Displaying items by tag: Plant

India: Prism Cement has established a 12MW waste heat recovery (WHR) plant and 10MW solar power plant at its 6.1Mt/yr-capacity integrated Prism cement plant in Satna, Madhya Pradesh. The plant’s total WHR capacity now totals 22MW, with a total of 23MW solar power capacity. The measures are part of the producer’s sustainability initiatives, by which it aims to reduce its reliance on non-renewables.

France: Hoffmann Green Cement’s consolidated net revenue fell by 19% year-on-year to Euro504,000 in 2020 from Euro620,000 in 2019. Net loss was Euro6.12m, up by 41% from Euro4.34m. Loss in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) more than doubled to Euro4.13m from Euro1.85m. During the year, the group began construction of its second cement plant, in Vendée, France.

Co-chairs Julien Blanchard and David Hoffman said, “We are happy with what we achieved at Hoffmann Green in 2020, in spite of the pandemic. We signed numerous technical and commercial collaboration contracts with key players in the construction sector such as Groupe GCC, KP1, Cemex and Eiffage Génie Civil, taking our order book to over 190,000t to date.” They reconfirmed the target of a 3% French cement market share by 2025/2026, adding, “The commercial dynamic continues at the beginning of 2021 with the signing of contracts with Ouest Réalisations for the construction of housing, and EdyCem to develop low carbon footprint concretes.”

Blanchard and Hoffmann called 2020 ‘the year of increasing production volumes,’ adding that the group expects on-going and future environmental legislation in all its regions to bolster demand.

Australia: Calix has reported the completion of a pre-front-end engineering and design (FEED) study of its Leilac-2 carbon capture and storage (CCS) study. Germany-based HeidelbergCement, Mexico-based Cemex and Portugal-based Cimpor assessed the study. The milestone clears the technology for industrial scale implementation at HeidelbergCement’s Hannover integrated cement plant in Germany. The installation aims to capture 100,000t/yr of CO₂ at an installation cost of Euro23m (+/-30%). The final investment decision will follow after the completion of FEED in early 2022.

Tajikistan: Mohir Cement has commenced operations following an official opening ceremony at its new 0.6Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Jalolidinni-Balkhi district. Local press has reported that the plant will produce M400 and M500 grades of Portland cement for export to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

Russia: SibCem subsidiary Angarskcement has replaced air ducts with local air blowers in its raw materials and clinker grinding units. The producer made the modification to the units’ three horizontal slurry tanks.

Managing director Dmitry Kireev said, “The programme to reduce the consumption of compressed air in the slurry section of the raw materials and clinker grinding facility will continue.” He added, “It is important for us to reduce the costs of energy resources consumed by slurry basins, since they directly affect the cost of the products manufactured by the plant.”

Spain: The Málaga government has approved adjustments to HeidelbergCement subsidiary FYM’s special plan for its La Araña cement plant. The La Opinión de Málaga newspaper has reported that the plan incorporates the findings of new environmental and landscape studies enabling an enlargement of the area of operations. The approval’s effect will depend on the outcome of an on-going court case by a local interest group against the plan.

India: Dalmia Bharat subsidiary Dalmia Cement has commenced commercial production of cement at the new 2.3Mt/yr production line of its Bengal Cement Works cement plant in Midnapore, West Bengal. The new line brings the plant’s total capacity to 4Mt/yr.

Chief operating officer Ujjwal Batria said, “To ensure that demand is met in a sustainable manner, we have deployed the latest machinery and technology at our Bengal Cement Works unit and will be aiming to produce 100% blended cement. This step is also in line with our commitment to become carbon negative by 2040.” He added, “Post the lockdown-led demand disruption, the cement sector has been continuously witnessing buoyancy across the country. This is largely led by revival in demand from the infrastructure and urban housing sectors, along with the demand from individual homebuilders and the government's rural housing schemes especially from east and central regions. Hence, the onset of commercial production at the Bengal Cement Works unit will enhance our ability to contribute towards nation building and Atmanirbhar Bharat, while also catering to the growing demand from the eastern and north-eastern states of the country.”

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.

UK: CRH subsidiary Tarmac has appointed Chris Bradbury as the plant manager at its integrated Dunbar cement plant in East Lothian, Scotland. He previously worked at Tarmac’s Tunstead plant in Derbyshire. Bradbury began working in the cement industry as an apprentice in 1994 and has held many roles at plants both in the UK and in Nigeria and the Philippines.

Uzbekistan: Germany-based IKN has secured a contract for process integration and equipment design for a new kiln line at Qizilqumsement’s Qizilqumsement cement plant. The supplier’s remit includes the pyroprocessing line, preheater, kiln and cooler including ID fan, kiln drive and burners. It plans to use a six-stage preheater, the region’s first. Commissioning is scheduled for 2022.