Displaying items by tag: Plant

Derba MIDROC Cement signed a contract with Sinoma International Engineering in recent weeks to build a US$282m upgrade at its integrated Derba cement plant in Oromia. The move is the latest in a steady stream of projects that have been announced in Ethiopia over the last few years. Other recent developments include a deal in July 2022 by businessman Getu Gelete to buy PPC’s stake in Habesha Cement and plans in August 2022 by investor Worku Ayetenew to build a US$1bn cement plant with a production capacity of 12,000t/day. Alongside these capital intensive projects, the government has been trying to regulate the price of cement through measures such as setting fixed prices, limiting the volumes that individuals can buy and asking producers to cut distributors out of the supply chain.

To summarise some of the plant projects over the last couple of years, the Derba MIDROC Cement upgrade project intends to double the production capacity of the integrated Derba cement plant in Oromia to 15,000t/day. The other big ongoing project was announced in early 2021 when East African Holding and China-based West China Cement agreed to build a 10,000t/day plant at Lemi in Amhara Region. East African Holding is the parent company of National Cement, one of the larger producers in the country. Then in July 2021 Sinoma International Engineering’s subsidiary Suzhou Sinoma signed an initial deal with Western International Holdings, West China Cement’s international arm, to build the plant. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited the construction site in March 2022 to lay the foundation stone but no commissioning date has been disclosed so far. Based on Sinoma’s assessment when it signed the contract, construction would take around 20 months, so a commissioning date by late 2023 seems reasonable. There are also a number of other projects that have been announced in the local press such as Abay Industrial Development Share Company plant at Dejen. FLSmdith said that the contract to build the 5000t/yr plant became effective in late 2020. However, not much more has been released publicly. Another project at Berenta in Amhara is also reportedly under construction.

The Global Cement Directory 2022 places the country’s production capacity at around 12Mt/yr. This compares to 15Mt/yr from 13 companies as reported by a local news source although this figure is likely to also include grinding plants. Yet the same source also placed the actual working capacity at 6Mt/yr due to old machinery and poor maintenance. As for the market in Ethiopia, Dangote Cement said that the sales from its Mugher plant rose by 1.8% year-on-year to 1.7Mt in the first nine months of 2022 and that the unit was running at full capacity in the third quarter. It reckoned that it held a 42% market share during this period, out of a total market of around 4.2Mt. Previously it said that the total market for the whole year was 7Mt in 2021.

Unfortunately it also mentioned issues with security in the region. This became a live issue this week with news that at least 30 employees of Dangote Cement were reportedly kidnapped in early December 2022 by an armed group that calls itself the Oromo Liberation Army. This is particularly sad for the company given that its country manager was shot dead in 2018. Two employees of the Mugher Cement plant were also taken hostage by the same group in October 2022 although thankfully they were later freed.

A number of projects have been announced in Ethiopia over the last few years but they appear to be taking a while to materialise. This time though a couple of the projects do seem to be on the way and the change in ownership of Habesha Cement seems to suggest a renewed vigour to the local construction market since the government opened up investment. Unfortunately, security concerns are pressing as demonstrated by what happened to some of Dangote Cement’s staff this week.

Mexico: Cemex Mexico plans to install hydrogen injection systems at four cement plants across Mexico. The producer will use the technology to increase alternative fuel (AF) substitution at the plants by 8 - 10%. A 40% reduction in Scope 3 purchased fuel emissions forms part of Cemex's 2020 - 2030 CO₂ emissions reduction strategy. Through the decarbonisation and circular economy pillars of its Future in Action plan, the group aims to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Cemex Mexico president Ricardo Naya said "Hydrogen is a key technology to accelerate the implementation of our climate action roadmap."

The El Financiero newspaper has reported that Cemex set a new group record AF substitution rate of 34% in September 2022. It uses hydrogen at all of its European cement plants and at one plant in the Dominican Republic.

