Indonesia: Denmark’s FLSmidth is expected to secure a contract with Hongshi Holding Group to supply equipment for a new cement plant at Jember in East Java. Lu Jianlong, a manager at Hongshi's equipment supply department, told Inside International Industrials that the US$40m deal is due to be signed by the end of June 2018.

The project has a total investment of US$315m. Sinoma (Suzhou) Construction, a subsidiary of Sinoma International Engineering, is the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project. Atlas Copco and Kawasaki Heavy Industries will also be providing equipment for the plant. The project will include a 12MW waste heat power generation system.

Germany/China: Siemens has signed 10 agreements with Chinese companies, including China Resources Cement, to support the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Other companies it has struck deals with include China Gezhouba Group Corporation International Engineering, Guangdong Yuedian Group, China National Chemical Engineering Group, China Railway Construction and China Civil Engineering Construction.

"As a long-term and well-established partner of China and its industries, we support the call of the Belt and Road Initiative and take another solid step forward on a larger scale and a wider scope", said Joe Kaeser, President and chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens, witnessing the signing taking place during the BRI Summit in Beijing. He added that the BRI was a ‘wise and powerful’ for force for accelerating infrastructure development already in participating countries.

Azerbaijan: Holcim Azerbaijan has launched its Spesial 400 Cement product. The general-purpose cement product is intended for mid-strength concrete applications. It follows the launch of the Optimal 300 product in 2017.

Russia: Serebryansky Cement has completed a Euro2.1m upgrade project at its plant in the Ryazan region, according to the Beton Russia news website. The work included completely replacing the refractory lining of the plant’s kiln and modernising the mill’s liner plates.

UK: Hanson UK’s sustainability report for 2017 shows that its CO₂ emissions per tonne of product have fallen by 7.2% to reach the lowest level for five years. However, the subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement may face issues meeting its target of a 10% reduction by 2020 from its 2010 figures as its CO₂ emissions from production have rise by 5.7% since 2010.

Overall, the company described 2017 as a year of ‘solid’ progress. It passed its 2020 targets for reducing both mains water use and waste to landfill. The number of lost time injuries remained static at 21, but the frequency rate was down on the prior year and there was a three-month unbroken spell without a lost time injury. The building materials producer also launched HeidelbergCement’s Sustainability Commitments 2030, including a set of targets for the group to achieve by 2020.

Brazil/US/Vietnam: FCT Combustion has released details on new burner projects it is involved with. Selected projects include the commissioning of Gyro-Therm burners for Kilns 1 and 2 for use with natural gas, coal, petcoke and solid alternative fuels at Lehigh Cement’s Evansville plant in Pennnsylvania in the US. The supply also included the burner management system, valve trains, fans and other accessories.

The company is also working on an upgrade to the hot gas generator at Votorantim Cimentos’ Vidal Ramos plant in Santa Catarina, Brazil. Also in this country it is supplying Turbu-Jet AF burners with blowers, ignition and flame detection systems to CSN Cimentos’ Arcos plant in Minas Gerais.

Finally, in Vietnam the burner supplier is to provide a Turbu-Jet AF burner firing low calorific value coal with fuel oil to Vinacomin’s Quan Trieu Cement plant.

US: US Cement is in the process of obtaining a draft air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to build a white cement plant in Brady, Texas. A public hearing on the application will be made in late June 2018. The subsidiary of Royal White Cement plans to build a single line 0.5Mt/yr white cement plant.

Hungary: Germany’s IKN has provided information on its role with an environmental upgrade to Duna-Dráva Cement’s Vác plant. The Euro22m project was commissioned in April 2018. The 2400t/day clinker production line was modified by IKN to handle a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) substitution rate of up to 100% in the calciner. The two lower cyclone stages were replaced, a complete new preheater tower with the inline calciner was erected, a new bypass system and a new static inlet in the clinker cooler were installed. IKN says that it completed the project in just less than two years on an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) basis.

Denmark’s FLSmdith also worked on the project replacing the line’s bag filters with an electrostatic precipitator system. This part of the environmental upgrade cost Euro4.7m.

France: LafargeHolcim France has started the first phase of a Euro100m upgrade project its Martres-Tolosane cement plant. The first phase of civil engineering work has been awarded to Eiffage Génie Civil and it will be carried out until mid-2020. The stage of the project will build the foundations to support a new production line and its preheater tower. The upgrade will also enable the unit to increase its alternative fuel substitution rate to 80% from 30% at present.

Canada/France: Canadian pension companies La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) completed their acquisition of a minority stake of France’s Fives in late May 2018. The equipment manufacturer will remain controlled by its management, with Ardian as another minority shareholder. The group said that the new investment would enable it to expand and to explore research and development programs that aim to improve energy efficiency and a lower environmental footprint.