdorf, Carinthia, on 6 October 2023. The project demonstrated the first construction application of the group’s reduced-CO₂ CEM-II/C Portland composite cement.

Managing director Lutz Weber said “With the most modern technologies for decarbonisation and our extensive building materials expertise, we have succeeded in reducing the ecological footprint of our Alpacem headquarters to a minimum.”

China: Taiwan Cement (TCC) commissioned a 107MWh energy storage project at its Yingde plant in Guangdong province in August 2023. Subsidiary NHOA Energy worked on the project that linked the battery storage capacity to a 42MW waste heat recovery (WHR) system and a 8MWp solar photovoltaic unit. It uses lithium iron phosphate batteries supplied by Ningde Times.

The company’s say that the project is one of the largest industrial microgrids in the world. It is intended to provide energy flexibility to the cement plant by using NHOA Energy’s proprietary energy management system to manage peaks in energy demand and acting as a backup for critical equipment to avoid damage caused by sudden blackouts.

The NHOA Energy storage project is expected to store about 46000MWh/yr of electricity and save just under US$3m/yr in electricity costs. The system will also support the Guangdong Provincial Government’s energy storage development policy and be eligible to associated subsidies of over US$350,000/yr.

Giuseppe Artizzu, the chief executive officer of NHOA Energy, said “NHOA Energy’s proprietary energy management system will optimise the generation and consumption profile of the industrial microgrid, while also supporting the regional grid towards its 100% green energy objective, taking the energy transition in the area one step forward in total accordance with NHOA Group’s and TCC’s shared mission of fostering a positive change for the future of our planet.”

Uganda: President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has officially commissioned a new vertical roller mill at Tororo Cement’s plant in Tororo. The German-built mill cost US$25m and can produce 150t/hr of cement. The operator claims it to be the ‘most sophisticated’ in East and Central Africa. It is in the process of installing an additional 300t/hr mill, to bring its overall grinding capacity to 5Mt/yr. It is also planning the construction of a 5000t/yr integrated plant in Moroto, to eliminate the company’s need for imported clinker, which it claims will be launched within the next five years.

Speaking at the event, Museveni congratulated Tororo Cement’s chair Hasmukh Kanji Patel for the company’s ‘enormous contribution to Uganda’ and called for Ugandans to support foreign-owned companies, as they support national development, pay local taxes and contribute to gross domestic product. He said "I'm very glad that Mr Patel came here, that we privatised a government factory and now he has expanded it. This is why we had to go against people like Idi Amin who were ignorant. Ugandans should stop saying ‘Indian factory.’ This this is not an ‘Indian factory,’ it is a Ugandan factory regardless of who has built it.”

India: Adani Group subsidiary ACC has started commercial clinker production from the kiln of its new Ametha cement plant in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni District. BQ Prime News has reported that the kiln line has a clinker capacity of 3.3Mt/yr. It is capable of co-processing up to 15% alternative fuel (AF). The plant is also equipped with a 1Mt/yr grinding unit and a 16.3MW waste heat recovery (WHR) plant.

The Ametha cement plant raises ACC’s installed cement and clinker capacity by 9.8% to 37Mt/yr.

Benin: Société Des Ciments du Bénin (SCB) plans to build a new grinding plant in the industrial zone of Sèmè-Kpodji in Ouémé Department. 24 Heures au Bénin News has reported that the new plant will create jobs for local people in the production of cement for the Benin market from imported clinker.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement’s sales totalled US$1.2bn during the first nine months of the 2023 financial year, a rise of 28% year-on-year from US$941m during the corresponding period in the 2022 financial year. The Balochistan Times newspaper has reported that Lucky Cement attributed the growth to the commencement of operations of its new subsidiary, utilities provider Lucky Electric Power. The company increased its profit after tax by 83%, to US$172m.

Lucky Cement commissioned its Pezu cement plant’s new Line 2 at the end of the second quarter of the 2023 financial year. This increased the company’s installed production capacity by 26% to 15.3Mt/yr. The producer also inaugurated a new 34MW solar power plant, and completed negotiations for another, 25MW, solar power plant at its Karachi cement plant. The latest solar power plant is scheduled for commissioning later in 2023.

Türkiye: Adocim says that it has successfully commissioned a new four-silo cement terminal at the Port of Samsun, Samsun Province. The producer says that the terminal has a storage capacity of 45,000t. The facility will serve the producer's Portland limestone cement (PLC) export operations to countries including the US.

Parent company Titan Cement Group said "This new investment will enable us to further increase our sales of lower carbon cement, contributing to our group’s Net Zero goal towards a greener and more sustainable future."