17 August 2020

India: State-owned energy supplier NTPC Limited has announced the shipment of 3450t of fly ash from its 3.0GW Rihand power station in Uttar Pradesh to Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim subsidiary ACC Cement’s 3.0Mt/yr Tikaria grinding plant, also in Uttar Pradesh. The Orissa Diary newspaper has reported that the shipment – the first from a new purpose-built rail depot – over 458km is part of NTPC Limited’s commitment to 100% total fly ash utilisation, up from 73% in the 2020 financial year, ended 31 March 2020. ACC supply chain head Suresh Rathi said, “This will pave the way for efficient and safe transportation of all fly ash from power plants to cement production units located at a distance in larger quantity.”

NTPC Limited generates some 60.5Mt/yr of fly ash alongside 62.9GW of power.

Saudi Arabia: The 25th Arab International Cement Conference and Exhibition (AICCE) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been postponed from 1 – 3 December 2020 to a later date to be announced in due course. The cause of the postponement is the impacts of the coronavirus. Arab Union of Cement and Building Materials secretary general Ahmad Al-Rousan said, “For health and safety reasons for all delegates, exhibitors, and speakers, and in order to provide all participants with a reliable basis for planning, we see this rescheduling of the event as the most responsible conclusion.”

India: Low demand for power due to the 25 March 2020 – 31 August 2020 nationwide coronavirus lockdown has caused Shree Cement to suspend some of its power plant operations due to a lack of buyers. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that 300MW of Shree Cement’s 650MW power generation capacity produces power for sale to other users on the national grid. Joint managing director Prashant Bangur said, “Owing to the lockdown, power demand was impacted and some of our power capacities were shut. Power demand has not completely recovered yet. Right now, power plants are shut because there is no demand; viability is the second part.”

The first stage of lifting lockdown was announced on 1 June 2020.

Germany: ThyssenKrupp has announced the launch of the HPGR Pro, a high-pressure grinding roll for raw materials processing that it says “offers up to 20% more throughput, 15% lower energy consumption and 30% longer-lasting rollers” than previous models. HPGR global product manager Frank Schroers said, “We used our experience and what we learned from conversations with customers to introduce improvements that are unique in this market and make grinding much easier.” Laser monitoring keeps users constantly informed about the roller surface and helps predict the best possible time for roller replacement. “Our customers need no longer stop the machine as a precautionary measure, saving them valuable time. What’s more, as our specialists collect and process machine data, our customers can continually improve their HPGR’s operation and optimise throughput, energy consumption or machine availability in line with their specific targets,” added Schroers.

Turkey: Germany-based Körfez Engineering’s Körfez foundry in Dilovasi, Kocaeli Province, has announced that it is now exporting its cast steel products, including cement kilns, preheaters, clinker coolers and mills, to 70 countries spanning five continents. Exports account for 85% of sales. Foundry general manager Çağdaş Alan said, “We are proud to export to different geographies and to increase the number of countries we export to during this difficult period the world is going through. We hope to overcome this difficult period with the least loss for our business and the country.” He added, “We continue to invest in information technologies, develop our facilities in line with industry 4.0, and create a dynamic business environment with innovative trainings for continuous development of our expert staff.”