Displaying items by tag: Grinding

Sri Lanka: Siam City Cement subsidiary Insee Cement says it is ramping up production at its 0.4Mt/yr Galle grinding plant. The unit in Southern Province opened in 2018. The Daily FT newspaper has reported that the grinding plant, along with Insee’s Puttalam integrated plant, will have the production capacity to serve 100% of domestic demand. The producer added that production and supply of its products had returned to normal following disruption caused by coronavirus-related lockdown measures.

Insee Cement sales, marketing and innovation executive vice president Jan Kunigk said, “Our contribution to uplifting the nation’s economy is of immense value in rebuilding Sri Lanka during post-pandemic recovery. Insee Cement’s ability to efficiently deliver our full capacity of high-quality cement needed by individual house builders and concrete business partners has always been ensured.”

India: JK Cement has successfully commissioned a 1.0Mt/yr grey cement grinding mill at its integrated Mangrol cement plant in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan and 1.5Mt/yr of new cement grinding capacity at its Aligarh integrated plant in Uttar Pradesh. Both of the units have also commenced commercial dispatches.

India: Udaipur Cement Works has applied for environmental clearance to the government of Rajasthan for the construction of a 5.0Mt/yr integrated cement plant in the state. It plans for the plant to have an additional 2.0Mt/yr grinding capacity, a 30MW waste heat recovery (WHR) power plant and a 25MW coal-fired power plant. Project Today has reported a conjectured value for the project of US$224m.

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.

US: Curt Snyder, owner of Lancaster Products, has acquired cement grinding technology supplier Bradley Pulverizer. Snyder said, “Bradley Pulverizer’s line of pulverisers and mill classifiers complement Lancaster Products’ mixing, granulating and crushing capabilities,” to provide complete solutions and services to the cement industry.

Germany: A Zollernalb, Baden-Württemberg resident who mounted legal action against Tübingen Council in June 2019 over LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim Süddeutschland’s use of waste glass in cement production at its 1.1Mt/yr integrated Dotternhausen plant has submitted ‘extensive reasoning’ for the challenge. The Schwarzwälder Bote has reported that Holcim Süddeutschland allegedly did not complete the proper tests before introducing glass to cement production at Dotternhausen in late 2017. The claimant ‘noticed a rise in heavy metal levels.’

At a subsequent council meeting, a Holcim Süddeutschland employee bore witness to the presence of a defective bag filter. By receiving glass ground to grains of a certain fineness, the claimant alleges that Holcim Süddeutschland was able to bypass federal waste regulations necessitating contaminant checks. They said the company was ‘taking citizens for idiots.’

Netherlands: Germany’s HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Eerste Nederland Cement Industrie (ENCI) announced on 9 December 2019 the upcoming closure of its former 1.8Mt/yr integrated Maastricht plant in 2020. Het Belang van Limburg has reported that the Maastricht plant, which stepped down to grinding-only in March 2019 after 91 years’ kiln operation, received an insufficient supply of clinker from ENCI’s sister company CBR Cement’s 1.5Mt/yr Lixhe plant in Wallonia, Belgium to guarantee profitable production.

Clinker grinding continues at ENCI’s 1.4Mt/yr IJmuiden and 0.6Mt/yr Rotterdam grinding plants, each of which has better access to clinker imports due to their proximity to deepwater ports.

Algeria: Algeria’s estimated value of exported cement in 2019 is US$60m, up by 200% from US$20m in 2018. Algerian Trade Minister Saïd Djellab noted increases to grinding capacity in Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Gabon and Mali as a potential source of revenue from clinker exports, according to L’Expression. “Algeria can meet the needs of these markets and become their leading supplier of clinker in 2020.” The minister estimated that the total value of cement and clinker exports ‘will reach US$400m by 2021.’

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has announced a forthcoming investment of US$40m in the construction of a 0.7Mt/yr grinding plant in the state of Yucátan. Jamie Hill Tinoco, general director of Holcim Mexico, said that the plant, which will receive clinker from Holcim Mexico’s Macuspana and Orizaba cement plants, signifies the company’s commitment to the state, enabling it to ‘optimise local solutions with greater benefits for customers and communities.’ The plant will be Holcim Mexico’s sole dedicated grinding unit in an integrated cement production apparatus totalling 11.8Mt/yr capacity.

Holcim has had a presence in Yucatán since 1992 through its Uman distribution centre.

Oman: Raysut Cement is planning the construction of a 1Mt/yr grinding plant in the port town of Duqm. The project has a cost of US$30m, with work set to begin on 19 September 2019. Oman Cement has been building a 1.8Mt/yr integrated cement production plant at Duqm since December 2018. The new grinding plant is Raysut Cement’s first development project since it received US$50.7m in funding from the Omani Bank Nizwa.