Displaying items by tag: Grinding

India: India’s top cement producers are planning to invest approximately US$15bn from 2025 - 2027 in capital expenditure, according to a report by ratings agency CRISIL. During this period, the industry is expected to expand cement grinding capacity by 130Mt/yr, which represents a fifth of the current capacity. This move is prompted by robust demand and competitive market share goals, reports the Economic Times.

Senior director and deputy chief ratings officer at CRISIL Ratings, Manish Gupta, said "Cement demand outlook remains healthy with a compound annual growth rate of 7% over the financial years 2025-2029. The surge in capital expenditure over the next three financial years will primarily cater to this growing demand as well as to the aspirations of the cement makers to improve their national presence."

India: JSW Cement plans to more than double its cement grinding capacity from 20.6Mt/yr to nearly 41Mt/yr. The expansion involves six new greenfield units in Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra, and a brownfield unit in Vijayanagar; Karnataka, adding 20.25Mt/yr. The company also aims to increase its clinker production capacity from 6.44Mt/yr to 13.04Mt/yr. The new facilities in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will each contribute 3.3Mt/yr to this expansion. In its offer document, JSW Cement stated that it sees potential in ‘green’ cement products like ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and plans to expand its presence in northern and central India.

Tunisia: Les Ciments de Bizerte continues to face disruptions due to a financial crisis, limiting its operations to grinding imported clinker and managing petcoke shipments for third parties, African Manager News reports. Clinker production has been suspended throughout the second quarter of 2024, due to a lack of petcoke.

Cement production plummeted by 70% to 33,282t in the second quarter of 2024 from 109,855t during the same period in 2023. Lime production also declined by 37% due to reduced national demand. Local sales in the first half of 2024 decreased by 60% from US$16.3m in 2023 to US$6.6m in 2024, with exports completely halted during the first half of 2024. The company is in the process of paying off its debts.

India: Ultratech Cement has commissioned an additional 3.35Mt/yr of clinker and 1.8Mt/yr of grinding capacity at a unit in Tadipatri, according to Reuters. This expansion is part of a broader 22.6Mt/yr capacity expansion announced in June 2022, which will bring the company's total cement capacity to 154.86Mt/yr.

Saudi Arabia: Sinoma Overseas Development completed start-up testing and hand-over of new grinding mills at Arabian Cement Company’s Rabigh cement on 21 February 2024. The supplier said that the delivery was in accordance with the terms of the original contract between its parent company, China National Building Material (CNBM), and the producer.

Sinoma Overseas Development attributed deviations from the project’s previously announced schedule to the need for discussions with CNBM about remaining project works, equipment operation plans, procurement schedules and acceptance tests. As provided for in the contract, the work will be subject to a 5% delay penalty.

Sri Lanka: Switzerland-based SpectraFlow Analytics has received an order for a SpectraFlow Airslide analyser and raw mix proportioning software from Siam City Cement (Lanka). The equipment will analyse the composition of material exiting the raw materials mill at Siam City Cement (Lanka)’s Puttalam cement plant. The supplier says that this will help to increase kiln feed quality, lowering the chances of refractory problems and other causes of kiln stoppages.

SpectraFlow Analytics said “The ever increasing demand in cost savings and at the same time improving product quality led Siam City Cement (Lanka) to invest in the most advanced raw mill optimisation package available on the market.”

India: Dalmia Bharat has announced a planned investment of US$10.9m in a grinding unit expansion at its 1Mt/yr Banjari cement plant in Bihar. The expansion will raise the plant’s capacity by 500,000t/yr and conclude before 31 March 2025.

UK: The Cement 2 Zero project has successfully concluded its first trial melt of recovered cement paste in an electric arc furnace at the Materials Processing Institute’s Teesside campus. The project uses the paste as flux for electric steel recycling. Cambridge Electric Cement (CEC) has demonstrated that the ‘slag’ from this process can be ground into fine clinker that, when mixed with gypsum and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), produces net zero CO₂ cement. The Cement 2 Zero project to produce CEC’s cement at an industrial scale launched in March 2023, with US$7.85m in funding from UK Research and Innovation. Tarmac will grind the clinker from the project’s trial melts for testing in order to obtain certification and specification as a usable cement product.

Australia: Construction company SIMPEC, a subsidiary of WestStar, has won a new US$68m contract to work on the on-going expansion of Cockburn Cement’s Kwinana grinding plant. The work involves the construction of two 100t/hr grinding units, a 110,000t raw materials store and a reclamation system. Business News has reported that the total value of the Kwinana grinding plant expansion is US$249 - 272m. Cockburn Cement has committed total investments of US$129m to the project, of which US$7.44m consists of an existing contract with SIMPEC.

SIMPEC managing director Mark Dimasi said "This new contract demonstrates the company's track record of delivering for its clients. We are very pleased to secure this work and are committed to maintaining a long-standing relationship with Cockburn Cement and Adbri. I would like to thank Cockburn Cement for this opportunity to deliver such a high-profile local project and would also like to thank our team for their commitment in helping secure this contract.”

Mark Irwin, CEO of Cockburn Cement’s parent company Adbri said "The balance of work for the agreed scope remains consistent with Adbri's previously announced cost estimate and project schedule for the Kwinana Upgrade Project."

US: Heidelberg Materials North America and Levy Group of Companies signed a granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) supply contract on 9 August 2023. Under the contract, Levy Group of Companies will supply Heidelberg Materials North America with 400,000t/yr of GBFS for use in its slag cement production. Deliveries will begin in early 2024. Heidelberg Materials North America says that it has upgraded its Speed cement plant in Indiana to increase the efficiency with which it grinds GBFS. Following the inauguration of its nearby 2.4Mt/yr Mitchell cement plant in June 2023, Heidelberg Materials North America plans to transition the 1Mt/yr to 100% speciality and slag cement production. Levy Group of Companies will supply the GBFS from steel industry sites in the Midwest Region.

Heidelberg Materials Midwest US president Axel Conrads said “Our agreement with the Levy Group of Companies to secure a consistent supply of slag granules will help us accelerate the transition of the Speed plant to slag cement production and better meet the increasing demand for more sustainable cement products in the growing Midwest market.”