Displaying items by tag: Upgrade
Cooperativa La Cruz Azul inaugurates upgraded Oaxaca cement plant following US$301m investments
07 August 2023Mexico: Cooperativa La Cruz Azul has inaugurated the new Kiln 5 at its Oaxaca cement plant in Lagunas. Local press has reported that the new kiln will increase the plant's clinker capacity by 3700t/day. Additionally, the producer has inaugurated a new weighbridge at the plant. The equipment is capable of weighing trucks of up to 100t in mass. Cooperativa La Cruz Azul's investments in the latest upgrades to the Lagunas cement plant totalled US$301m.
Cooperativa La Cruz Azul said "With these projects, multiple benefits are generated for the community, and the cooperative reaffirms its commitment to the progress and development of the region."
UltraTech Cement expands Magdalla grinding plant
02 August 2023India: Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement has more than doubled its Magdalla grinding plant’s capacity to 1.93Mt/yr. The unit is based in Gujarat. The producer now has an installed cement capacity of 132Mt/yr.
Canada/UK: Carbon Upcycling has raised US$26m in a Series A funding round. The clean tech company says that the funding will support its construction of planned carbon capture systems at CRH's Mississauga cement plant in Canada and Cemex UK's Rugby cement plant in the UK. Carbon Upcycling’s technology injects captured CO2 into industrial byproducts and minerals to produce supplementary cementitious materials. BDC Capital and Climate Investment led the funding round, with strategic investments from Cemex Ventures, CRH and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures.
Carbon Upcycling chief executive officer Apoorv Sinha said "Closing this round is a major milestone on the road to becoming the most impactful carbon tech company of this decade.” He continued “Over the next year, our mission is to demonstrate our technology's versatility, scalability and operational elegance. Significant, cost-effective decarbonisation potential in the cement industry is possible without a green premium.”
Mexico-based Cemex first invested in Carbon Upcycling via its venture capital unit Cemex Ventures in February 2022. Its said “Cemex is committed to supporting decarbonisation for the built environment, and our follow-on investment in Carbon Upcycling demonstrates such ambition. Carbon Upcycling provides a scalable solution that effectively reduces the carbon footprint of cement. Increasing the supply and use of cementitious materials aligns with Cemex’s goals of reducing CO2 emissions and becoming fully net-zero by 2050”
The collaboration between Carbon Upcycling and Cemex dates to early 2020, and work towards a commercial-scale plant at the Rugby cement plant commenced in June 2022. The project will target a capture capacity of 1600t/yr, and has secured US$2.96m in government funding from UK Research and Innovation. Cemex says that it will subsequently roll out further CO2 mitigation projects in partnership with Carbon Upcycling at cement plants across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Mexico and the US.
UK: Heidelberg Materials subsidiary Hanson UK successfully replaced a 130t section of the kiln at its 1Mt/yr Ribblesdale cement plant in Lancashire earlier in 2023. The section was 22m long, 4.6m in diameter and ran at a 4° angle. Contractor Ainscough Crane Hire used its heaviest, 800t lattice boom crane, and brought the project from acceptance to completion in 18 months. Engineering firm Grayton was Hanson's service partner for the upgrade.
Peru: Grupo Gloria subsidiary Cemento Yura plans to transition its Yura cement plant from using coal to alternative fuels (AF) in its cement production. Additionally, the producer will build a 30MW solar power plant at the site. The Gestión newspaper has reported the total value of the upgrades as US$50m. Both projects are scheduled for commissioning in mid-2025.
In the 2023 financial year, which ended on 30 June 2023, Peruvian cement despatches fell by 8% to 12.6Mt.
India: Prism Cement has taken delivery of a pendulum cooler supplied by Germany-based IKN at its Prism cement plant in Maharashtra. The new equipment will replace the 6.1Mt/yr plant's existing air beam technology cooler. The supplier says that this will help to improve the efficiency of waste heat recovery (WHR) processes at the plant.
Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has secured a US$150m loan from the International Finance Corporation for an upgrade to its Salto de Pirapora cement plant in São Paulo. The producer aims to increase the alternative fuel (AF) substitution rate at the 4.8Mt/yr plant, and reduce its CO2 emissions. It says that the loan is tied to sustainability performance indicators (SPIs), based on the reduction in the plant’s Scope 1 CO2 emissions.
Ramco Cements to invest US$91.3m in growth in Karnataka and Odisha during 2024 financial year
19 July 2023India: Ramco Cements plans to invest a total of US$91.3m towards growing its capacity during the 2024 financial year, which ends on 31 March 2024. Its planned investments consist of US$15.8m in an expansion to its Haridaspur grinding plant in Odisha and US$75.5m in the acquisition of land in Bommanalli, Karnataka, on which to establish a limestone mine.
During the previous financial year, which ended on 31 March 2023, Ramco Cements invested US$215m in capital expenditure.
Russia: Soyuzcement, the national cement manufacturing union, has held a meeting discussing reverse engineering components for cement plants. The meeting of the committee for cement engineering took place at Cementum’s Schurovsky plant. The context of the meeting was that, before international sanctions were imposed upon Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, around 70% of the equipment and components for the cement sector was imported. At the event representatives of Cementum shared best practice of reverse engineering, including methodology and specific examples of manufacturing spare parts including scanning them to build three-dimensional models. The sector intends to further collaborate with local manufacturers to source the necessary parts.
Poland: Germany-based Schade Lagertechnik has upgraded the bulk handling equipment for raw materials including limestone and flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) gypsum at a cement plant in Górażdże. A Schade cantilever reclaimer was supplied to double the conveying capacity to 400t/hr with an associated belt conveyor.
Notably, the subsidiary of Aumund says that the order presented several challenges such as integrating the new equipment into the existing infrastructure, adapting it to the design of the building that dated back to the 1970s and installing the new kit whilst allowing the plant to continue operating. Once the new equipment had been assembled the installation team only had 10 days to dismantle the old machine and to switch operation over to the new equipment.
Schade Lagertechnik was responsible for the engineering, design, fabrication and supply. Aumund Group Field Service also assisted with the installation.