Displaying items by tag: Kiln

Pakistan: Bestway Cement has ignited the kiln of Line 1 of its Mianwali cement plant in Punjab. The line has a capacity of 2.3Mt/yr. The Pakistan Observer newspaper has reported that it increases the producer's cement capacity by 18% to 15.3Mt/yr and brings its total number of production lines to eight. The Mianwali cement plant is equipped with a 20MW solar power plant and will run on 50% renewable energy. It also has a 9MW waste heat recovery (WHR) plant, an air cooled condenser (ACC) system and a rainwater harvesting system.

Bestway Cement CEO Lord Zameer Choudrey said "It's a great day for the company. Our new greenfield production line at Mianwali has been set up in a record time, despite various hurdles and supply chain disruptions caused by Covid-19."

Belgium: Holcim Belgium has received an environmental permit for the kiln upgrade for its 100% decarbonisation of its Obourg cement plant. Agency Belgium News has reported that the upgraded kiln will employ a 'new incineration concept' to enable it to replace limestone with alternative raw materials. It will reduce the plant's thermal needs by 40% and its CO₂ emissions per tonne of clinker by 30%. Construction will commence in late 2023. The kiln replacement will support a carbon capture installation as part of the GO4ZERO project.

The first phase of the GO4ZERO project is running from 2022 to 2025, and commands total investments of over Euro350m.

Croatia: Nexe has awarded a contract to Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions for the construction of a new clinker line and carbon capture installation at its 0.6Mt/yr Nasice cement plant. The Poslovni Dnevnik newspaper has reported that the work will cost Euro400m. When commissioned in 2029, the upgraded plant will produce carbon neutral cement and despatch 700,000t/yr of CO₂ by pipeline for storage near Bockovac in Osijek-Baranja County.

France: CRH subsidiary Eqiom expects to complete its carbon capture system installation and kiln upgrade at its Lumbres cement plant under the EU's K6 Programme in early 2028. The project uses Air Liquide's capture technology, whereby purified CO₂ is liquefied for storage or use in building materials production.

Thailand: Switzerland-based Maerz has commissioned a new 150t/day lime kiln at Bangkok CaO’s plant at Saraburi. The kiln is the third Parallel Flow Regenerative (PFR) unit that Maerz has supplied to the site following previous installations in 1996 and 2008. All the kilns at the plant use waste oil as a fuel.

Bolivia: The Bolivian National Institute of Statistics (INE) recorded total national cement production of 3.3Mt during the first 10 months of 2022, up by 12% year-on-year from 2.9Mt in the corresponding period of 2021. Meanwhile, cement sales rose by 5.6% year-on-year to 3Mt, from 2.84Mt. Compared to 2019 volumes, cement sales fell by 5.6% from 3.96Mt. Nonetheless, Bolivian Cement and Concrete Institute (IBCH) general manager Marcelo Alfaro said that the results 'consolidated the rebound' that began in 2021. Cement sales volumes previously dropped by 23% year-on-year to 3.03Mt in 2020, amid successive Covid-19 lockdowns.

Fábrica Nacional de Cemento (FANCESA) commercial manager Álvaro Cuéllar said "FANCESA is making the necessary efforts to meet its share of the domestic market." Cuéllar added "We are close to 9Mt/yr of capacity for a market that in 2019 approached 4Mt/yr. That is why we have many kilns stopped and the industry is working at half speed."

Pakistan: Lucky Cement commenced clinker production from a new 3.15Mt/yr kiln line at its Pezu integrated cement in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in late December 2022. This latest expansion increases the producer’s domestic production capacity by 26% to 15.3Mt/yr, from below 12.2Mt/yr earlier in 2022. The company also operates cement plants in Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq with an additional capacity of 4.4Mt/yr.

The International News newspaper has reported that Lucky Cement anticipates domestic cement demand to grow due to the rebuilding of homes destroyed by flooding in 2022.

India: Gujarat Sidhee Cement has temporarily shut down the kiln of its Sidheegram cement plant in Gujarat's Junagadh District for maintenance work. Reuters has reported that the closure will last from 19 December 2022 until 27 December 2022 at the earliest, during which time cement grinding and despatch operations will run as normal.

Switzerland: Cemex's innovation investments subsidiary Cemex Ventures has made a further investment in solar-powered clinker production system developer Synhelion. Synhelion's technology enables cement plants to entirely replace fuels in their cement production with concentrated solar heat. Cemex Ventures said that its investment reflects the importance of sustainable fuel alternatives for Cemex's 2050 net zero CO₂ emissions strategy.

Other investors include oil company Eni, engineering company SMS Group and airline Swiss.

India: Wonder Cement has completed a successful kiln ignition in its Chittorgarh cement plant's new Line 4. The three pre-existing lines gave the plant a former capacity of 8Mt/yr. Wonder Cement additionally operates grinding plants in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, with a total capacity of 5Mt/yr.

Vice chair Vimal Patni's technical assistant Lokesh Lohar congratulated the entire Chittorgarh cement plant team on its work on the latest expansion.