Displaying items by tag: Lime plant

France: Lhoist and Air Liquide have signed a memorandum of understanding with the aim to build a carbon capture unit at Lhoist’s Réty lime plant in Hauts-de-France. Air Liquide wants to build and operate a unit from 2028 using its Cryocap FG (Flue Gas) technology to capture and purify 95% of the lime plant’s CO₂ emissions. The companies have jointly applied for the European Innovation Fund large scale support scheme to pay for the project. This partnership is a step towards the creation of a low-carbon industrial ecosystem in the Dunkirk area.

Lhoist’s ‘Chaux et Dolomies du Boulonnais’ plant in Réty is France’s largest lime production plant. A potential carbon capture unit at the plant could potentially reduce the CO₂ emissions of the plant by more than 600,000t/yr. Captured CO₂ would then be transported to a multimodal CO₂ export hub in Dunkirk, currently under development, and sent to be sequestered in the North Sea as part of the D’Artagnan project, which has received the PCI (Project of Common Interest) label from the European Commission. The implementation of the project will be possible as public funding from European and/or French schemes supporting decarbonisation become available.

Papua New Guinea: Mayur Resources has signed a collaboration agreement with First Graphene Limited for the production of low-carbon cement using the latter’s PureGraph graphene-based grinding aids and performance improvers. Mayur Resources operates a 0.9Mt/yr cement plant, where it also produces a further 0.75Mt/yr of clinker and 0.2Mt/yr of lime, near Port Moresby in National Capital District. The Australia-based partners hope to export their cement across Melanesia and to Polynesia and Australia.

Russia: Siberian Cement’s chair Oleg Sharykin has signed an agreement with the Sergey Tsivilev, the Governor of Kuzbass, to build a lime plant in the Kuzbass Special Economic Zone. The Euro23m project will create a 0.2Mt/yr lime plant with two kilns. The unit will use the Solominskoye limestone deposit, which is being developed by Topkinsky Cement, a subsidiary of Siberian Cement. Around 70 jobs are expected to be created. Russian lime production was reported at around 11Mt/yr from 2014 to 2020.

Algeria: BMSD Chaux Algeria has commissioned a 100,000t/yr lime plant. Italy-based QualiCal supplied the plant. It is powered by natural gas and relies on CogiTech bulkmaterial handling equipment, Mathios Refractories’ refractories, Laife steel structures and Sysware and Tecnoelettra automation systems.

US: Lhoist and Maerz Ofenbau have started up a lime kiln at the Montevallo plant in Alabama. The R4S type PFR kiln supplied by Switzerland-based Maerz Ofenbau has a nominal production rate of 600t/day of lime and is able to fire gas and coal.

South Africa: PPC has agreed to sell its lime business to Kgatelopele Lime for US$36m. The cement producer previously identified PPC Lime as a non-core operation and the sale process started in December 2020. Kgatelopele Lime was formed to buy PPC Lime. Its shareholders are mineral resources trader IMR Resources, investment holding companies Kolobe Nala Investment Lime, HEX2M and JJJL Mining. The divestment is subject to consent by competition authorities and the government by the end of 2021.

PPC Lime originally started operations in 1954 in Lime Acres, Northern Cape. PPC Lime continues to mine out of two quarries, mining dolomite and limestone respectively, along with a rotary kiln plant to manufacture the burnt product. PPC Lime generated revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the financial year that ended 31 March 2020 of US$59m and US$7.6m respectively.

Two fairly serious investments in Peru made the industry headlines this week. The first was Yura’s plans to upgrade its Arequipa cement plant at a cost of US$200m. The project will involve increasing the plant’s clinker production capacity as well as installing a new mill and a 4.3km conveyor. The second was the latest instalment in Cementos Interoceanicos’ long held ambition to build a plant. It has struck a deal with France-based Satarem to build a 1Mt/yr plant near Puno. The deal also includes Satarem buying a 30% stake in Cementos Interoceanicos and plans to construct two lime units as well.

Graph 1: Local cement sales in Peru, January 2020 to February 2021 compared to January 2019 to February 2020. Source: ASOCEM.

These projects follow a squeeze for the local industry due to coronavirus-related containment measures. Data from the Association of Cement Producers (ASOCEM) shows that cement sales collapsed during the lockdown to just 11,000t in April 2020 before recovering in the autumn. Total annual local sales fell by 17% year-on-year to 9.7Mt from 11.6Mt. Sales have also remained high in January and February 2021.

The experience from the larger cement producers mirror the data from ASOCEM. Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales revenue fell by 7% year-on-year to US$354m in 2020 and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 21% to US$86.3m. Unión Andina de Cementos’ (UNACEM) income fell by 14% year-on-year to US$467m in 2020. Despite this, UNACEM managed to sign a deal to buy Cementos La Unión Chile for US$23m in December 2020. The purchase consists of a 0.3Mt/yr cement grinding plant and a 0.34Mm³/yr ready-mix concrete business with multiple concrete plants and trucks. UNACEM described Chile as its main clinker export destination and it holds concrete and precast subsidiaries in the country.

Yura’s general manager Ramón Pizá reportedly called his company’s plans a “vote of faith in Peru.” This is not an understatement considering the market shocks caused by coronavirus in 2020. The country implemented public health measures relatively early during the pandemic but still ended up with one of the worst death rates per capita in Latin America so far. As the British Medical Journal (BMJ) pointed out earlier this month, the timing was right but tragically the application of public health measures has been found wanting. Yet, the fundamentals for the Peruvian cement market are strong. Annual sales mounted from 2017 to 2019, and were showing signs of continuing this in early 2020 before the lockdown shut the market down. This growth pattern has continued so far in 2021.

Peru: Cementos Interoceanicos has contracted Switzerland-based Satarem to establish a 1.0Mt/yr cement plant in Puno. The Gestión newspaper has reported that Satarem intends to buy a 30% stake in the producer. The scheduled completion date for the work, which also includes setting up two new lime plants, is mid-late 2022. The total estimated cost of the project is US$158m.

The producer is reportedly seeking to expand its area of operations in other areas within Peru.

China: Huaxin Cement plans to invest US$184m in a green building materials joint venture called Huangshi Huaxin Green Building Materials. The group says that the other investors are Huangshi City Urban Development Investment Group and Yangxin County Mining Investment. The partners plan to invest a total of US$1.84bn to establish a 2Mt/yr lime plant, a 100Mt/yr artificial sand and gravel plant and a 2bn blocks/yr building materials plant. The new facilities are to be situated in Yangxin County, Hubei Province. The units will be built in phases from January 2021.

US: The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has granted permission to Lhoist North America for the installation of a new vertical kiln at its New Braunfels, Texas plant. The company says that the kiln will form the basis for a plant expansion to meet the growing lime demand of the construction and steel sectors.

Lhoist North America chief executive officer (CEO) and president Ron Thompson said, "We are proud that this investment at New Braunfels aligns with our company's commitment to environmentally sustainable growth."