Displaying items by tag: Plant

Cuba/US: A court in Florida has accepted a request for damages worth US$270m from LafargeHolcim to over 20 parties from Cuba whose land was nationalised and subsequently had a cement plant built on it. The claim alleges that Switzerland-based Holderbank has held a stake in the partly-state owned Carlos Marx cement plant near Cienfuegos since 2001 via a deliberately “complex network of letterbox companies and transactions” in the Netherlands and Spain, according to the Tages Anzeiger newspaper. Holderbank later became Holcim and then LafargeHolcim.

The building materials producer’s alleged involvement may constitute a violation of the US embargo on trade with Cuba for companies active in the US. The claim has been aided by a clause in the US’s Cuban blockade law, activated by President Donald Trump, enabling Cubans to claim damages in US courts for expropriated property from private companies which profited from them.

Iraq: China-based China Machinery Engineering has secured a contract for the establishment of an integrated cement plant in Erbil, Kurdistan. Dow Jones Newswire Chinese News has reported that the plant is scheduled for completion in April 2023, at a total investment cost of US$210m.

US: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim US has opened a 10MW solar power plant at its Hagerstown, Maryland cement plant in partnership with Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company. The producer says that the power plant will supply 25% of the cement plant’s energy needs, reducing its carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 12,400t/yr.

LafargeHolcim cement US operations chief executive officer (CEO) Jamie Gentoso said, “As solar technologies continue to improve, this abundant energy source stands out as both a sustainable and economical solution to follow through on our commitment to minimise emissions and reduce our carbon footprint. We already have access to large areas of land with a high concentration of sunlight, so utilising solar energy is an easy decision. As we strive toward becoming a net-zero company, clean energy is a key part of our strategy. We hope to install enough renewable energy to power all of our plants and give back to the surrounding communities by 2026; this new solar array is just the beginning for us.”

Portugal: Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has announced its appointment by Secil for modernisation of its 2.0Mt/yr Outão integrated cement plant. The supplier says that it will, “modify the existing rotary kiln and preheater tower, install a new AS-MSC calciner equipped with a Prepol SC-S calcining system to increase fuel flexibility and maximise the use of a wide range of alternative fuels (AF) with a minimum substitution rate of 85%.”

Additionally, a new Polytrack 7T/5-3R grate cooler, including a new cooler dedusting system, will replace the existing planetary cooler. The upgrade aims to “bring the plant to the highest energy efficiency, low nitrous oxides (NO_x) and the lowest carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions among European cement producers” and is partly funded by the Portuguese government.

ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions chief executive officer (CEO) Samir Abi Ramia said, “This project marks a milestone for our Grey2Green initiative and is proof of the rising demand for green technologies in the cement industry. Secil is aware of the stakes for tomorrow and beyond and places great value on sustainability. With our energy-saving and emissions-reducing technologies, we are proud to play our part in the transition towards carbon-neutral cement production.” He added, “Secil can be confident that, with this investment, its Outão plant will rank among the top 10% of efficient cement plants in Europe.”

Çimsa and its parent company Sabancı Holding renewed their ambition to become a global leader in the global white cement market this week with the formation of Cimsa Sabanci Cement. The new subsidiary brings together most of Çimsa’s international white cement companies including Cimsa Americas Cement Manufacturing and Sales Corporation in the US, Cimsa Cement Sales North in Germany, Cimsa Cementos Espana in Spain and Cimsa Adriatico in Italy. Notably, the new entity does not include businesses in Romania and Russia or at home in Turkey. The move coincides with regulatory approval from the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) for Çimsa’s purchase of Cemex’s white cement business in Spain, including its integrated Buñol white cement plant, for around US$180m, which was first announced in March 2019.

The acquisition in Spain came with conditions though since Çimsa has now become the market leader in both bagged and bulk white cement locally, with a combined share of over 50% in the case of bulk white cement. Firstly, Çimsa has agreed to give Cementos Molins the rights to use its silo in Alicante along with a customer list over the last three years. Secondly, it has agreed to supply all its customers previously supplied from a silo in Seville from one in Motril instead for two years. The Motril terminal was purchased from Cemex. The idea here is to give Cementos Molins time to establish itself in the new market and for customers in the south of Spain to find alternative white cement suppliers if they want to. The latter condition was enough for the CNMC to approve the Cemex purchase in Spain. It was proposed on 24 September 2020 and then approved by the end of the month.

