Displaying items by tag: Plant

Algeria: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has received an order to build a 6000t/day cement plant for Société des Ciments de Ain El Kebira (SCAEK), a subsidiary of Groupe Industriel des Ciments d'Algérie (GICA). The cement plant will be built in Ain El Kebira with start-up planned for 2016.

The order includes the supply of components for raw material processing, clinker manufacture and cement loading, the installation of a laboratory automation system for quality assurance and monitoring and the turnkey handover of the plant to the customer.

The key components are a 2000t/hr crusher for limestone and marl, a 500t/hr crusher for aggregates and a 50,000t capacity circular blending bed. Raw materials will be ground in two Polysius QUADROPOL QMR2 roller mills, with a throughput 350t/hr and a 30,000t homogenising silo will be used to store raw meal.

The kiln line comprises a five-stage, two-string PREPOL AS preheater, a 5.2 x 78m rotary kiln and a Polysius POLYTRACK cooler with intermediate crusher. Cement grinding will be carried out in three ball mills with high-efficiency SEPOL separators (5 x 14.5m, 6000kW central drive). Four storage silos each with a capacity of 20,000t of cement, four packaging lines, and six automatic and two manual loaders round out the plant. The Polysius POLAB laboratory automation system will be installed for quality monitoring and control.

Nigeria: Lafarge WAPCO intends to double its cement production capacity in Nigeria to 16Mt/yr with an investment of US$1.37bn by 2018. The proposed investment will enable Lafarge to complete the expansion of its cement plant in Calabar and the Ashaka Cement plant.

"Between 2009 and 2012 we invested over US$1.37bn in our operations," said Country Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nigeria and Benin Republic, Guillaume Roux. He added that the expansion plan is in support of Nigeria's backward integration policy in cement production.

On a separate issue, Roux stated that a recent spate of building collapses was not caused by poor quality cement. He blamed the collapses on structural designs and poor usage of building materials by project handlers. He denied the existence of substandard cement in Nigeria, stating that "in Lafarge we put the control of the quality of cement at the forefront of our operation because we want to deliver very good quality products and services."

Algeria: PPC announced its advanced plans for entry into the Algerian cement market on 24 February 2014, through a partnership with Algerian private investors that would see it own a 49% stake in the Hodna Cement Company.

The transaction will be funded on a project finance basis, with 80% debt funding from local banks, according to PPC. The stake, which was bought for an undisclosed amount, will see PPC assume management control of Hodna, allowing for the consolidation of the financial results of the project into the PPC group accounts.

According to PPC, Hodna will construct a 2Mt/yr cement plant for US$350m in the Hodna area, which is roughly 300km east of Algiers. PPC is already building cement plants in Ethiopia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"This project sees us entering yet another African country and gives us confidence that by 2017, 40% of PPC revenues will be earned outside of South Africa," said CEO Ketso Gordhan.

"The Algerian cement market is very attractive, as consumption exceeds local production by approximately 3Mt/yr. Moreover, the Algerian government has committed itself to large-scale capital spending programmes, including the US$6bn New City Hassi Messaoud project, which will see the rollout of thousands of housing units," he said, adding that this would "certainly boost the demand of cement in this country."

The company said that once the feasibility study has been concluded, construction of the plant will take up to 30 months, with commissioning anticipated by the fourth quarter of 2016. As with its other expansion projects, PPC said it would engage China's Sinoma International Engineering as the contractor to supply and build the plant, supported by India's Holtec Consulting.

"With a population of close to 40 million people, of which 74% live in urban areas, combined with a relatively high GDP/capita of US$5582, Algeria still requires the construction of 225,000 housing units per year to meet demand. The national housing shortage in Algeria is estimated at 1.2m units," stated PPC.

Saudi Arabia: Arabian Cement Company (ACC) has announced that its management board has approved a project to boost the production capacity of the company's plant in Rabigh. The new production line will add a capacity of 10,000t/day and is expected to start operations in mid-2017. No financial details were available.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has announced that it may delay the construction of a proposed US$550m 2.5Mt/yr capacity cement plant in Bulacan province that was due for commissioning in 2016.

