18 - 19 February 2013
Vivanta by Taj-President Hotel Mumbai, India
Conference review - by Robert McCaffrey, conference convenor
View the 2nd Global Cement India Conference and Exhibition 2013 image gallery
The 2nd Global Cement India Conference and Exhibition has successfully taken place in Mumbai, 17-18 February 2013, with around 250 delegates registered to attend. 25 Indian and international exhibitors showed their wares and a total of 35 presentations were delivered over two days. Indian cement producers attended in large numbers. Such was the success of the event, that it will be repeated in February 2015, once again in Mumbai.
The Global Cement India Conference - organised by Global Cement Magazine - started with a informal reception in the exhibition area on the evening before the main conference. Even at this early stage, it was clear that the conference was going to be a success, with the exhibition area busy with exhibitors and cement producers discussing business.
On the first morning of the conference, the event was opened by Dr Robert McCaffrey, conference convenor, who then gave an update on the current status of the global cement industry, concentrating on the position of India versus its peers. India is now the second largest cement producer in the world, after China, with some 300Mt of cement production capacity. However, under plans that are currently under way, India could see its capacity total up to 550Mt by as early as 2020. India's per capita GDP will remain relatively low - even in 2050, it will still be classed as a developing nation according to its per-capita wealth - but due to its enormous population (around 1.6 billion by 2050), it will have one of the largest economies on the planet. When it comes to the Indian cement industry, it seems that the sky's the limit.
SK Khoo of ZAG international then gave the keynote presentation, on global cement and clinker production and trade trends. Mr Khoo stated that cement production is growing at around 5% each year, although the use of SCMs is also increasing. As well as the 1bt of steel produced each year, around 300Mt of slag is produced, but of this only 215Mt is granulated. The bottom line is that there is not enough slag available world wide, for the demands of the global cement industry, especially since Chinese granulated slag is still not of high enough quality for widespread use in the cement industry.
Grinding optimisation session
Michael Chayka of GCE Group, Russia, was first to speak in the session on 'grinding optimisation,' and gave details about the importance of energy efficiency in the cement industry, which can be achieved through the use of energy audits. Michael suggested that potential energy savings can typically amount to 10% each for fuels and electrical energy in the cement industry. Grinding, suggested Michael, is the area most likely to yield efficiency increases. At the end of the day, 'That which is not measured cannot be improved.'
Carolyn Woywadt of Gebr. Pfeiffer next spoke about the operational results of the first MVR mill installed in India. The MVR mills feature a parallel grinding gap on a flat grinding table, swing out rollers and two rollers side by side on a common twin support. The mills have either four or six rollers and the symmetric design allows the tyres to be removed, flipped over and reinstalled to extend their wear life. The MultiDrive system uses a girth gear driven by a self-aligning pinion to drive the grinding table, while also allowing active redundancy - mill operation continues even if a roller or drive module is under maintenance, since the grinding table is designed to be able to take unbalanced axial and radial forces. Carolyn spoke about the MVR 5600 C-4 mill installed in Balaji, India, for Jaiprakash Cement Industries, near Hyderabad. The mill produces 320t/h of Portland pozzolan cement (PPC) at 4000 Blaine. The installed power is 4 x 1650kW = 6600kW. The mill has been in operation since June 2012. Five other VRM projects are currently under execution, including to India, Australia and - the largest VRM in the world, a 6.7m diameter mill - to Brazil.
The first of the event's extremely popular 'speed-dating' sessions then took place, with delegates given 30 minutes to make ten new contacts. By common agreement, this was a very effective - and popular - networking innovation.
Steve McGarel of Loesche GmbH spoke about the company's new LMmaster optimisation solution for Loesche mills, using commercial software to model predictive control, to help reduce vibration, increase production and quality (through improved stability of the circuit) and to reduce specific energy consumption.
