Displaying items by tag: Plant
LafargeHolcim inaugurates new mill at Ivory Coast plant
05 February 2018Ivory Coast: Jean-Claude Brou, the Minister of Industry and Mines, has inaugurated a new mill at LafargeHolcim Ivory Coast’s plant at Abidjan. The new mill has increased the unit’s production capacity to 2Mt/yr, according to the Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. LafargeHolcim Ivory Coast re-used a ball mill from a Spanish cement plant that was dismantled and shipped to Abidjan. The mill uses a 4.5MW motor and the cement producer says it is the largest horizontal ball mill in French-speaking West Africa. The project cost US$28.5m.
JK Cement receives approval for upgrade at Mangrol plant
05 February 2018India: JK Cement has received approval for an upgrade at its Mangrol cement plant near Chittorgarh in Rajasthan. The plant will have an investment of US$312m, according to Accord Fintech. Following the expansion the plant will have a cement production capacity of 4.2Mt/yr. Cement grinding will be supported by units in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Saudi Arabia: Finland’s Wärtsilä has provided an update on a three-year asset management deal for Northern Region Cement’s (NRC) power plant at its Turaif plant signed in October 2017. Wärtsilä will continue to be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the power plant and to ensure the reliability and availability of its operations. This agreement is an extension of Wärtsilä’s previous service agreements for NRC’s power plant. The first service agreement with NRC was signed in 2008.
“We are proud to be able to continue our 10-year cooperation with NRC. By having full responsibility for the operation and maintenance of NRC’s power plant, we have been able to ensure reliable operations, optimised fuel consumption and reduced maintenance costs for NRC,” said Haidar al Hertani, managing director, Wärtsilä Saudi Arabia.
The agreement covers all aspects of operating and maintaining NRC’s power plant, including the day-to-day operation of the power plant as well as preventive and predictive maintenance. Wärtsilä’s Customer Centre in Dubai remotely monitors the power plant’s condition. Wärtsilä has also carried out electrical and automation services to improve the performance and extend the lifespan of NRC’s power plant.
The 62MW power plant is equipped with nine Wärtsilä 32 engines and provides energy for NRC’s Turaif cement plant. The cement plant has two production lines, producing nearly 10,000t/day of cement.
US: United States Lime & Minerals grew its sales revenue in 2017 due to higher business from its oil and gas services and industrial customers. Total revenue grew by 4% year-on-year to US$145m in 2017 from US$139m in 2016. The producer raised the price of its lime and limestone products in 2017.
“Demand for our lime and limestone products in the fourth quarter and full year 2017 remained steady. In addition to the St Clair replacement kiln project, we continue to seek innovative ways to enhance efficiencies at all of our facilities so we can compete in what remains a challenging pricing environment,” said Timothy W Byrne, president and chief executive officer of United States Lime & Minerals.
Worker killed at Ambuja Cement’s Maratha plant
30 January 2018India: A contract worker has been killed in an accident at Ambuja Cement’s Maratha plant in Maharashtra. An apparent electrical problem in a wagon loading machine caused the incident that crushed the 32 year old worker, according to the IndustriAll union. The union says that mechanical problems had been reported previously in the plant’s packing unit. LafargeHolcim, the owner of Ambuja Cement, reported 86 fatalities at its sites in 2016.
US: Refractory manufacturer HarbisonWalker International has decided to close its plants at Oak Hill, Ohio and Sproul, Pennsylvania as it opens a new US$30m refractory plant at South Point, Ohio in early 2018. The closures will affect around 88 employees. Previously in 2016 the company negotiated an end to eleven months of industrial action at the Oak Hill site.
Biskria Cement ignites second kiln
29 January 2018Algeria: Biskria Cement has started the kiln on its second new production line at its plant in Biskra. The 6000t/day line was supplied by China’s Sinoma. The Chinese plant builder announced the US$267m order in 2015. It included two production lines from raw materials to despatch. The cement producer operates three cement production lines at its plant with a production capacity of 4Mt/yr.
Lucky Cement’s profit drops as fuel costs rise
29 January 2018Pakistan: Lucky Cement’s profit after tax fell by 2% year-on-year to US$77.6m in the half year to 31 December 2017 from US$79m in the same period in 2016. The cement producer said that its cost of sales had increased by 21% due to rising coal and other fuels prices. Its sales revenue grew by 5.2% to US$297m from US$283m. Its cement production rose by 5.4% to 3.68Mt from 3.49Mt.
The company completed a new 1.25Mt/yr production line at its Karachi cement plant in December 2017. It is currently seeking government approval to build a new 2.3Mt/yr plant in Punjab Province. However due to the delay it is considering expanding its Pezu plant by 2.3Mt/yr instead. The cement producer also expanded its grinding plant in Iraq by 0.87Mt/yr to 1.74Mt/yr.
Punjab government confirms ban on new cement plants
29 January 2018Pakistan: The Industries, Commerce and Investment department of the Government of Punjab has confirmed that it is banning the construction of new cement plants and the enlargement of existing plants. The decision follows approval by chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, according to the Nation newspaper. It is in response to a number of environmental issues allegedly caused by cement production in the province including damage to water tables and increased air pollution. Final confirmation of the ban came in response to the Supreme Court enforcing a similar ban near the Katas Raj Temples in the state.
Austria/Germany/Italy: The European Cement Research Academy (ECRA) has launched its oxyfuel carbon capture pilot projects at HeidelbergCement’s Colleferro plant in Italy and LafargeHolcim’s Retznei plant in Austria. The two locations were chosen form a shortlist of five sites. The pilots will test oxyfuel technology on an industrial scale. The test phase of the research is expected to cost Euro80m and the cement industry has contributed Euro25m towards this. ‘Substantial’ funding from European or national research schemes is being sought.
“The technical feasibility of oxyfuel technology can only be proven in real-scale application, but we have sufficient information from our research to believe that we will obtain a positive result after the trials” said Daniel Gauthier, chairman of ECRA.