Displaying items by tag: Plant

China: China Resources Cement’s turnover rose by 3% year-on-year to US$5.16bn in 2020 from US$5.02bn in 2019. Its profit attributable to shareholders was US$1.15bn, up by 4% year-on-year. Sales volumes of cement grew by 6% to 87.3Mt from 82.5Mt. Volumes increased in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou but decreased in Fujian, Hainan and Shanxi.

In February 2020 the cement producer completed the construction of one 1.4Mt/yr clinker production line and two cement grinding lines with a combined cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr in Anshun City, Guizhou. Also in 2020 the group commissioned one new concrete batching plant and shut down two others.

During the reporting year the Group co-processed 183,100t of municipal solid waste, 52,800t of urban sludge with an 80% moisture content and 6100t of hazardous industrial waste. It operates seven co-processing projects with four more either under trial operation or under construction. It also said that it had been following policies for carbon emissions with trial activities conducted in preparation for a future unification of national carbon market. Eight company plants in Guangdong and five in Fujian were reported as having settled their carbon credit quota for 2019.

Other operations of note include the start of Phase 1 of the group’s intelligent manufacturing pilot project at a unit in Tianyang in conjunction with Siemens. The group has also commenced trial operation of its in-house developed intelligent manufacturing system at a cement plant in Pingnan, Guangxi. The project interacts with system quality management systems and advanced kiln controls. The next step will be to use the quality management system at cement plants in Shangsi and Guigang, Guangxi. A so-called ‘lighthouse plant’ is also planned to work with environment, health and safety, operation, production, equipment, quality, mines and logistics at a cement plant in Fengkai County, Guangdong. The group’s platform for sharing auxiliary materials and spare parts was launched in Fujian in April 2020 and has since been rolled out to sites in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. Finally, the company’s ‘Smart Card’ logistics system has put into operation at cement plants in Fengkai, Huizhou, Luoding and Dongguan, Guangdong and has been operating at 25 cement production plants by the end of 2020.

India: Larsen & Toubro has secured and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a new integrated cement plant at Pali, Rajasthan. It says that a major national cement producer awarded the contract.

In December 2020, Global Cement reported that Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement planned to proceed with the construction of a cement plant at Pali.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has announced plans to upgrade cement production at its 0.2Mt/yr integrated Corumbá cement plant in Mato Grosso do Sul. The Correio de Corumbá newspaper has reported the value of the planned work as US$2.85m. The investment is intended to improve the plant’s grinding line, modernise an electrical substation system, make changes to its mining operations and generally focus on optimising energy consumption. It also plans to train employees and work on community outreach activities.

India: Ramco Cements says that its 16Mt/yr installed production capacity will increase to 20Mt/yr during its 2022 financial year that starts in April 2021 with the completion of a new plant at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and a third production line at its Jayanthipuram plant. The original plan to complete the work by the end of March 2021 was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Hindu newspaper. The new integrated plant at Kurnool will have a clinker capacity of 2.25Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of 1Mt/yr. The third production line at the Jayanthipuram plant will have a production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr, increasing the plant’s total to 4.5Mt/yr.

The producer also plans to complete Phase 3 of the installation of a waste heat recover (WHR) unit at the Jayanthipuram plant. Phase 1 (9MW) was commissioned in September 2020, Phase 2 (9MW) in February 2021 and Phase 3 (9MW) is scheduled for after the third line is complete. So far the first two stages have reduced the cement plant’s power consumption from a thermal power plant by 15MW. The project has cost around US$30m.

Ramco Cements has spent US$345m out of its planned US$470m capital expenditure in the 2021 financial year, which ends on 31 March 2021.

Oman: Oman Cement has issued an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender to build a power plant at its proposed integrated plant at the Port of Duqm. The Muscat Daily newspaper has reported that the plant will have a clinker production capacity of 5000t/day and is expected to cost US$250m.

Iraq: Lucky Cement has started commercial cement production at its 1.2Mt/yr integrated Samawah cement plant. The News International newspaper has reported that the plant brings the company’s overseas installed cement production capacity to 4.1Mt/yr. It operates the 1.7Mt/yr Basra grinding plant in Iraq and a 1.2Mt/yr integrated cement plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The company said, “Despite the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic, the project has successfully achieved its milestones on time.”

Argentina: Loma Negra has completed the replacement of an electrostatic filter at its integrated Zapala cement plant in Neuquén with a new baghouse filter. The Gaceta Mercanil newspaper has reported that the company said that the new product has the benefit of being able to work without an electricity supply. Additionally, it is able to operate at higher inlet temperatures than the previous filter, reducing water consumption by approximately 50%. Work began in early 2019 and the total investment cost of the project was US$7m.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s consolidated adjusted earning before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 3% year-on-year to US$146m in 2020 from US$143min 2019. Sales fell by 13% to US$458m from US$526m and net profit rose by 107% to US$125m from US$60.6m. Consolidated cement, masonry and lime sales fell by 6% to 5.2Mt from 5.5Mt, but rose by 27% in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 1.6Mt from 1.3Mt. The company noted a fourth-quarter increase in bulk cement sales of 7%. Bagged cement also made a ‘robust recovery’ from the negative effects of the strict Covid-19 lockdown in the second quarter of 2020, according to the company. It attributed the rise to the partial lifting of lockdown for private works. Throughout the year, the group decreased its net debt by 81% to US$22.8m from US$119m.

In 2020 the producer continued with its L’Amali cement plant expansion and divested its Paraguayan asset. All detailed engineering is reported complete and all equipment and materials supplies have been delivered to the site. Commissioning and start-up has been completed at the crushing section and a new primary crusher is fully operational. Commissioning and start-up at raw mill department and clinker line are in progress.

Chief executive officer Sergio Faifman said, “We finished the year in a very good way when considering the unprecedented scenario that we were presented with from the beginning of the year. At that point in time, the fragile macroeconomic environment in the country was impacted by the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, making the future uncertain and blurred. More than ever, it was in that challenging context that we lean on our competitive strengths.” He added, “At the beginning of the crisis, we focused on managing our cash position and cash generation, and we sought to optimise our productive structure. As the market began to pull in demand, we relied on our value chain to speed up sales, especially of bagged cement. All of this allowed us to expand our profitability, and enhanced our already solid balance sheet.”

US: Lehigh Hanson has signed a collaboration agreement with materials technology company Fortera. Under the agreement, the companies will establish a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system at the producer’s 0.8Mt/yr integrated Redding Cement plant in Shasta district, California. The system will produce a cementitious material for use in concrete production. The material will be the first of its kind to be produced at a cement plant.

"This collaboration with Lehigh Hanson will prove the commercial scalability, the quality of the final product, and the competitive economics of the Fortera process," said Ryan Gilliam, chief executive officer and co-founder of Fortera. He added that the Fortera process (ReCarb) has been designed to utilise the existing cement infrastructure, from the quarry to the kiln, but with less CO₂ emissions, lower energy, and lower processing temperatures, leading to 60% lower CO₂ emissions per tonne of product.

Ethiopia: East African Holding and China-based West China Cement have formed a joint venture. The Xinhua News Agency has reported that the partners plan to establish a multi-industrial complex in Ensaro Woreda district, Amhara regional state. Called Lemmi National Cement complex, the facility will house a 10,000t/day cement plant in addition to other industrial plants. The partners say that the facility will create 5000 jobs.

The first phase of the project will establish the cement plant and reach completion in late 2022.