Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: Ralf Dörner has retired as the managing director of Ventilatorenfabrik Oelde following a 50-year career with the company.

Following his apprenticeship as an industrial manager, Dörner took over a vacant position in the commercial administration division. Subsequently, he was given the job of assuring total data management integration within the company. In 1982 he was granted power of attorney and appointed commercial manager of the company. He became managing director in 2000.

Dörner handed over the Commercial Managing Director position to his successor, Nabil Abou Lebdi. The company will now be managed with Thomas Gandt, the Technical Managing Director.

Germany: UK-based Triton Investment Management Limited subsidiary Scur-Alpha has entered into a share purchase agreement with Volkswagen for the German gear manufacturer Renk. Renk will continue to serve the cement industry with its special gear units and horizontal slide bearings under the new ownership.

UK: InterBulk Group delivered a batch of Italcementi’s I.tech Ali-Na sulphoaluminate binder produced at its 0.3Mt/yr Guardiaregia cement plant in Molise, Italy to fellow HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson’s concrete plant in Hull, UK, on 28 January 2020. Hanson will use the low-environmental-impact binder in the production of fast-setting premixes for the UK market.

Togo: Germany’s Intercem Engineering has been awarded a contract by CimMetal Group to build a 2.5Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Lomé. The opening ceremony for the project is expected to take place soon and production is scheduled to start in early 2021. No value for the order has been disclosed.

The order includes a 1000t/hr truck unloading station, a 25,000t/hr storage facility for additives, a 1000t/hr truck loading station, two 50,000t clinker silos, four packing machines, eight truck loading stations, 10 truck scales and the corresponding laboratory equipment. The steel construction, the entire sheet metal fabrication, the subsystems, the electrical equipment, the complete engineering, the supervision of erection and commissioning are also included in the scope of supply and services. All of the equipment will be supplied by European manufacturers. All material conveyors have a capacity of 1200t/hr and are installed in a closed gallery to ensure dust-free transport. This was planned because of the location in the immediate vicinity of the port in Lomé.

Germany: Beumer Group has developed a screw weigh feeder with automatic calibration. The company says it is especially well suited to exact and controlled feeding of inhomogeneous bulk materials of densities between 0.08t/m³ and 0.80t/m³ and extremely high moisture content such as alternative fuels. Its capacity is 30t/hr and its weighing tolerance is between 1% and 2%. It is completely covered to prevent dust and other environmental stresses.

France: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Ciments Calcia has announced a planned investment of Euro30m of upgrades in early 2021 to its 1.0Mt/yr integrated Couvrot plant in Marne department. L’Union Ardennes newspaper has reported that the upgrades will be ‘process improvements’ to grinding and energy consumption rather than expansions to the plant’s capacity. HeidelbergCement director Didier Faure said the group wants to turn the Couvrot plant into its ‘leading site in Western Europe.’ Faure also called for improvements to safety procedures after three people were injured on site in 2019 – up by 50% from two in 2018.

Germany: Research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) has suggested that wood, including fast-growing bamboo, could supplant 50% of cement and steel used in construction, cutting global CO₂ emissions by up to 880Mt/yr and providing a carbon sink for close to 700Mt/yr of CO2 emissions. Assuming a no-change scenario in cement production practices, PIK fellow Galina Chakina says, ‘the shift to timber would make quite a difference for achieving the climate stabilisation targets of the Paris agreement.’

Germany: The Loesche Training Center in Duesseldorf, Germany played host to 65 delegates from 22 countries on 13 - 14 November 2019 for the company’s 8th Technical Seminar. The event's motto was ‘resource-efficient strategies in cement production’ and was aimed primarily at process and maintenance personnel in the cement industry. The focus was on the exchange of expert knowledge and practical experience.

The first day of the event included presentations on the state of research of CO₂ capture, utilisation and storage, alternative fuels in cement production, Loesche’s first experiences with waste conditioning plants in the US, chlorine bypass considerations, coal mill safety and grinding of novel cement products.

After a sumptuous dinner at the Rhine Tower in Duesseldorf, on the evening of 13 November 2019, delegates reconvened for presentations on wear parts and spare inventory management, mill installation, grinding plant process technology, mill modernisation case-studies and digital maintenance on 14 November 2019.

Delegates were pleased with the level of technical expertise offered, as well as the event’s organisation and hospitality. Loesche will additionally host a series of Technical Symposia throughout 2020.

Germany: Holcim Deutschland has announced the successful development of Holcim EcoPact Zero, a net-zero carbon concrete. It says that it is in talks with customers in Germany and will make the first deliveries of EcoPact Zero in early 2020. Holcim Deutschland CEO Thorsten Hahn said, “The use of clinker-reduced cements and the optimisation of the binder content play a central role. The still unavoidable CO₂-footprint is fully offset at with the support of various certified environmental projects.”

Turkey: Germany-based safety specialist Schmersal announced its entry into business at a new branch in Istanbul, Turkey on 21 January 2020. In partnership with Satech Safety Technology, it will supply its full range of products and comprehensive services to the Turkish and Azerbaijani cement sectors. Bariş Yücel, managing director of Schmersal Turkey, said, "Schmersal is already a well-known manufacturer on the Turkish market. Our goal is to become customers’ first choice supplier.”