Displaying items by tag: Cimangola
Angola: Portugal-based IPIAC has won a contract to upgrade the Cimangola plant in Luanda region to use Limestone Calcined Clay (LC3). The project will be the first in the world to convert an existing clinker production line into a clay calciner. Switzerland-based Ecosolutions conducted a study of raw materials and sustainability issues prior to the signing of the contract. The project will be coordinated and supervised by Portugal-based Techbelt. Once completed the plant will produce 0.3Mt/yr of calcined clay, which can be used to manufacture up to 1Mt/yr of LC3 cement.
FCT updates on burner projects in US and beyond
20 March 2019World: FCT Combustion has released details on new burner projects it is involved with. Selected projects include a new contract in the US to convert both kilns to natural gas firing at Ash Grove Cement’s Louisville plant in Nebraska. The order includes Gyro-Therm MKII Burners, Natural Valve Trains and NFPA 86 BMS for both kilns.
Nova Cimangola in Angola has contracted FCT to convert its 5000t/day kiln to fuel oil firing. The order includes a multi fuel main burner, calciner burners, oil heating units, oil pumping and filtering units and control panels.
FCT also provided details about a low NOx kiln conversion for an undisclosed client. Other selected cement sector projects include the commissioning of Turbu-Flex burner systems for clinker kilns at Finnsementti’s Parainen and Lappeenranta plants in Finland. These are scheduled for commissioning in March 2019 and April 2019 respectively. Baumit’s Wopfing plant in Austria is due for a natural has lance for kiln preheating to be delivered later in March 2019.
It also plans to deliver a Turbu-Flex burner system for a clinker kiln to an undisclosed client in China later in March 2019. It is based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study undertaken by FCT is to allow for the firing of natural gas and to modernise the plant. Commissioning is scheduled for March 2019.
Nova Cimangola says company is not being nationalised
25 February 2019Angola: Nova Cimangola says that it is not being nationalised by the government. It has made the statement in response to local media reports that a state-led takeover is being considered as part of decree by President João Lourenço, according to the Jornal de Negócios newspaper. The cement company asserted that it is a private company with no public funding and that its financial, contractual and legal states are all in order. The company operates a 2.4Mt/yr integrated plant in Luanda.
Update on Angola
19 July 2017The old joke about buses only coming along in pairs might just apply to Angolan cement plants this week with the inauguration of Nova Cimangola’s new 2.4Mt/yr cement plant in Luanda. It follows the announcement of the start of an upgrade project to build a clinker kiln at Cimenfort’s grinding plant in Benguela. In cement industry terms for a country with a production capacity below 10Mt/yr these projects are right on top of each other!
Nova Cimangola’s new plant has been a well-publicised project internationally. Sinoma International Engineering coordinated the line for US$400m in 21 months using components from well-known suppliers. Loesche provided a number of raw material, cement and coal mills for the project, including the country’s first vertical roller mill, as well as other components and parts. Loesche’s Austrian subsidiary A Tec also got involved as an EPCM (Engineering, Procurement & Construction Management) partner.
Cimenfort’s clinker kiln project is the third phase of a process to turn its grinding plant at Catumbela in Benguela into a fully integrated unit since it opened in 2012. Earlier phases saw the grinding plant’s capacity increase to 1.4Mt/yr from 0.7Mt/yr by using a new roller press. Work on the kiln is now scheduled to start in January 2018 with completion scheduled for 2020.
If Cimenfort makes it to clinker production they will join the country’s three main producers: Nova Cimangola, Fabrica de Cimento do Kwanza Sul (FCKS) and the China International Fund. Getting that far is by no means certain as the Palanca Cement plant project demonstrates. That scheme was backed by Brazil’s Camargo Corrêa, the owners of InterCement, and local business group Gema. However, the regulators bailed out Portugal’s Banco Espírito Santo, the financial backer of the project, in 2014 effectively killing it. Another project that has gone on the back burner is Portugal’s Secil’s plan to build a second plant next to its grinding plant in Lobito. Originally approved by the Angolan government in 2007 the project has been kicked around since then through various revisions to the local investment body. It was last reported as being under consideration by the president’s office of Angola in 2016.