Argentina: Pampa Energía has signed an agreement with Holcim Argentina to supply it with wind power to its four cement plants. The supply will provide 25% of the cement producer’s electrical energy requirements, according to Grupo La Provincia. Previously Holcim Argentina signed a deal with YPF Luz to supply wind power to its plants in 2019. The current arrangement is expected to bring the company portion of renewable electrical energy to 65% or 220GWh. The electricity from the latest deal with Pampa Energía will be generated at the Pampa Energía III Wind Farm located in the Coronel Rosales district of Buenos Aires Province.

Algeria: A fire has been reported at Groupe des Ciments d'Algéries’ (GICA) Hadjar Soud plant operated by Société des Ciments des Hadjar Soud (SCHS). An explosion occurred whilst narcotics and other substances were being incinerated in the plant’s kiln under the supervision of the Gendarmerie Nationale, according to the Reporters newspaper. 12 people were injured in the incident including five workers at the plant, five police officers and two soldiers. Most of the victims suffered third degree burns in the blast and are being treated locally.

GICA holds the majority stake in SCHS, while Italy-based Buzzi Unicem owns a 35% share.

India: UltraTech Cement says that it recently commissioned two new grinding units in Northern India. The Aditya Birla subsidiary commissioned a new 1.8Mt/yr grinding unit at its expanded Dhar integrated cement plant in Madhya Pradesh on 27 November 2022. The company also inaugurated its new 1.8Mt/yr Dhule grinding plant in Maharashtra. The projects form the first phase of 12.9Mt/yr-worth of planned expansions, announced by the company in late 2020.

UltraTech Cement's managing director Kailash Jhanwar visited the Dhar cement plant to congratulate the team there on its contribution to the expansion drive.

Kenya: Savannah Cement has ordered a new US$300m production line from China-based Sinoma international Engineering for its Kitui plant. The project scope covers supplying an integrated clinker production line from limestone crushing to cement packaging and logistics. The line will have a clinker production capacity of 8000t/day. Commissioning of the new line is scheduled for about two years after the contract takes effect.

Ethiopia: Derba MIDROC Cement has signed a US$282m contract agreement with China-based Sinoma International Engineering to upgrade its integrated Derba cement plant in Oromia. The project is intended to double the plant’s cement production output to around 15,000t/day, according to Fana Broadcasting Corporate. Takele Uma, the Minister of Mines, attended the signing ceremony.

Morocco: NovaCim has ordered the SLV Cement logistics software product from Portugal-based Cachapuz for its forthcoming 1.2Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Ouled Ghanem in El-Jadida Province. The product is intended to improve and optimise dispatch processes. Denmark-based FLSmidth announced in 2019 that it was going to build the plant for TEKCIM in conjunction with the Société Générale des Travaux du Maroc (SGTM). The plant is expected to start production in 2023.

Mali: Mahamoud Ould Mohamed, the Minister of Industry and Trade, has laid the foundation stone of the Mali Sahel cement plant in Bema, Bamako District. Sacko Holding is financing the project and it was previously reported as costing around US$300m, according to Mali Actu. The plant is expected to create around 600 direct jobs. It is scheduled to become operational in 2025. Sacko Holding and Energie du Mali (EDM), the state-owned electricity company, are also planning to provide an electricity supply to Bema as part of the initiative.

US: Purebase and Fortera have signed a non-binding agreement to build a commercial plant at Purebase’s headquarters in Ione, California. The companies are working towards a definitive agreement to build a plant using Fortera proprietary recarbonation process that uses captured CO₂ and mineralises it into a secondary cementitious material.

Scott Dockter, the chairman, and chief executive officer of Purebase, said, “We believe that a strategic partnership with Fortera would put Purebase on a fast-track to bring a lower carbon product to market.” He added, “We believe Fortera has developed a unique solution to reduce carbon emissions in cement, and it will have the advantage of using Purebase’s mineral resources and location in Ione, California which is ideally located in northern California near major ports which can effectively serve the western-US markets and abroad.”

Purebase acquires, develops, and markets minerals for use in agriculture, construction, and other specialty industries.