Global Cement News

Germany: The Loesche Training Center in Duesseldorf, Germany played host to 65 delegates from 22 countries on 13 - 14 November 2019 for the company’s 8th Technical Seminar. The event's motto was ‘resource-efficient strategies in cement production’ and was aimed primarily at process and maintenance personnel in the cement industry. The focus was on the exchange of expert knowledge and practical experience.

The first day of the event included presentations on the state of research of CO₂ capture, utilisation and storage, alternative fuels in cement production, Loesche’s first experiences with waste conditioning plants in the US, chlorine bypass considerations, coal mill safety and grinding of novel cement products.

After a sumptuous dinner at the Rhine Tower in Duesseldorf, on the evening of 13 November 2019, delegates reconvened for presentations on wear parts and spare inventory management, mill installation, grinding plant process technology, mill modernisation case-studies and digital maintenance on 14 November 2019.

Delegates were pleased with the level of technical expertise offered, as well as the event’s organisation and hospitality. Loesche will additionally host a series of Technical Symposia throughout 2020.

India: Birla Corporation has published plans for the construction of a 3.9Mt/yr-capacity integrated cement plant with a 40MW fossil fuel power plant and an 11MW waste heat recovery (WHR) plant at Mukutban, Maharashtra, which it says it will commission by March 2021. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that Birla Corporation, which is upgrading the clinker production capacity at its 2.5Mt/yr integrated Chanderia plant in Rajasthan to 3.0Mt/yr, will also upgrade its 0.6Mt/yr Kundarganj grinding plant in Uttar Pradesh to a capacity of 1.2Mt/yr. The planned projects will bring Birla Corporation to 20Mt/yr in installed capacity, making it India’s fifth-largest cement producer.

Mexico: Cemex has announced that it will expand its 7.2Mt/yr integrated Tepeaca plant in the state of Pueblo in 2020 into ‘the largest Cemex plant in the world and one of the largest in the entire American continent.’ It did not enclose the capacity of the upgrade, which will cost a total of US$530m.

Visiting the plant on 24 January 2020, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed hope in a boost in private investment in the Mexican economy, which fell by 12% year-on-year in 2019, in the wake of the new Free Trade Agreement between Canada, Mexico and the US. Cemex said that its planned investment ‘indicates its trust in the country.’

Russia: KuzbassTransCement’s total volume of cement transported by rail in 2019 was 2.98Mt – up by 8% from 2.76Mt in 2018. Throughout the year, it implemented upgrades worth US$29m to its transportation facilities, including the lease of an additional 145 covered wagons, 346 cement hoppers and 90 dump cars, representing roughly a 14% expansion to its fleet.

India: Ramco Group subsidiary Ramco Cements has invested US$0.7m in a 46% share in Lynks Logistics. The company will serve the 17Mt/yr-installed capacity producer’s logistics and distribution needs for all of India.