Cement performs a vital role in the construction industry. However, as it is a manufactured material created by a complex process that involves multiple ingredients, testing is essential to ensure compliance with specification and application-specific requirements. In the following article Alfonso Rivera, Technical Department and Field Service Manager for ELE International, reviews the most important tests and provides an update on relevant standards.*
The Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) looks at how EU legislation needs to change in order for smart buildings to take hold in Europe in its new report ‘Opening the door to smart buildings.’ The report is timely, considering that EU bodies are currently in the process of recasting crucial Directives pertaining to energy efficiency in buildings.
Since the end of the Second World War, cement production has grown into a huge global industry. The Global Cement Directory 2017 details over 2200 integrated cement plants and 500+ grinding plants worldwide that can produce around 4.2Bnt/yr of cement. But growth brings challenges. There are profitable and unprofitable cement plants. Overall return on capital isn’t high and overcapacity is a major factor in certain markets. Consolidation is now well-established, with the chairman of the World Cement Association recently expressing the view that a return to profitability will require even more consolidation in the future.
The consolidation of the global cement sector continued in 2017 after a busy 2015 and 2016. CRH has continued to grow, with two major acquisitions in the US. HeidelbergCement, fresh from its acquisition of Italcementi, has bought up Cementir Italia, while assets have also changed hands in South Korea, Germany, Belgium and India. There is also the question of which company will end up with PPC’s assets in South Africa. Prior to the release of the final print version of the Global Cement Directory 2018, we present a run down of the top cement-producing nations and cement producers as they stand at the start of the New Year.
Up until 2014, the Egyptian cement industry principally used state-subsidised natural gas and heavy fuel oil to fire their kilns. Due to the gradual phasing out of the subsidies, using natural gas and heavy fuel is no longer economically viable.
