Pakistan: Gharibwal Cement has started commercial operation of a 250t/hr vertical cement mill for grinding cement. It says it is the single largest cement grinding mill in the country. The cement producer operates a 2.1Mt/yr integrated plant at Ismailwal in Chakwal.

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement has launched resource-planning software across its business. The software was developed by Abas and implemented by Providence Global, according to the Daily News newspaper. The software is being deployed across all of Tokyo Cement’s operations, including its cement plant at Trincomalee, its ready-mix concrete plants, and its bulk cement import terminal and biomass power generation units. The new software is intended to fully integrate supply chain management and warehouse operations.

India: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has awarded terms of reference for Shree Cement's proposed plant at Bhuj in Gujarat. The proposed 3.5Mt/yr integrated plant project will include a waste heat recovery unit, a captive power plant, a synthetic gypsum unit and a railway terminal. The unit will be built near Maldo, Lakhpat tehsil in Kachchh district. Limestone for the plant will come from a quarry adjacent to the proposed site.

Saudi Arabia: GE has struck a deal with Saudi Cement to upgrade three GE 6B gas turbines at Saudi Cement’s Hofuf plant with its Advanced Gas Path (AGP) product. The AGP upgrade is intended to increase the combined output of the three turbines by 16.9%. The upgrade should help Saudi Cement increase power output and efficiency while reducing the need to draw power from the local power grid. No value for the deal has been disclosed.

Barbados: Trinidad Cement and its Barbadian subsidiary Arawak Cement have taken legal action against the Government of Barbados over allegedly breaking the Caribbean Community Single Market and Economy. The complaint relates to accusations that the country broke import duties on cement, according to Barbados Today. The government has been accused of reducing import tariffs to 5% from 60%.

Arawak Cement and competitor Rock Hard Cement have battled for the local market since the entry of the latter company in the market in 2015. Trinidad Cement has also taken action against Turkish cement importers previously.

Ivory Coast: Morocco’s Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) has started work on a 0.3Mt/yr cement plant at Bouake. The company has acquired land for the project and is currently preparing the necessary permits to begin construction, according to the African Press Agency.

CIMAF built its first 0.5Mt grinding plant in Abidjan in 2013. The production capacity at this unit was then increased to 1Mt/yr in 2016. In late 2017 the cement producer started building a second 1Mt/yr plant at San Pedro. The latest project at Bouake will be its third plant in the country.

Ghana/Portugal: Cimpor and ETE Group have collaborated to export 55,900t of clinker from Portugal to Ghana. The clinker was transferred via barges from the river terminal of Cimpor’s Alhandra cement plant before being loaded into a bulk carrier at the Port of Lisbon, according to CE NoticiasFinancieras.

Bangladesh: LafargeHolcim Bangladesh has replaced the belt of a 17km conveyor that transports limestone from a quarry in Meghalaya in India to its Surma cement plant in Bangladesh. The upgrade project was carried out in two phases with the latest finished in mid-April 2018, according to the Daily Star newspaper. The belt was replaced to reduce noise from the system. It was first built in 2004.

Bangladesh: Two workers have been killed at the cement grinding plant at Paschim Muktarpur in Munshiganj operated by Crown Cement. The workers died after being struck by falling material when entering a room at the site to clean it, according to the New Nation newspaper. Another worker was critically injured in the incident.

Italy/Switzerland/Turkey: Turboden has released information on its latest waste heat recovery (WHR) projects using its ORC turbogenerator for cement plants in Turkey, Switzerland and Italy.

In Turkey CTP Team and CTN Group have signed an order with Turboden for the supply of a 7MW ORC WHR unit with air cooled condenser to be installed in Çimko Çemento Narli’s plant. Turboden says that since the plant is located in an area where there is no water available for the cooling system, the ORC technology offer advantages over steam technology.

In Switzerland CadCime SA and LafargeHolcim have ordered a 1.3MW WHR unit that recovers heat from the existing pressurised water circuit, used for the district heating network. The order is the third from LafargeHolcim for an ORC unit from Turboden.

In Italy a 2MW WHR plant with direct heat exchange is being installed at Cementi Rossi’s plant. Start-up is schedule for the second quarter of 2018. This project received an award from the European Commission under the framework of Horizon 2020, whose main objective is to develop new solutions to recover waste heat in energy intensive industries such as cement, glass, steelmaking and petrochemical and transform it into electric energy.