Displaying items by tag: Plant

Dominican Republic: Cemex Dominicana plans to recommission line 1 at its 2Mt/yr integrated San Pedro de Macorís plant. The move is expected to increase its existing clinker production capacity by more than 0.5Mt/yr. The reactivation is scheduled for the last quarter of 2021. It is part of Cemex Dominicana's growth plan, seeking to strengthen its capacity to response to both local market demand and the export market.

"At Cemex Dominicana, we reiterate our commitment to the sustainable development of the Dominican Republic, in the context of boosting the national economy, aiming with these investment plans to reduce the need for imports, promote local industry, and contribute to the generation of employment in the country," said José Antonio Cabrera, Director of Cemex Dominicana.

Nigeria: BUA Cement has announced that it will commission the second production line at its Kalambiana cement plant in Sokoto state in July 2021. The Daily Independent newspaper has reported that the upgrade will bring the plant’s cement production capacity to 3Mt/yr. The group intends for the plant to serve the growing domestic cement demand and to stabilise prices.

India: ISGEC Heavy Engineering has won a contract for a double waste heat recovery (WHR) unit installation at Shree Cement’s Raipur cement plant. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that the supplier will install one unit on the plant’s pre-heater exhaust, and the other on the 10,500t/day kiln’s cooler exhaust.

Industrial and green energy boilers business head Vinod Luthra said, “This is indeed a very prestigious order for us and we thank Shree Cement for once again showing confidence in ISGEC's capabilities. This is the second project that ISGEC will be successfully setting up for Shree Cement."

Lebanon: Cimenterie Nationale has announced that it will dispatch its last batch of cement for the foreseeable future on 6 March 2021. The L’Orient-Le Jour newspaper has reported the cause for the stoppage as the exhaustion of stocks of raw materials. The Lebanese government suspended access by cement producers to their quarries in October 2020. The nation’s three cement companies are permitted only to produce cement using clinker or limestone from existing stockpiles.

The company currently has 700 employees. It said that 3500 other jobs depend indirectly on its activities.

Uzbekistan: Russia-based Eurocement has begun the auction for its 84% stake in Akhangarancement. Sputnik News has reported the total value of the stake as US$40.8m. In February 2021, Sberbank announced the start of a sale for the cement producer and its subsidiaries with the announcement of a buyer planned for April 2021.

Nigeria: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge Africa plans to invest US$8m on an upgrade to the electrostatic precipitator filters at the bagging plant at its Ewekero cement plant. The Punch newspaper has reported that the upgrade requires a six-month shutdown of the unit’s kilns to make the changes. Chief executive officer Khaled El-Dokani said that the investment ‘underscores the company’s commitment’ to sustainability.

Ethiopia: Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says that a new 7000t/day cement plant is almost ready for commissioning. New Business Ethiopia News has reported that the government hopes that the unnamed unit will be operational by June 2021. The 2.5Mt/yr Abay Cement plant at Dejen in Amhara region was previously scheduled for opening in 2021. The news comes at a time of rapid cement price rises in the country. A large black market has also arisen to serve overextended demand.

UK: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson has partnered with the Hynet North West consortium for a study on carbon capture and storage (CCS) solution at its Padeswood, Flintshire, cement plant. The consortium is planning to implement carbon capture and storage installations at industrial facilities across Flintshire, Wrexham, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Lancashire. It says that when active the network will constitute the world’s first low carbon industrial cluster, with a total reduction of 10Mt/yr of emissions by CCS. The Padeswood plant would account for 800,000t/yr of this total.

Hanson group chief executive officer Simon Willis said, “Our involvement in the HyNet North West project is the latest example of our commitment to cutting CO₂ emissions. CCS at our cement plants will be a key part of our roadmap to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. The first step would be for us to carry out a feasibility study - this would give us a clear design basis and cost estimate for a capture plant and connection to the planned HyNet North West CO₂ network and storage system.”

The HyNet North West project also includes production, storage and distribution of low carbon hydrogen, which will help to decarbonise other industries whose CO₂ emissions primarily come from fossil fuels. The project, led by Progressive Energy, is being developed by a consortium of regionally located partners including Cadent, CF Fertilisers, Eni UK, Essar, INOVYN and the University of Chester as well as Hanson.

China: The government of Jiangsu province has awarded an Environmental Protection certificate to Imerys subsidiary Calderys’ Zhangjiang refractory plant. The company said that the certification results from years of hard to enhance environmental efforts beyond national requirements. One example of the work is dust-proof partitioning around all dust-emitting equipment.

Environment, health and safety supervisor Ricken Ren said, “In 2016, the plant improved the quality of its raw materials. With major work no longer required to lessen the water content of the materials, it was able to reduce the use of its dry kiln, which uses natural gases in its drying process, in turn greatly reducing the plant’s energy consumption. ” He added, “Keeping the plant’s environmental impact as low as possible is a never-ending job, and we cannot lose focus. We perform daily checks to ensure devices such as our dust collectors are working effectively, and we are always monitoring our emissions during operation according to national laws. Every department worked together on environmental protection performance. It is a great teamwork result.”

Mexico: Elementia sold 5.3Mt of cement in 2020, up by 4% year-on-year from 5.1Mt in 2019. Consolidated net sales rose by 8% to US$1.34bn from US$1.24bn, while earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 8% to US$170m from US$157m. Cement business sales rose in all regions with the exception of Central America with particular earnings growth record in the US.

The company also noted that the sale of its integrated Bath plant in Pennsylvania, US remained under review by competition authorities with a response hoped for in April 2021. The sale of the unit to HeidelbergCement-subsidiary Lehigh Hanson was first announced in September 2019.