Ministry of Industry figures place cement production capacity at 8.3Mt/yr compared to a consumption of 6Mt/yr. In contrast to this Secil’s parent company Semapa reported that the Angolan cement market contracted in 2016 by 25% to 3.9Mt in line with the poor state of the general economy, pushed down by poor oil prices. It blamed the decrease in cement consumption on a halt in public infrastructure spending and the negative effect that local currency devaluations had on clinker imports and other incoming raw materials. With the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasting economic growth to pick up for Angola in 2017, improvements in the construction and cement sector are expected by Semapa but they hadn’t been seen so far during the first quarter of the year.
The government’s keenness to describe its cement industry as ‘self-sufficient in cement’ mimics calls from other African countries like Nigeria. The Angolan government banned cement imports in 2015, with the exception of certain border provinces, and this has continued into 2017. However, the ban hasn’t stopped the country exporting cement to its neighbours. Earlier this year the head of Cimenterie de Lukala in the Democratic Republic of Congo blamed the closure of his company’s integrated plant on imports from Angola.
All of this leaves an enlarged local cement industry waiting for the good times to come again. In the meantime, exporting cement and clinker no doubt seems like a promising proposition. In the middle of this are projects like those from Cimenfort and Secil that are looking decidedly dicey in the current economic environment. These companies may have just missed the bus to make their upgrades happen. Still, if they wait around long enough, their chance may come again when the market revives.
Angola: Nova Cimangola has inaugurated a new 2.4Mt/yr cement plant at Cacuaco in Luanda. China’s Sinoma International Engineering built the US$400m plant in 21 months, according to the Jornal de Angola newspaper. Investment for the project came from Nova Cimangola and Ciminvest, its main shareholder.
The new unit is intended to repalace Nova Cimangola’s existing cement plant at Kikolo near Luanda, which has limited limestone reserves. The new plant occupies an area of 700 hectares with larger mineral reserves. Following the start-up of the plant Nova Cimangola’s production will rise to 3.6Mt/yr from 1.8Mt/yr. The new plant will also create 200 jobs, 85% of which are expected to go to local workers.
Second line at Nova Cimangola to start in 2018
24 November 2016Angola: The second production line at Nova Cimangola’s plant in Luanda is expected to start production in mid-2018. Cimangola’s administrator Manuel Pacavira Júnior revealed details of the upgrade’s progress to the Jornal de Angola newspaper during a visit to the site by Secretary of State Kiala Gabriel. All the equipment for the clinker production stage of the project has been assembled and tests are scheduled to start in December 2016. The project has cost US$350m. Funding for the second phase of the upgrade project is still being gathered.
Angola: A TEC has released information regarding its work on the construction of a 2MT/yr greenfield cement plant for Nova Cimangola. As an EPCM (engineering, procurement and construction management) partner, the Austrian engineering and technologies company is coordinating and surpervising the 30 months construction period. The scope of supply for the project includes: tender preparation and contract negotiation; technical services; civil, mechanical and electrical erection supervision; and supplier quality assurance. The cement plant will be finished by the start of 2017.
Angola: The Nova Cimangola cement plant will get US$116m from the Angolan government to boost its cement production capacity, as per a presidential decree. The funds will be transferred by the Finance Ministry and will ensure a greater cement supply to the Angolan market and reduce cement prices.
The presidential decree described the importance of cement in the process of repairing and building manufacturing and social infrastructure in Angola, as well as for execution of house building programmes. The shareholders of Nova Cimangola are Ciminvest (49%), the Angolan State (40%) and the state bank Banco Angolano de Investimentos (10%). The remaining 1% is in the hands of individual shareholders.