22 December 2014
Turkmenistan to build 1Mt/yr cement plant in Koytendag 22 December 2014
Turkmenistan: Turkmenistan plans to build a new 1Mt/yr cement plant in the Koytendag region of the Lebap Province, the industry ministry has said. Railway infrastructure has already been established in the region that will support the project. The new plant is part of the country's 'Programme for Development of Construction and Industrial Sectors in 2012 - 2016,' which is designed to modernise the country's building materials industries.
Ethiopian ministry releases strategy to increases cement consumption to 20Mt/yr by 2025 22 December 2014
Ethiopia: The Ministry of Industry has released a draft Cement Industry Development Strategy that intends to increase domestic cement consumption to 20Mt/yr by 2025. Around US$30m will be required to realise the strategy plan that will include providing support to cement plants and overcoming the general shortage of cement in the country. The draft strategy was prepared by the Adama Science and Technology University and has been discussed by stakeholders. At present Ethiopia consumes 6Mt/yr of cement.
Wärtsilä supplies 11 power plants to Eurocement 22 December 2014
Russia: Wärtsilä has been contracted to supply power plants for 11 Eurocement cement plants. The project is part of a modernisation program focusing on energy-efficiency and environmental upgrades. The contract was signed in November 2014.
"Wärtsilä's solutions will allow us to create a high technology cement industry in Russia and provide national infrastructure and housing projects with high quality cement," said Eurocement president Mikhail Skorokhod.
The full equipment delivery order consists of 36 natural gas-fired Wärtsilä 34SG engines. The size of the industrial power plants varies from two to five engines, or from 19MW to 48MW. The combined capacity of the power plants will be 314MW. The plants will produce electricity for each cement plant and work in parallel with the electricity grid. All projects are scheduled to be fast-track-delivered during 2015.
"This multi-plant project is nicely in line with our strategy to grow in the industrial sector. Cement manufacturers and other industrial customers recognise the value of reliability of our solutions," said Regional Director Alf Doktar, Wärtsilä Power Plants. Wärtsilä's total installed power generation capacity in Russia is approximately 1000MW.
EPA sets national coal ash regulations for US 22 December 2014
US: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the first national regulations to provide for the safe disposal of coal ash from coal-fired power plants. The ruling establishes safeguards to protect communities from coal ash impoundment failures and establishes safeguards to prevent groundwater contamination and air emissions from coal ash disposal.
"The EPA is taking action to protect our communities from the risk of mismanaged coal ash disposal units and putting in place safeguards to help prevent the next catastrophic coal ash impoundment failure, which can cost millions for local businesses, communities and States," said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
The new federal regulations include:
- The closure of surface impoundments and landfills that fail to meet engineering and structural standards and will no longer receive coal ash;
- Reducing the risk of catastrophic failure by requiring regular inspections of the structural safety of surface impoundments;
- Restrictions on the location of new surface impoundments and landfills so that they cannot be built in sensitive areas such as wetlands and earthquake zones;
- Protecting groundwater by requiring monitoring, immediate clean up of contamination and closure of unlined surface impoundments that are polluting groundwater;
- Protecting communities using fugitive dust controls to reduce windblown coal ash dust;
- Requiring liner barriers for new units and proper closure of surface impoundments and landfills that will no longer receive coal combustion residues.
In response to feedback on the proposal, the ruling clarifies the technical requirements for coal ash landfills and surface impoundments under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the country's primary law for regulating solid waste. Implementation of the technical requirements will be reported through disclosure to States, and communities. Examples of this include power plants providing information to the public and States and new transparency requirements, including recordkeeping and reporting requirements, as well as the requirement for each facility to post specific information to a publicly-accessible website. This final rule also supports the responsible recycling of coal ash by distinguishing safe, beneficial use from disposal.