Axel Pankewitz of Sympatec GmbH next spoke about the importance of particle size distribution measurement and analysis for cement grinding optimisation. The use of sieves is simple and cheap, but relatively inaccurate. In the same way, Blaine can give the same value to two totally different particle size distributions (PSDs). Laser diffraction measurement has become the dominant technique over the last 20 years. The Mytos system incorporates a dry aerosol disperser and a laser diffraction system which can be positioned and incorporated into the process stream to provide on-line PSD data. Axel mentioned the Mytos system installed at Spenner Cement in Germany, which uses a screw sampler, a mixer to ensure a representative sample and the PSD analyser. Accurate PSD determination allows for the optimisation of mill systems through the avoidance of over grinding. Over 300 Sympatec systems have been installed in the global cement industry.
Franz Muschawek of Dalog spoke about the use of condition monitoring in order to improve the reliability of vertical roller mills. Sufficiently sensitive sensors - for torque, grinding bed height and mill vibration for example - must first be used to give adequate data, which can then be analysed to understand the dynamics of the mill and to fix any factors leading to an unbalanced mill. The Dalog system can also give early warning of bearings, for example, that are about to fail, allowing preventative maintenance or early ordering of replacement parts. 150 monitoring systems supplied by Dalog are in operation on VRM mills in the global cement industry.
Prashant Garg of Diffusion Engineers spoke about 'super conditioning' in the cement industry, which is a specialised hard facing, primarily used on high pressure roller grinding presses (HPGR presses). As well as an effective hard facing material, it can be as important to have a fatigue-resistant buffer layer under the hard facing (or even two layers), particularly because the stress experienced actually peaks a few millimeters beneath the surface of the grinding roll. Having effective buffer layers - such as austenitic stainless steel - can prevent crack propagation and 'chunk' spalling and failure. In a way, the profiling acts as a sacrificial layer to maintain the long-term overall integrity of the roll.
Production enhancement
After a spicy Indian curry lunch, Ramesh Kalra of Holtec Consulting Private kicked-off the 'production enhancement' session and spoke about the challenge of the construction and commissioning of large-capacity cement plants. Due to the intensive use of land in India, it can be expensive to acquire land for quarrying and for plant construction, while sufficient piling for high capacity plants is also very expensive. Locations with sufficient raw materials and where supply is low and consumption is high are particularly attractive, of course. Mr Kalra pointed out that the larger the project, the higher the potential for the use of waste heat recovery systems: such systems should be included even at the planning stage. Cement plant construction projects for these plants can be very large indeed, perhaps with 200,000m3 of reinforced concrete, up to 20,000t of steelwork and maybe 4000 workers on the project at any one time. Large projects take time: three years would be a sensible project length.
Dinesh Sangi of INOX Air Products suggested that the use of oxygen is just one way of increasing production. The use of oxygen enrichment allows you to add 'air' without the volume penalty of nitrogen. Any combustion-related issue in the kiln or calciner could warrant investigation of the use of oxygen. Oxygen enrichment may allow increased production in an ID fan-limited situation, without significant investment. Dinesh claimed that gains in production of up to 30% have been achieved with oxygen enrichment. He also stated that higher levels of alternative fuels can be burned when using oxygen enrichment, by raising the flame temperature and by stabilising combustion. Economics and plant location may determine whether on-site oxygen generation or oxygen delivery by tanker is more favoured.
Siegfried Schemberg of Linde AG, followed up on the same topic, pointing out that the available heat is greatly increased when using oxygen enrichment. There is increased heat transfer, as well as lower specific energy consumption, while lowering CO2 and CO. Faster responses to changes in fuel composition can be handled. Improvements come even with relatively low levels of oxygen enrichment. Oxygen can be injected in a variety of different places around the pyroprocessing system, with the optimum point varying from plant to plant. The enrichment of the transport air for AF - for example for fluff - is one of the most efficient uses of oxygen. This approach enhances the combustion and fuel burn-out, allowing higher levels of thermal substitution and a patent on this method is pending. A pure fuel saving will usually not pay for the use of oxygen, while additional production is a key factor. The use of one tonne of oxygen can give 4-6t of extra clinker.
