Displaying items by tag: Upgrade

Spain: LafargeHolcim España plans to spend Euro4m on upgrades to its Sagunto cement plant, according to the Las Provincias newspaper. The work will include automating the laboratory, adding a new control system for the plant, making environmental changes, improving lighting and acoustics and remodelling the unit’s white cement line.

India: Birla Corporation’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose due to increased sales of blended cement in the last quarter of 2018. Blended cements represented 89% of its total sales volumes compared to 85% in the same period in 2017.

The company’s net sales grew by 14.6% to US$653m in the nine months to the end of 2018 from US$569m in the same period in 2017. Its EBITDA rose by 17.1% to US$96.8m from US$82.7m. Its cement production increased by 10.5% to 9.86Mt from 8.92Mt and its cement sales increased by 9.9% to 9.79Mt from 8.92Mt. It said that better sales in key markets had offset raw material price rises such as petcoke, coal and diesel. It noted that the price of diesel had risen by over 20% in the reporting period although it had started to soften in the most recent quarter.

The cement producer held a ground breaking ceremony in late January 2019 for a new plant being built by its RCCPL subsidiary at Yavatmai district in Maharashtra. The 3.9Mt/yr unit has an investment of US$342m and it includes a 40MW captive power plant and a 10.6MW waste heat recovery (WHR) system. Commissioning is scheduled for the 2021 – 2022 financial year. The company is also planning to upgrade RCCPL’s plant at Kundanganj with 1.2Mt/yr of additional production capacity. Other new projects include a 12.25MW WHR system at Maihar that is expected to be commissioned in mid-2019. It is building solar power plants at Maihar, Chanderia and Satna with 11MW, 3.6MW and 1.2MW capacity respectively. Birla Corporation also said that restrictions on using explosives placed on limestone mining at Chanderia in Rajasthan had increased its costs.

India: JSW Cement plans to increase the production capacity to 3.6Mt/yr at its Salboni grinding plant in West Bengal. The unit has a capacity of 2.4Mt/yr at present, according to the Economic Times newspaper. The cement producer plans to strengthen its presence in eastern India starting with West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand. The plant manufactures Portland Slag Cement and it hopes to tap into local demand for this product with the upgrade.

Oman: Raysut Cement has signed an agreement with Ayoki Engineering for upgrading its clinker cooler line three at its Salalah plant. The local engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor will source the equipment from Germany’s IKN, according to the Muscat Daily newspaper.

The existing grate cooler at the unit will be replaced by a 4000t/day IKN Pendulum clinker cooler with a guaranteed capacity of 3500t/day clinker production. The project scope includes related civil works, supply and installation works of mechanical and electrical works. Sourcing and installation of the refractory will also be under the responsibility of Ayoki Engineering through IKN. Final installation of the project is planned for the fourth quarter of 2019.

Algeria: The Aïn Touta Cement (SCIMAT) plant near Batna has spent US$10m on a new filter. The investment is part of a group of improvements intended to increase production at the unit in 2019, according to Le Courrier d'Algérie newspaper. The company is also implementing a new integrated administration system.

Pakistan: Power Cement has provided an update on construction work towards building a third line at its Nooriabad plant. 97% of the equipment ordered from Denmark’s FLSmdith has been received. 22% of errection work has been completed. The design phase of a new 40MW grid station and its fixing has been completed and civil work has commenced. Overall civil work is reported 91% complete.

The cement producer ordered the new 7700t/day line from FLSmidth in 2017. China’s TEPC has been handling the construction and errection contract. China’s CECC Tianjin (Pakistan) Electric Power Construction has been in charge of civil construction.

Philippines: Cemex Philippines has received a set of tax breaks and financial incentives for the new 1.5Mtyr production line it is planning to build at its Solid Cement plant in Antipolo, Rizal. Its subsidiary Solid Cement has obtained ‘pioneer’ status from the Board of Investment (BOI) but with ‘non-pioneer’ incentives, according to the Inquirer newspaper. This means that the project may be able to benefit from a longer income-tax holiday. The new production line is scheduled to be operational by early 2020.

Peru: UNACEM’s sales rose by 5.7% year-on-year to US$586m in 2018 from US$555m in 2017. Its cement sales despatches grew by 1.3% to 5.06Mt from 4.99Mt. Its operating profit fell by 13% to US$184m from US$211m. It blamed the fall in profit on reduced dividends from a subsidiary in Ecuador and other businesses. During the year the cement producer made upgrades to its Atocongo Thermal Plant and to dusting system for the coolers on kilns 2 and 3 at its Condorcocha cement plant.

UK: Northern Ireland’s Telestack plans to invest Euro5.8m towards upgrading its Omagh plant. The mobile bulk material handling system producer will build a new 4180m³ plant next to its existing site. The new unit will include production lines, a research and development centre and new office premises.

“Telestack has grown rapidly over the last number of years and we have firm plans to double our revenue again in the next three and a half years. We have out-grown our current facility and we need to extend our manufacturing footprint to meet the international demand for our products. We have made a conscious decision, even in the face of Brexit uncertainty, to invest locally” said Telestack’s managing director Martin Dummigan.

Russia: Eurocement is planning a second phase of upgrades for its Kavkazcement plant in 2019. These include starting to generate its own electricity, modernising its cement grinding mills, completing a maintenance campaign and moving to solely operating rotary kilns. The first phase of the upgrade project saw the plant build a slurry pipeline, construct the building for a captive power plant and purchasing monitoring equipment.