The wider picture is that Çimsa has been playing up its ambitions in white cement for a while now. At the time that the acquisition in Spain was announced, Tamer Saka, the president of Sabancı Holding Cement Group and chairman of Çimsa said, “With the integration of the Buñol white cement plant to our production and distribution networks, we will increase our white cement production capacity by 40%, translating into Çimsa becoming the world's largest white cement company.” This compares to Cementir’s self-declared world share of around 27% white cement production capacity, through its Aalborg White brand and others. Other recent developments at Çimsa include the commissioning of a 0.35Mt/yr white cement grinding plant in Houston, Texas by Cimsa Americas Cement Manufacturing and Sales Corporation in July 2019 with commercial sales starting later that year.

Back home in Turkey the domestic grey cement industry has faced difficulties in the last few years as the economy suffered, the capacity utilisation rate fell, competition increased in export markets and then coronavirus-related lockdowns caused further stress this year. By contrast the world white cement market has remained quite buoyant over the last decade, rising by around 7% year-on-year to 21Mt in 2018 and then remaining at a similar level in 2019.

HeidelbergCement memorably described white cement as a “niche product” when it left the scene in 2018 by selling its remaining shares in Lehigh White Cement in the US to Cementir. It has faced problems of its own this week with the decision by the European General Court (EGC) to uphold the European Commission’s (EC) previous ruling in 2017 to block a proposed takeover of Cemex Croatia by HeidelbergCement and Schwenk Zement. Funnily enough, that acquisition also revolved around a cement terminal. In this case the EC didn’t think that the offer by the potential buyers to grant access to a cement terminal in Metković in southern Croatia would be enough to assuage concerns about reduced competition following the transaction. Some you win, some you lose.

Pakistan: Provincial Minerals Minister Hafiz Yasir has issued licences for the construction of eight new cement plants. The News International newspaper has reported that the state has already invested US$244m in one of the plants, and a further US$1.83bn-worth of upcoming cement production capacity will be located in the Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province.

Nigeria: BUA Cement has broken ground at the site of its upcoming 3.0Mt/yr-capacity integrated cement plant in Guyuk, Adamawa State. Governor Ahmadu Fintiri proposed nearby Yola as the site for a second BUA Cement plant in the state, which he said would “further diversify the economy away from sole reliance on petroleum products.”

The company is currently building a 50MW waste heat recovery (WHR) plant in Lamurde, Adamawa State.

Mexico: Cuautinchán city council granted permission for Cemex to resume cement production at its 7.2Mt/yr integrated Tepeaca plant in Cuautinchán following its suspension on 1 October 2020 for failure to pay city rates.

The Municipios Puebla newspaper has reported that Cuautinchán mayor José Pérez opposes the reopening, accusing Cemex of quarrying over 4.44km² in a remote area where its licence extends over a site of just 12.0km². He stated that Cemex has caused environmental deterioration and failed to comply with road upkeep requirements, adding, “It is not a company that has established co-responsibility against municipalities.”

Netherlands: Turkey-based Sabanci Holding and subsidiary Çimsa have announced the launch of Cimsa Sabanci Cement, a 60:40 subsidiary of both companies, based in the Netherlands. Reuters News has reported that Sabanci Holding plans to use the new company “to reach its goal of becoming a leading player in the global white cement trade.”

Cimsa Sabanci Cement will buy 70% of shares in Cimsa Adriatico Cement, Cimsa Americas Cement, Cimsa Cementos España and Cimsa Cement Sales North. Other assets will be sold off, including its 1.5Mt/yr Alicante integrated grey cement plant to Cementos Molins, according to Alimarket-Construcción News.

Spain: LafargeHolcim España has appointed Oswaldo Pereda as the director of its integrated Villaluenga de la Sagra cement plant near Toledo. He was previously the director of the plant from 2010 to 2012. He succeeds Maruxa Suárez, who will work at the company’s Carboneras plant in Almería.

Pereda is a graduate in mechanical engineering from the Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela. He first worked for Venezolana de Cementos in 1987 before moving to Lafarge Venezuela in 1995. He has since worked in production and operation roles for Lafarge, Cementos Polpaico and LafargeHolcim in Spain, Brazil and Chile.