Alvaro Chacon of Martin Engineering outlined how his company's air blasters can lead to calorific energy savings and the use of higher levels of alternative fuels. These Big Blasters discharge large volumes of high pressure air into chutes, storage vessels or pyroprocessing ducts in order to shift any blockages or build-up. Alvaro pointed out that Cemex uses 3800 Martin Engineering air canons around the world, with an average of 86 Big Blasters in use on any particularly plant. The build-ups are best shifted by blasts every 20 minutes or so, after they have started to solidify, but before they have hardened so much that they cannot be shifted. Build-ups can be one more common if different raw materials are brought from the quarry, if the refractory is damaged or if the outside weather causes uneven heat distribution in the system. Build-ups are also commonly caused by high sulphur input into the system, particularly nowadays from AF. In this case, the right air cannon location, capacity and blast sequence can fix and then prevent further problems.
Mark Pobjoy next launched a new lubricant for the cement industry - Ceplattyn GT. He pointed out that today's open gear lubricants all have certain restrictions, such as containing solvents, having limited drain ability, or low visibility. The challenge for Fuchs was to combine the best properties of different lubricants. The Ceplattyn GT lubricant range combines all the benefits of commonly used graphited products and high viscosity fluids and is free of asphaltics and dilutants. It is thixotropic and thus drains well and it does not ignite on contact with hot metals surfaces. It is suitable for spray, circulation or dip lubrication.
Alex Bergus of Primasonics gave some basic details of the operation of acoustic cleaners in the cement industry, showing that they can be effective at controlling build-ups, as well as to aid in bulk material flow in silos in the case of rat holes or bridging. They have also been used on ESPs and on filter units to aid in shifting build-ups and to maintain filtration efficiency.
Linas Mazeika of 3L&T suggested that around 3.5% of the world's GDP is wasted through corrosion - a cost of above US$1trillion in the US - each year! Corrosion in a cement plant baghouse can cost US$100-500,000 per year. Linas presented the FlueGard technology to corrosion-proof cement industry equipment, particularly from acidic compounds in the flue gas. Corrosion is worse whenever there is condensation, such as at low gas temperatures or when caused by low ambient temperatures. FlueGard is a proprietary hybrid organic-inorganic material that is applied to cleaned metal and which bonds to the surface during a curing period. A family of corrosion protection products is now available for application in all areas of the cement process. Linas stated that payback time is usually less than one year.
Jayanta Saha of Penta India next spoke about the application of waste heat recovery systems in the Indian cement industry. 'Waste' heat can also be used for drying of raw materials and/or fuel, so that it is not necessarily a straight calculation just to use the energy in exhaust gases for electricity generation. Granex and Econotherm are two emerging technologies that may increase the efficiency of WHR systems. Waste heat from the cement process may also be used to power desalination plants. A range of 20-40kWh/t of clinker might be an expected level of power generation on most cement plants, and Mr Saha suggested a payback of 3-5 years.
Anis Haider of Itaca next spoke about on-line analysis as implemented at Jayajothi Cement in India. This 2Mt greenfield plant, commissioned in 2010, decided to use on-line control, using XRD, loss on ignition, XRF and other techniques for raw mix, hot meal, free lime and particle size. The fact that the measurements are conducted 'on-line' - at or very close to the process line - allows a higher frequency and faster return of analysis, energy savings, stable quality and simpler and more reliable systems. Of course, stated Anis, it is critical for the analysis system to receive a representative sample. A Malvern Insitec instrument is used for particle size distribution analysis at Jayajothi.
Dinner and dancing
After the first full day of the conference, delegates were treated to a dinner in the conference hotel, including some exciting folkloric dancing from 'Baby Pinky.' Delegates joined together to sing 'Happy birthday' to Linas Mazeika of 3L&T Inc. Much business was subsequently conducted in the hotel's bar.
