Displaying items by tag: Plant

Switzerland: Jura Cement has installed a PREMAS 4.0 continuous monitoring system supplied by Aumund at its Wildegg cement plant. The system informs operators about the condition of the equipment used in cement production at the plant in real time via the PREMAS Cloud. It also provides service life estimates for critical components.

The Wildegg plant previously hosted a prototype PREMAS 4.0 in early 2020.

Head of Maintenance Ramona Keller said “We are convinced that predictive maintenance has a future. With PREMAS 4.0, we can better plan spare parts and maintenance, which has a positive effect on resources and costs. The PREMAS Portal is easy to use and very clear. It enables us to recognise immediately where there is a need for action, regardless of time and place."

Watch out for more on this project in the forthcoming December 2021 issue of Global Cement Magazine

Croatia: LafargeHolcim Croatia has successfully commissioned a continuous mercury monitoring system in the stack of its Koromačno cement plant in Istria. Gasmet supplied the system via its regional distributor RACI.

LafargeHolcim Croatia Production Engineer Ivan Marićsaid “The product gives us exactly what we want – peace of mind. We now know where we stand with our mercury emissions.”

South Africa: Sephaku Cement has reported a second unexpected kiln stoppage at its integrated Aganang plant in Lichtenburg. It attributed the second delay on the need for a repair to the inside of the kiln. The second stoppage started on 16 October 2021 and was expected to be completed by 26 October 2021. Previously, the kiln was stopped from 30 September 2021 to 6 October 2021 due to preheater refractory material damage caused by a corrosive element in one of the raw materials being used. The producer said that the raw material was subsequently replaced with an alternative option. The subsidiary of Nigeria-based Dangote Cement said that the outages were expected to reduce its sales volumes.

Sweden: Cementa says it is preparing to ration deliveries of cement in December 2021 due to uncertainty about whether it can renew the mining licence at its integrated Slite plant in Gotland beyond the end of October 2021. The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement has warned customers that it is preparing to implement quotas of cement products from its two plants and five terminals on a week-by-week basis. The quotas will be based on what level of cement customers have ordered previously over the past 36 months. It will also take into account whether there have been significant volume changes during the period.

Cementa says it submitted its application for an emergency permit in late September 2021. It needs approval from the government by mid-November 2021 to avoid a potential cement shortage. However, any such approval may be subject to an appeal leading to further delays in mining.

Cameroon: Cimenteries du Cameroun has begun building a new US$88.4m 0.5Mt/yr line at its 0.15Mt/yr Figuil cement plant. Agence Ecofin News has reported that the line is scheduled for commissioning in October 2023. It will have an additional clinker capacity of 0.1Mt/yr. When commissioned, the expanded plant will serve northern Cameroon, Chad and the Central African Republic, and bring the company's total cement capacity to 2.5Mt/yr.The LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique subsidiary, in which the Cameroon National Investment Company (SNI) holds a minority stake, aims to compete with market leader Dangote Cement in Cameroon.

Philippines: Big Boss Cement has reportedly suspended business operations until 2022. An unnamed source at the company quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper said that the company is ‘rehabilitating’ its facilities. It added that the company is using a lull in business to make changes.

The company was set up by SM Group heir Henry Sy Jr in 2018. It opened a grinding plant at Porac in Pampanga, Luzon in 2018 and commissioned a third mill at the site in late 2020. Notably the unit manufactures its own secondary cementitious material, which it calls Granulated Activated Sand by Heating, as well as importing clinker and other raw materials.

Togo: Cimtogo has blamed price rises for its cement on mounting fuel and transport costs. Eric Goulignac, the chief executive officer of the subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, said that the company had seen a 250% increase in fuels for the integrated Scantogo plant in Tablogbo and a rise in sea freight costs of over US$35/t to import coal and gypsum, according to local press.

China: Anhui Panjing Cement has ordered an upgrade to its production line from KHD and AVIC. The project includes: installing new triple cyclones in conjunction with existing preheater top stage twin cyclones; a partial modification of downcomer duct; installing a new preheater fan; adding optimised and larger dip tubes for the existing cyclones; installing a new Pyrobox type calciner firing system; adding new raw meal pipes for the two lowest cyclone stages; making calciner modification within the existing preheater building; and installing a new kiln drive system. Where possible the project plans to use reuse existing equipment. It is scheduled for completion by January 2022. It follows a previous upgrade at the plant in 2020 – 2021.

Other recent orders that KHD has announced with China-based cement companies include an upgrade to a production line at Hongshi Group’s Lanzhou plant in Gansu province and the installation of NOx-reducing modifications on a 5000t/day clinker production line operated by China United Cement Baoding.

Germany: Holcim Deutschland has signed a memorandum of understanding with Cool Planet Technologies (CPT) to build a pilot CO₂ capture unit at Holcim’s Höver cement works, near Hannover, based on Hereon’s PolyActive membrane technology. The objective of the unit is to demonstrate the performance, economics and operability of the capture technology at scale. Following this the partners will seek to establish a framework for the technology’s implementation in Holcim’s other cement plants in Germany.

Initial tests are scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2022 with the first phase of the project, capturing 5600t/yr of CO₂, scheduled for start-up in the second quarter of 2023. If successful, it is planned to expand the unit in two further phases capturing 170,000t/yr and 1.3Mt/yr starting-up in 2024 and 2026 respectively. The final phase will capture over 90% of the carbon dioxide emissions from the Höver plant and deliver the CO₂ in high-purity liquid form for use or sequestration.

CPT is working with Hereon, part of the Helmholtz Association of Research Centres, Germany’s largest research organisation, to commercialise their PolyActive membrane technology after a decade of development. This technology is designed to capture CO₂ from carbon rich gas streams and has already been technically proven in the laboratory and piloted in two coal-fired power stations.

France: Vicat says it aims to start cultivating spirulina at its Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant in the summer of 2022 as part of its Cimentalgue project. It plans to grow 1t/yr until 2024 as part of a trial looking at volume and quality, according to the Agence France Presse. It will use CO₂ and waste heat from the plant to grow the cyanobacteria that can be used as a food source.

The project is being conducted with Algosource and the GEPEA (Process Engineering for Environment and Food) laboratory at the University of Nantes. TotalEnergies is also involved as a financial backer. The project has a budget of Euro2m and is also supported by the Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME).