Displaying items by tag: FLSmidth

Denmark: FLSmidth’s sales were US$670m in the first quarter of 2022, up by 27% year-on-year. Its earnings before interest, taxation and amortisation (EBITA) rose by 59% to US$43m. The supplier’s cement business recorded a sales increase of 10%. This contributed to a continuation in the ‘positive trend’ in earnings from the end of 2021, along with improvements from executed reshaping activities. The business made a property sale worth US$3.27m. In light of the results for the quarter, the company announced that it has maintained its guidance of US$2.49 – 2.71bn consolidated sales and US$783 – 855m in cement business sales in 2022.

Chief executive officer Mikko Keto said “The first quarter of 2022 saw a strong momentum in order intake driven by both mining and cement.” Keto expanded “Our cement business has continued its positive development on improving profitability.”

Regarding the on-going Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said “Our key priority in this challenging time of war has been on the safety and well-being of our employees. We closely follow this tragic situation to ensure we take the right responsible decisions from a humanitarian, legal, and financial point of view.”

India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Denmark-based FLSmidth to collaborate in the research and development of sustainable solutions for cement manufacturing. The agreement has been arranged under the ‘Green Strategic Partnership’ initiatives between Denmark and India that cover energy and climate change.

Under the MOU both companies will cooperate on a range of areas such as substituting conventional energy supplies with renewable sources and working towards CO₂ emissions abatement. Both companies have committed to contributing research and development towards eventually building an industrial scale production plant where the new concepts can be further tested.

Mahendra Singhi, the managing director and chief executive officer of Dalmia Cement (Bharat) said, “In alignment with the ambitious net zero vision of our Prime Minister Narendra Modiji and given the strength and stature of our respective organisations, this association will provide futuristic solutions to the cement and concrete industry to emerge clean and green.” He added that India and Dalmia Cement in particular were keen to develop a roadmap for the implementation of Industry 4.0 with totally decarbonised cement plants and a ‘lighthouse’ cement plant.

Denmark: FLSmidth has formed a partnership called ECoClay to develop and commercialise the technology needed to electrify the calcination of clay used in cement production. The partners include the Danish Technological Institute, US-based industrial heating specialist Rondo Energy, France-based Vicat, Colombia-based Cementos Argos and the Technical University of Denmark. The project is partly funded by the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP) under the Danish Energy Agency.

The use of calcined clay in cement production allows cement producers to replace up to 30% of limestone-based clinker, resulting in up to 40% lower CO₂/t in cement produced. By electrifying the process, ideally powered by renewable sources, the ECoClay partnership expects to further reduce emissions by 10% at more uniform conditions that allow processing of a broader range of raw clays.

Based on the shared research and tests on high-temperature electric heat generation, storage solutions and renewable grid integration, the ECoClay partnership will build a pilot plant at FLSmidth’s research and development centre in Denmark. The consortium will seek to demonstrate how the ECoClay process is superior to the conventional combustion processes, has a smaller physical footprint on site and significantly lower emissions of air pollutants. According to the project plan, the ECoClay partners expect to be able to commence construction of the first full-scale electric clay calcination installation by the end of 2025.

India: Kanodia Cement has commissioned its new Amethi cement plant in Uttar Pradesh. The plant consists of four grinding units spread over an area of 18ha. Indo-Asian News Service has reported that the facility’s equipment includes two 12-spout rotary packers and six floor-mounted truck loading machines, supplied by Denmark-based FLSmidth. Kanodia Cement says that the new plant marks progress in line with its sustainable development plant. Its operations will directly and indirectly employ 1000 people.

Ghana: Denmark-based Investeringsfonden for Udviklingslande (IFU) and Norway-based Norfund have invested US$27.9m in CBI Ghana. The funding will support the cement producer’s upgrade of a clay calcination unit at its 0.6Mt/yr Tema grinding plant in Accra. Denmark-based FLSmidth is supplying the equipment for the project.

African cement producers have confirmed their interest in calcined clay over the last month with two new projects. The big one was announced last week when FLSmidth revealed that it had received an order from CBI Ghana. This follows the launch of a Limestone Calcined Clay (LC3) project in Malawi in mid-March 2022 in conjunction with Lafarge Cement Malawi.

FLSmidth says that its order includes the world’s largest gas suspension calciner system and a complete grinding station. The kit will be installed at CBI Ghana’s plant near Accra in the south of the country. The new clay calciner system is expected to substitute 30 - 40% of the clinker in the final product, resulting in a reduction of up to 40% CO₂/t of blended cement compared to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). Overall the equipment manufacturers reckon that the grinding plant will reduce its CO₂ emissions by 20% compared to its current output. There has been no indication of how much the order costs but CBI Ghana expects energy and fuel savings, as well as lower overheads from clinker imports.

The public announcement of the Ghana project was also foreshadowed by the visit of Professor Karen Scrivener to the Ghana Standards Authority in February 2022. This was significant because Scrivener is the head of the Laboratory of Construction Materials at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and has been one of the key instigators of the LC3 initiative since the early 2000s. Other calcined clay cements are available such as Futurecem or polysius activated clay (see below) but LC3 is arguably the most famous given its promotion in developing countries.

The Malawi project is at a much earlier stage. The government launched the public private partnership LC3 project in mid-March 2022 in conjunction with Lafarge Cement Malawi and Terrastone, a brick manufacturer. The Ministry of Mining is currently developing a memorandum of understanding with the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a Germany-based development agency. India-based Tara Engineering has also been linked to the scheme.

One thing to note about the Malawi project is that it is the first calcined clay project in the cement industry based in East Africa. All the other African ones are based in West Africa. The other two projects in this region are run by Turkey-based Oyak Çimento and its subsidiary Cimpor. The first of these is a 0.3Mt/yr calcined clay and a 2400t/day cement grinding production line that was commissioned in mid-2020. This plant is based at Abidjan in Ivory Coast. The second is a new plant that Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions is building for Oyak Çimento at Kribi in Cameroon. This unit has a 720t/day calcined clay and a 2400t/day cement production capacity and it will use the supplier’s ‘polysius activated clay’ technology. ThyssenKrupp’s involvement came to light in early 2020 and commissioning was scheduled for late 2021. However, no update on the state of the project has been issued so far in 2022.

As the above examples show, Sub-Saharan Africa has at least one live calcined clay plant, two plants are being built and there’s one more at the development stage. This puts the region neck-and-neck with Europe, which has a similar mixture of current and developing projects. This column has been covering the wider trend of the growing usage of various types of blended cements recently, particularly in Europe and the US, with slag cements, Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) and more. With PLC, for example, note the transition of another two North American cement plants to PLC this week alone. As for calcined clay cement, it is fascinating to see the focus move to a different part of the world. Several commentators have predicted that the future looks set to be dominated by blended cements using whichever supplementary cementitious material (SCM) is most available for each plant. The growth in calcined clay confirms this view.

Global Cement is researching clay calcination use in the cement industry for the next edition of the Global Cement Directory. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any information on new industrial and research installations.

Ghana: FLSmidth has secured a contract for the supply of a clay calcination plant at CBI Ghana's 0.6Mt/yr Tema grinding plant in Accra. The supplier says that it will also install a complete grinding station to more than double the plant's production capacity. FLSmidth says that the entire project will reduce the Tema facility's CO₂ footprint by 20%. When commissioned, the new clay calcination plant will be the largest in the world, according to the supplier.

CBI Ghana chief executive officer Frédéric Albrecht said “Ghana is the perfect location for using clay as an environmentally friendly alternative to clinker. West Africa is traditionally a clinker and cement-importing region due to the lack of suitable limestone reserves. Developing countries with their young populations and a growing need for infrastructure and housing represent the future in cement consumption. Calcined clay cements are the most sustainable alternative to traditional clinker-based cement."

Denmark: The board of directors of FLSmidth has nominated current vice chairman Tom Knutzen as the new chair of the board and Mads Nipper as vice chair. Knutzen will succeed Vagn Sørensen as chair. Sørensen has decided to step down as chair of the board of FLSmidth since his election in 2011. He has decided not to seek re-election. Both nominations will be voted upon at the company’s annual general meeting in late March 2022.

Knutzen has been a member of FLSmidth’s board of directors since 2012 and is the current vice chair. He is also chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nomination and Compensation Committee. His career includes his current role as chief executive officer (CEO) of Jungbunzlauer Suisse, from which he has resigned effective end April 2022, CEO of Danisco, CEO of NKT Holding and non-executive board positions with Nordea Bank, Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker and Tivoli.

Nipper is the current CEO of the multinational power company Ørsted, which develops, constructs and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, renewable hydrogen and green fuels facilities and bioenergy plants. He brings an international background to FLSmidth including renewable energy, energy efficiency, water management and water conservation. As a member of World Economic Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, he leads the Power Working Group. He is also co-chair of the roundtable of hydrogen production under the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance and is vice chair of the international food company Danish Crown.

Russia: Eurocement has completed a Euro3.3m maintenance project on the kiln at its Mordovcement plant in Chamzinsky District. The wet-process kiln was reconstructed as part of a large-scale modernisation program. Work conducted included replacement casing bandages, roller supports, the kiln chain curtain and the welding of cracks along the kiln shell. The project included a major relining of refractory material with magnesia bricks produced by the Magnezit Group and aluminosilicate refractory bricks produced by BKO. Maintenance work was also carried out on the plant’s FLSmidth Cross-Bar cooler.

US: Ash Grove Cement has re-opened its Port Manatee terminal in Florida following the installation of a new Kovako type ship unloader supplied by FLSmidth. The machine was custom built for Ash Grove by the Denmark-based company to meet its specific needs. The cement producer says it is the largest mobile pneumatic ship unloader built, has twin 800hp blowers, 37m suction arm and can offload a dry bulk vessel at a high rate while maintaining maximum efficiency and minimising environmental impact by eliminating dust emissions.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the event was held on 7 February 2022 as a shipment of fly ash was processed at the site. This maiden shipment completes the Phase 1 transformation project at Port Manatee, which began in early 2021. The project is intended to improve the subsidiary of CRH’s capacity to import cement, slag and fly ash for customers in Florida and South Georgia. It is also planning to use the terminal’s existing silo capacity to complement the capabilities of Ash Grove’s cement plants in Sumterville and Branford.