SCMs and fly ash in India
P.K. Ghosh, chairman of conference co-sponsoring company Ercom Engineers, started the second day and the session on SCMs -supplementary cementitious materials - by giving an overview of the use of cementitious materials and green technologies in India. He pointed out that Indian power plants will shortly be required to utilise all of their coal combustion products and will not be allowed to landfill any material at all. Greater efforts in terms of research and development is required from Indian cement majors into the use of ash, slag products and other SCMs according to P.K. Ghosh, although some progress has been made in making artificial lightweight aggregates from fly ash using cement as a binder.
Subray Hegde of Reliance Cement Company next spoke about the hurdles for higher usage of SCMs in the cement and concrete industries of India. He suggested that India's cement production capacity may reach 550Mt by 2020. Coal combustion residues (CCRs) are generated at a rate of around 160Mt per year: ash utilisation levels in cement and construction materials have increased substantially in the last two decades. In the early 1990s, only around 3% of the ash generated was used, compared to around 40% of the ash generated today: A huge quantity of power plant ash is still available. Additionally, around 10Mt of blast furnace slag is currently generated in India from the iron and steel industries. Variability in chemical composition of the available SCMs is one of the critical factors limiting the further use of locally-generated SCMs in India. Dr Hegde suggested the establishment of a system matching by-products with the correct level of reactivity and appropriate mineralogy and chemistry to the most suitable end-use applications. Alternatively, the reactivity of the materials can be altered as required, for example by fine grinding. Producers and potential users need to work together to engender trust and to allow higher use of SCMs. Dr Hegde made a plea for performance-based codes for concrete, which allow higher use of fly ash, or, at least, the introduction of standards for making composite cement with higher SCM levels. It is necessary to demonstrate to the Indian authorities that the use of SCMs in cement and concrete can lead to higher strength and durability and longer service-in-life. "Many problems with premature deterioration of concrete structures" concluded Subray Hegde, "arise from accelerated construction speeds, increased water content in concrete mixtures and production of cement with high early strengths to enable lower cement content in concrete."
Peter Brennan of Steag Power Minerals examined the possibilities for the export of fly ash from India. India's ever-growing demand for power is currently being met by the construction of new coal-fired power stations, all of which will be required to achieve 100% coal ash utilisation within five years of construction. However, little work has yet to be done on the export of fly ash, for which the potential, particularly for exports to the Gulf, is huge. At the moment, fly ash is loaded into big bags, at low capital lost but with high delivered cost per tonne. Steag's view is that to achieve higher levels of fly ash export from India it will be necessary to use the bulk materials handling supply chain, which at the moment might include up to 17 different handling and trans-shipment steps, with higher capital costs but with lower delivered cost per tonne. The variation in the quality of fly ash is still of concern, with variations in loss on ignition, variations in particle size distribution and contamination with grid ash or bottom ash and therefore the production of ash of limited value. Peter suggested that the use of a process and quality control system, including separation of coarse ash, might be necessary to achieve a suitable quality of ash for the building materials industry.
Laurent Guillot of Chryso spoke about the use of cement strength enhancers to allow the use of up to 30% fly ash in cement. Laurent made it clear that the multinational cement producers are significantly changing the proportions of different cement products in their portfolios, away from Portland cement towards blended cements with much-reduced clinker factors. Increased clinker substitution by SCMs can lead to slower strength development: the use of strength-enhancing additives will allow these blended cements to compete with more traditional compositions. Grinding aids can also reduce the cost of comminution and/or increase production. Critically, Laurent showed that even with the cost of the use of the additives, significant savings in total cost can be achieved when using cheaper-than-clinker SCMs to produce equivalent-performing cement and concrete.
