Global Cement News

South Korea: Halla Cement has awarded a supply and engineering contract to Germany-based KHD Humboldt Wedag for an upgrade of line 2 at Okke plant. KHD will supply a new Pyroclon R type calciner, with a Pyrotop type mixing chamber, and a 4.2m x 15m Pyrorotor type combustion reactor. Other equipment being provided includes: a Pyrobox type coal firing system for process start-up and operation balancing; replacement of stage five cyclones with new high-efficiency cyclones; and a new kiln inlet chamber with orifice. Erection and commissioning of the modernised production line is scheduled for the first quarter of 2024.

This latest project marks the second installation of a Pyrorotor at Halla Cement’s Okke plant. The installation of line 3 at the site is currently ongoing with commissioning scheduled for the first quarter of 2023. Overall, this will be KHD’s ninth installation of a Pyrorotor in South Korea.

The Pyrorotor has been promoted to cement plants as a way of using low-quality alternative fuels with minimal pre-processing. It offers a thermal substitution rate of over 85% and will also allow the Okke plant to reduce its NO_x emissions. The installation of the new Pyroclon R type calciner and the high-efficiency cyclones in the lowest preheater stages will also provide the production line with an increase in efficiency due to an overall pressure drop reduction in the entire preheater.

India: Adani Cement Industries has ordered a MVR 3750 C-4 type vertical roller mill from Germany-based Gebr. Pfeiffer for a new 165t/hr cement grinding plant it plans to build at Dahej in Gujarat. The order also includes an integrated SLS 4000 VC type classifier and a drive with a rated power of 3090kW. The subsidiary of Adani Group will produce fly ash-pozzolan mixed cement at the site.

Gebr. Pfeiffer’s local subsidiary, Gebr. Pfeiffer (India), will act as the general contractor for the project and will provide plant engineering. The commissioning of the new mill is planned for the period before the rainy season in the summer of 2023.

UK: Bunting plans to promote its magnetic separator and metal detector products at the Powtech trade fair taking place in Germany in late September 2022. The company will be displaying a number of high-strength rare earth magnetic separators including its Plate Magnet Housing (PHMS), Drawer Magnet (HFS), Grate Magnet, Plate Magnet and Bullet Magnet products. Each magnetic separator effectively removes fine tramp iron from a wide range of granules and powders at different locations within a plant. The company promotes its products to the aggregate, quarrying, recycling and slag processing sectors amongst others.

Australia: Boral has posted a slump in its annual profit, which fell by a third year-on-year for the 12 months to 30 June 2022. It made a profit of US$73.7m, down from US$98m in the 12 months to 30 June 2021

The company said that the result had been impacted by rising energy and haulage costs, while severe rains in eastern Australia at the start of 2022 had forced temporary stoppages to numerous construction projects. The company withheld profit guidance in its announcement, saying only that it expected revenue to be higher in the 2023 fiscal year as a result of annual price increases and new freight charges for customers.

Mexico: A group of approximately 400 former workers of Cooperativa la Cruz Azul, who maintain possession of the Tula cement plant in Hidalgo, staged a demonstration on 22 August 2022 in front of the offices of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) demanding that power to the plant be reinstated.

Through a press release, the CFE said that it had met with some of the protesters. After negotiations, it concluded that the reconnection of the plant "will be made as soon as notification is received from the court or competent authority."

Local reports have suggested that the cut was ordered on 17 August 2022 by Víctor Manuel Velázquez Rangel, who heads the Board of Directors of the Cooperativa la Cruz Azul, the legal owner of the plant. The justification was that the plant has become dangerous to operate after two years of occupation by the protestors.