The announcement was made due to the impending economic integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2015. Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, will eliminate tariff rates on goods to facilitate free flow of commodities under the Asean Free Trade Area.

"We have to plan as a region because the region is consolidating," said Eduardo Sahagun, Holcim Philippines chief executive, adding that Vietnam and Indonesia both possess excess capacity. Holcim Philippines made several investments in 2013 to boost supply, including plant upgrades in La Union and Misamis Oriental provinces and the revival of a grinding facility in Mabini, Batangas, which will be operational by the third quarter of 2014.

Sahagun said that the company's outlook on cement demand in the country remained positive. "The growth scenario is the same but where the supply will come from will change," Sahagun said.

West Bank: India's Holtec has won a tender to carry out a feasibility study for The Palestinian Commercial Services Company (PCSC) regarding the establishment of the first cement plant in a Palestinian Territory.

The new facility, which will be located in the West Bank, is expected to take four years to complete. The US$300m plant will have a capacity of 5000t/day, which would be doubled after three years. The cement produced will help to meet demand in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At present, PCSC imports over 80% of local cement from Israel's Nesher Cement, with the remainder imported from Egypt or Jordan.

Holtec will prepare the feasibility over the next six months. This will cover factors such as location, geological tests, raw materials, production process technology and technical and logistical requirements.

Kenya: Bamburi Cement and the Mombasa County Government have entered into a US$55.6m partnership to develop a solid waste management system for the Mombasa county.

The deal will see Bamburi finance a feasibility study and provide equipment to boost the Mombasa waste management capacity. Most of the waste will be used to generate alternative fuel for the manufacture of cement.

India: The Himachal Pradesh cabinet has cancelled the allotment of a cement plant to Jaypee in Chamba district as the company failed to meet the extended deadline to start production.

Official sources said that the government was not satisfied with Jaypee's reply to a show cause notice. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the cancelled project was signed in February 2007.

The US$128m project with a proposed production capacity of 2Mt/yr was due to begin operations within five years after receiving clearance from the Environment Ministry. The plant was expected to provide direct employment to over 1000 people.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem has agreed to sell its 0.3Mt/yr cement plant in Cadola, Italy, to a subsidiary of Wietersdorfer for Euro22m. Under the terms of the agreement, Austria's Wietersdorfer will be also entitled to buy, within five years and without additional payment, Buzzi Unicem's Travesio 0.4Mt/yr cement plant.

Italian cement producer Buzzi Unicem has also agreed to buy 25% in two Wietersdorfer facilities. In particular, the company will acquire shares in W&P Cementi and Salonit Anhovo Gradbeni Materiali for Euro22m. W&P Cementi currently has a grinding plant in Pordenone, Italy with a production capacity of 0.3Mt/yr. Salonit owns an integrated cement plantin Slovenia with a production capacity of 1.3Mt/yr.

With these transactions, Buzzi Unicem expects to strengthen its production and sales structure by improving its procurement logistics, it said adding that the deals will result in technological integration between the two companies aiming to develop new products. The transactions are expected to close on 30 June 2014.

Zambia: Dangote Cement plans to commission a US$400m cement plant in the city of Ndola in July 2014 with a production capacity of 3000t/day.

The company expects to produce 1.0 - 1.2Mt/yr of cement when it is commissioned, which will increase Zambia's total cement production to 2.5 - 2.7Mt/yr. Zambia currently has a cement production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr from Lafarge's plants in Lusaka and Ndola and Zambezi Portland's plant in Ndola.

Senior general manager for Dangote Projects, Anand Kameshwar said that installation of major equipment at the plant by China's Sinoma Engineering was nearly complete. "Most of the major equipment has been installed and the project is on course and should be complete by July 2014," Kameshwar said, adding that Dangote would contribute significantly in mitigating cement shortages that have resulted from high cement demand due to construction activities. Once operational, the cement factory will create 700 new jobs.

Dangote is also constructing a 30MW power sub-station that is expected to commission in May 2014. "This facility will provide electricity to the cement plant, which is expected to consume 25MW of power per day," Kameshwar said. The cement factory will also open up other avenues for Dangote to increase its investments in Zambia.