Matthias Raabe of Claudius Peters then gave details of a new system to separate unburned and coarse particles from fly ash, to allow its beneficiation. Quality standards are often not reached in existing coal boilers due to variations in coal quality and the existing process technology employed. Matthias outlined a research effort - in partnership with Steag Power Minerals - to develop a machine to separate the coarse and unburned particles from fly ash. The machine uses the different conductivity of the carbon-rich particles: which are negatively charged with a corona and are dispersed in air. Due to the different charges on the particles, the carbon-rich particles are attracted to a collecting roller, while carbon-poor particles are thrown off by centrifugal force. Test results at a pilot plant managed to produce a loss on ignition of less than 5% for the low-carbon fraction, for practically all fly ash samples tested. The high-carbon fraction is returned to the power plant as a fuel. Fineness targets for the low-carbon fraction, while not the main point of the pilot plant, were reached in many cases. A 10t/hour pilot plant is under construction.
Alternative fuels in India
Richard Maslen spoke on behalf of Fairport Engineeering about solid recovered fuels (SRF) in the cement industry in South Asia. SRF is a processed material, which has had non-desirable components separated out and its moisture level reduced. In general, there are many problems with the waste stream feedstock, most critical of which is its variability. The processing systems used must therefore additionally reduce heterogeneity in the material stream. A thermal processing line and a biomass density separation system are two parts of such a system that have been patented by Fairport's sister company, Orchid Environmental. SRF is commonly processed into pellets, which allow economic transport and easier storage and handling. Pelletised SRF has a net calorific value of around 15.5MJ/kg, making it competitive with many other fuels. Richard pointed out that the Indian cement industry could use as much SRF as it would be possible to produce from the amount of waste available in the country, possibly saving nearly half a billion dollars in fuel costs each year.
Continuing the session on alternative fuels, David Hooper of Entsorga spoke on the use of high grade solid recovered fuel in the cement industry, produced through the use of mechanical and biological treatment (MBT). A mechanical pretreatment of the input waste prepares the material for a biological process step. Warm air is blown through the waste to reduce the moisture level from 30-40%. A mechanical refinement section then takes out recyclable materials including paper, metals and inerts, leaving a SRF fraction comprising 30-50% of the waste stream, and a fraction to be landfilled. European regulations on SRF are legion: it is a highly specified material. David pointed out that around 120kg of coal is used to produce each tonne of cement, while good quality coal costs around US$120/t. SRF from MSW (municipal solid waste) has 60-70% of the calorific value of coal and costs a fraction of the price. Entsorga has a range of technologies and options for MBT production of SRF from MSW. David concluded that the waste available in India is often high in moisture and has already been sorted through by scavengers: Any successful solution must be 'Indianised' to meet local waste compositions and conditions.
Neville Roberts of Cemex Energy Trading spoke about his company's new offering of alternative fuels (AF) and low sulphur petcoke to non-Cemex cement companies. Cemex has relationships in more than 100 countries and is one of the world's largest cement and clinker traders: Cemex trades 4-6Mt of petcoke each year. Neville defined RDF as having a calorific value of less than 15MJ/kg, whereas SRF has a calorific value above this level. Chlorine content must be lower than 0.5%, otherwise process blockages can occur along with other problems, while moisture levels must be as low as possible. Cemex aims to have a thermal substitution rate (TSR) of 35% by 2015, even though it already boasts an average TSR of 27%, the highest level of any cement company worldwide. TSR at the Cemex plant at South Ferriby is above 60% and has been pushed as high as 100% for some extended periods of time as well.
Karl Menzel then outlined the FuelTrack approach to AF use in the Indian cement industry. The approach essentially consists of a number of steps: identification of usable materials; treatment; handling and dosage; and the adaptation of the clinker production process to the use of the AF supplied; these steps leading to the optimisation of quality, ecology and economy. Different fractions and particle sizes in the RDF may be more suitable for different parts of the pyroprocess, so that larger particle sizes might best be used in the calciner, whereas smaller particle sizes are best used in the main burner. Much larger particles of AF can be used in the Polysius Step Combustor, which has residence times in the several minutes range, allowing complete burnout.
Well-known AF expert Dirk Lechtenberg spoke about the processing of municipal solid waste, particularly for the Ajmer project in India. Dirk stated that the overall substitution rate in India is lower than 3%, consisting largely of biomass, such as rice husks and bagasse. The main problem is that little waste is currently available and the difficulty of longer term contracts. Bio-solids and biomass are among the more common potential sources of AF in India. Ajmer is a city in Rajasthan with 540,000 inhabitants, producing 320t of MSW per day (0.6kg per person per day, compared to 3kg in the US). MVW designed a MSW processing plant, incorporating hand-picking for some fractions, built with largely Indian-sourced machinery and capable of producing high-quality fuels. Another design-build-operate project is underway at Bikaner.
Srinivasan Raman of oil refiners Essar Oil next spoke about the use of petcoke in the cement industry. Petcoke is a solid residue from the cracking of crude oil into petroleum. It has low volatiles leading to ignition challenges, high energy content and relatively high sulphur, as well as low ash content. Petcoke may cost US$100-160/t in India, compared to US$80-150/t for coal. Petcoke is harder than coal and is more difficult to grind and, in addition, finer grinding is required to increase the surface area to enhance combustion. The high level of fixed carbon requires a longer residence time to burn out completely, so that feeding into the precalciner is preferred. The higher flame temperatures generated with petcoke may increase the formation of NOx necessitating the introduction or increased use of NOx control technologies if NOx levels are higher than permitted levels. The clinker may also become harder due to the longer burning zone and refractories may be required to be upgraded. The level of sulphur in the petcoke will certainly need attention in the pyro-system, possibly requiring a bypass and attention to increased build-ups. Despite the cost of these measures, the potentially lower cost of petcoke compared to coal - depending on the local coal and petcoke prices - can mean a significant overall saving. Coal shortages in India have boosted the price of petcoke and the cement industry is the main user.
Environmental impact abatement
Jim O'Brien of CSR Consulting kicked off the final session of the conference, on the Indian cement industry and the environment. He stated that by increasing your company's sustainability, it can increase its efficiency and profitability. The Indian cement industry is amongst the most efficient already in terms of specific energy consumption, due its modern and large capacity units, but it currently uses minuscule amounts of alternative fuels and also still creates products with a high clinker factor. Jim forecast that landfill taxes will soon come to India, shifting the AF usage scene completely. India leads the world in captive power generation units and is one of the leaders in the installation of waste heat recovery units in the cement industry. Transportation will shift towards rail and water transport, and towards bulk and away from bagged products. Quarry rehabilitation plans need to become ubiquitous in India, and biodiversity, currently not a big issue in the Indian cement industry, will become more prominent. India has the worst fatality statistics in the world - a shameful figure. Most injuries are caused by moving vehicles, as well as injuries to contractors. Jim suggests that each lost-time injury costs US$20-30,000 on average, separate from the human costs of each incident. Jim O'Brien also suggested that supporting child education, community outreach, employee training and health projects all have a positive effect on a company's bottom line. He concluded that companies in India need to have a rigorously implemented code of conduct and to comply with anti-trust procedures, not least to avoid the hefty anti-cartel fines levied in India in recent years.
Chris davenport of Golder Associates next spoke on accessing land and enhancing sustainability using biodiversity and integrated design techniques. India is considered one of 17 of the world's most biodiverse countries. Chris suggested that the main risk to business of damaging biodiversity is the possible refusal of land access permits, as well as company reputational damage, and potential law suits. Biodiversity action plans (BAPs) are useful when a quarry is approaching rehabilitation and BAPs can be used to enhance biodiversity at reasonable cost partly through early establishment of new habitats. Soil may need to be supplied, contaminated land decontaminated, water managed, erosion controlled and other practical issues addressed for effective quarry rehabilitation. Coldstones Cut was held up as an example of a world-class quarry rehabilitation scheme.
Dipankar Roy, speaking on behalf of F. Harley & Co examined dust suppression technologies for the cement industry. Plain water, wetting agent-based (ChemJet), dry fog and filter bag methods can all be used to avoid fugitive dust. The company collaborates with both DSIL from the UK and TRC - the Raring Corporation from the USA.
Gerd Bormann of Wieland Lufttechnik suggested that the ideal solution for plant dust and clinker accumulation problems is the use of a professional vacuum cleaner system. Portable, stationary and mobile vacuum units can all be used around the cement plant. Wieland has many references around the world, especially to Saudi Arabia.
Ashish Bhaiya of Evonik spoke about his company's three years of experience in operating P84-based filter bags at Ambuja Rauri cement plant. Bags showed no pronounced wear and the clean gas side was free from dust. Mr Bhaiya suggested that the use of P84 bags can save money over their lifetimes due to a reduced pressure drop compared to other filter fabrics, because dust does not penetrate into the high-surface area filtration P84-based fabric.
Vincent Grosskopf of Thorwesten Vent next spoke about a new cylindrical bag filter concept for coal grinding safety. Vincent pointed out that a cylindrical bag house for pulverised fuels is capable of withstanding much higher explosion pressure shocks than traditional square bag houses. A single explosion vent or a combination of several self-reclosing explosion vents can be installed in the centre of the flat roof of the cylindrical bag house, which will also function as explosion diverters. The cylindrical filter house for pulverised fuel has a small footprint, minimal civil work, reduced investment, and optimised air and pulverised fuel flow.
Finally, Mark Doerffer and Abhijit Kumar of Koeppern spoke about the use of Hexadur wear protection. Welded wear protection can suffer from smoothing, 'bathtub' wear and chunk-outs. Wear on the rollers will also lead to a reduction in production and an increase in specific grinding energy consumption, and these effects combine to increase the unit cost of the product. Hexadur-faced grinding rolls have a customised surface composition with a profiled surface for better grip, constant intake and throughput, constant grinding pressure, resistance to tramp metal and low or no maintenance. These Hexadur rolls are used worldwide in the cement industry, grinding raw meal, clinker, cement and granulated slag. Although they are more expensive than traditional hard-faced rolls, they pay back within around 20 months. As Abhijit Kumar said, echoing a famous Hindi car ad, 'Kitna deti hai?' - how much does it give - or 'does it give good value?'
Indian cement industry versus Rest of World - Cricket match
At the end of the conference programme, an unusual content then took place: the chairs and table in the conference room were cleared away and - to the chagrin of the conference hotel - a team from the Indian cement industry played a game of cricket against a team representing the Rest of the World - echoing the match conducted at the first conference organised by Global Cement in India, nine years previously. Paul Brown, captain of the Rest of the World team won the toss, but unfortunately, that was the last thing won by the team. Despite a team composed of players from the UK, Germany, France, Mexico and Australia, the total number of runs totalled only nine. The Indian cement industry team, ably led by Amit Arora from ACC Ltd, batted with skill against the energetic fielding of the Rest of the World team, and quickly surmounted the number of runs required to win, thrashing the tourists by eight wickets. It was great fun.
Awards and farewells
After a delegate vote, Subray Hegde won third place in the best presentation awards, while Carolyn Woywadt of Gebr. Pfeiffer was second. For his eloquent and forceful presentation on the alternative fuel offering of Cemex Energy Trading, the best presentation award went to Neville Roberts of Cemex. Fuchs Lubritech was awarded the best exhibition stand award.
The 2nd Global Cement India Conference and Exhibition was very popular with exhibitors and visitors alike and many reported numerous business leads and contacts. Many commented on the highly-efficient conference organisation and programme management, calling the event 'the Rolls Royce of cement conferences,' and 'the best cement conference in India.'
The 3rd Global Cement India Conference, Exhibition, Awards (and cricket match) will take place in February 2015, once again in Mumbai, and we look forward to welcoming speakers, sponsors, delegates and exhibitors to Mumbai once more.
