16 April 2024

India: UltraTech Cement will integrate vertical mill technology from Gebr. Pfeiffer for three new clinker production lines. Gebr. Pfeiffer SE and its Indian subsidiary, Gebr. Pfeiffer India, will fulfil a subsequent order.

At the Happy 3 plant, cement raw material grinding will be conducted using an MVR 5000 R-4 mill, equipped with a 5300kW drive, capable of grinding about 705t/hr to a product fineness of 1.5% R 212µm. Additionally, three MPS 3550 BK mills, each with a 1300kW gearbox, will grind about 45t/hr of petcoke or 90t/hr of coal. These mills come with an integrated SLS 3750 BK classifier.

Gebr. Pfeiffer's MVR mills are distinct in their use of rollers according to the R=C principle. This design allows the same rollers to be used with parts for both raw meal and cement grinding. The MVR 5000 R-4 mill at Happy 3 features four actively redundant rollers, maintaining about 70% production capacity during maintenance. Gebr. Pfeiffer equips MVR mills with maintenance-oriented condition monitoring systems, enabling the implementation of digital maintenance strategies.

Handling of the order will be a collaborative effort between Gebr. Pfeiffer SE and Gebr. Pfeiffer India with all customer support and plant planning managed by Pfeiffer engineers in Noida. Core components like gearboxes, grinding bowls and roller suspensions will be shipped from Europe, while other parts like foundations and classifiers will be provided by the Indian subsidiary. Support for the plants will be managed by the customer support centre in Noida, accessible via remote data or on-site personnel.

Bolivia: National cement production reached a record 4Mt in 2023, despite a noted decline in exports, according to the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE). Santa Cruz contributed 27.4% to the total cement output, followed closely by La Paz with 26.8%, and Chuquisaca at 18.3%. According to Noticias Financieras News, this output is largely due to investments by cement companies in Santa Cruz, such as Itacamba's US$220m investment in a new plant in 2016, which has a production capacity of 870,000t/yr. Other firms like Soboce and Fancesa have also invested in the region. The construction industry in Santa Cruz grew by 3% in 2023, although this was a decrease in growth rate compared to previous years.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines will invest US$35m in sustainability initiatives at its four plants over the next three years. The investments will also include US$17.5m for its waste management arm, Geocycle, increasing capacity for local government unit waste processing.

Chief sustainability officer Samuel Manlosa Jr. said "There is also a side where, if we want to take in more volume, we need to increase our capacity to shred and prepare the materials. Our cement plants, even as sophisticated and technologically advanced as they are, were constructed 20 years ago when norms were different, so we had to make changes in the process to make sure that the plants were able to accept more."

The company will further invest between US$8.7m and US$17.5m in renewable energy and electrification of its vehicle fleet. President and CEO Horia Adrian said "We are purchasing electricity right now, but we have plans to put in place solar facilities and we are looking at the possibility of using electricity generated from biowaste here. By the end of 2024, some of them should be ready."

He concluded that investments at the Bulacan and La Union plants are set to start this year, with those in Davao and Lugait scheduled for 2025.

India: Kerala has converted approximately 48,000t of non-recyclable waste into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use in cement plants, from the period of January - December 2023. The Department of Local Self-Government reported that 29,826t originated from the government sector and 18,205t from the private sector. The material was collected from households and shops, separated at collection facilities and sent to cement plants for co-processing. The local authorities managed the collection and separation of dry waste.

The state has ‘significantly’ invested in infrastructure for dry waste storage, with 167 resource recovery facilities, 1981 collection facilities, 20,904 mini collection facilities, and 57 storage warehouses over 45,522m². The Haritha Mithram mobile app has led to an increase in door-to-door waste collection and the volume of dry waste processed. The state has added 41 more warehouses so far in 2024 to manage the increased waste collection.

Türkiye: Exports of cement products from Türkiye to the US have decreased by 12% year-on-year to US$165m from January - March 2024, according to the Türkiye Trade Ministry. The ministry also reported that in March 2024, cement exports to the US fell to US$57.5m, representing a 28% year-on-year decrease. Overall, Türkiye's global cement product exports dropped 7.4% to US$1.1bn in the first quarter of 2024. In March 2024, exports were down 11% at US$390m. Despite these declines, Türkiye achieved cement product exports totalling US$4.5bn from March 2023 - March 2024.

Russia: Cement consumption in Russia has increased for 13 consecutive months, according to Darya Martynkina, executive director of the Soyuzcement union of cement producers. This figure increased by 8% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2023, from 10.4Mt of cement to 11.2Mt.

Martynkina said "Development of infrastructure in Russia still does not correspond to long-term economic tasks and society needs. For example, the level of road network coverage in our country and the level of transport mobility are insufficient; high-speed motorways are close to none."

She highlighted extensive projects that will require ‘significant’ amounts of cement, including the North Siberian railway, the upgrade of 75 airports by 2030, improvements to seaports and expansions of the Eastern Range railway and the M-12 highway extending to Vladivostok.