12 February 2015
Commissioning to start at new UK SRF facility 12 February 2015
UK: SITA UK has completed the construction of its Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) manufacturing plant at Malpass Farm in Rugby, Warwickshire. The plant will undergo a series of commissioning tests over the next few months before starting full-scale production of Climafuel SRF. This will be used to power the kiln at the adjacent Cemex UK Rugby cement plant.
The residual waste material arriving at the site will primarily be collected from commercial and industrial businesses across the region that would otherwise go to landfill. Once received on site any metals, plastics and paper will be extracted for recycling. Similarly, materials with a high chlorine content, which could damage the kiln, will also be extracted. Any residual waste material that is removed from the production process will be processed into refuse derived fuel (RDF) for use in waste-to-energy applications.
To produce the SRF, the remaining material is sifted, shredded and blended while being continuously analysed using infrared technology. This allows the plant operators to ensure that the fuel, which has a confetti-like consistency after processing, has the precise chemical composition and calorific value required by Cemex UK.
SITA UK's Head of Alternative Fuels, Andy Hill, said, "The residual waste material that will be delivered to this facility would have gone to landfill but, instead, we are going to take out anything that can be recycled and then turn what's left into a replacement fuel."
"We have been producing this fuel very successfully at our sister plant at Landor Street in Birmingham for the past couple of years, but this new facility implements the latest technology and will substantially increase our production capacity," continued Hill. "Between the two plants, we'll be producing around 250,000t/yr of Climafuel."
SITA UK is currently also investing in new SRF manufacturing facilities at the Port of Tilbury in Essex, which are currently under construction. SITA UK currently supplies SRF to CEMEX UK and to CEMEX Latvia.
The India Cements slips into loss in the third quarter of 2015 12 February 2015
India: The India Cements Ltd has reported a net loss of US$1.87m for the quarter that ended on 31 December 2014 against a marginal profit of US$674 in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Total income from operations stood at US$167m for the quarter, up marginally from US$166m in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Vice chairman and managing director N Srinivasan said that the increased net plant realisation helped it to offset the cost increase and drop in sales volume. Consequently, earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation (EBIDTA) improved to US$26.2m compared to US$23.4m during the same period of the prior year quarter. Srinivasan said that cement demand in the south of India had been almost flat. In this context, he pointed to capacity utilisation, which stood at 56% in the third quarter of 2015, as against 63% in the same quarter of the previous year.
The board of directors of The India Cements also reappointed Rupa Gurunath as wholetime director for a further five years with effect from 5 March 2015, subject to necessary approvals.
Semen Baturaja’s sales down by 9.7% in January 2015 12 February 2015
Indonesia: State-owned PT Semen Baturaja Tbk has reported a 9.7% decline in sales volumes from 100,603t in January 2014 to 90,764t in January 2015. Zulfikri Subli, corporate secretary of Semen Baturaja, said that the decline is due to increased rainfall and weakening commodity prices, which resulted in property and infrastructure developments being delayed. "Until the end of January 2015, we managed to sell 90,764t valued at US$6.85m," said Subli.
However, Semen Baturaja expects sales volumes to rise in the following months, bringing total sales in 2015 to 1.75Mt and total revenues to US$133m. The company's performance in 2014 was equal with that in 2013, with sales volume of 1.26Mt.
Semen Baturaja is seeking external financing of US$58.7m from the issuance of bonds or bank loans to finance the construction of the Semen Baturaja II plant with a total investment requirement of US$260m.