Displaying items by tag: Upgrade
Lafarge Africa to build power plant at Ashaka plant
26 July 2016Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has signed a US$35m contract with Chinese company Rughn Power to build a 16MW captive power plant at its Ashaka cement plant in Gombe State. The lignite burning plant should provide a reliable energy source for the plant to increase its cement production capacity to 1Mt/yr.
Shree Cement completes upgrade in Rajasthan and announces plans to build grinding plant in Jharkhand
20 July 2016India: Shree Cement has completed the upgrade of a preheater on the clinker production line of Unit-I at its Beawar cement plant in Rajasthan. The clinker production capacity of the plant has now increased to 1.4Mt/yr from 1.1Mt/yr.
Meanwhile the cement producer has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Jharkhand to build a 2Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Sarai Kale Karasawa. The plant will have an investment cost of US$73m.
Taiwan: Taiwan Cement plans to expand its microalgae unit to boost astaxanthin production from waste CO2. The cement producer intends to invest US$6.25m towards enlarging its existing microalgae unit into a 20-hectare outdoor microalgae farm with an estimated annual production value of about US$12m, according to the Tapei Times.
The upgraded farm will start operation in 2017 producing astaxanthin, an input for skincare and health food products. The company hopes to make astaxanthin products that meet universal standards, such as the Good Manufacturing Practice standard, eventually becoming the country’s main supplier of the chemical.
To support the upgrade Taiwan Cement has signed a business development contract with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). The two organisations have collaborated since 2011 on developing CO2 capture technology. As part of the new deal Taiwan Cement is expected to decrease its CO2 emissions by 4800t/yr.
India: Ramco Cements has received environmental clearance to upgrade the captive power plant at its Alathiyur cement plant in Tamil Nadu. The expansion will cost US$3.18m. The cement producer intends to add 6MW turbines based on air-cooled condensers, taking the total power generation to 42MW, according to Accord Fintech. The company will use imported coal from Indonesia for the power plant. The coal supply agreement was made in July 2014 with Devendral Coal International.
Saudi Arabia: ABB has commissioned an electrical infrastructure upgrade for the Eastern Province Cement Company’s (EPCC) two cement production lines at its plant in Al Khursaniya. The project upgraded the existing 75MV Switchgear Panels and integrated the power supply systems with the ABB 800xA automation system already in place. Commissioning was completed in February 2016.
“ABB has completed the final upgrade on site in a record time during the planned maintenance shutdowns of the plant,” said Mohammad Arif Khan, Electrical and Instrumentation Manager at EPCC. “The excellent teamwork between EPCC and ABB engineers made it possible to meet this challenge without affecting the production of the other production lines.”
The scope of supply included the replacement of the 30-year old protection compartment of 75MV (13.8kV and 4.16kV) Switchgear Panels with the latest generation of ABB Relion protection relays, integration via IEC61850 with the 800xA automation system and the delivery of computer and network equipment. ABB also provided project management, engineering, site services and training together with its supplier EcoWatt Projects.
Shree Cement completes grinding plant at Aurangabad
24 June 2016India: Shree Cement has completed the expansion of its cement grinding plant at Aurangabad in Bihar. The plant increased its production capacity to 3.6Mt/yr from 2Mt/yr.
Nepal: Cement producers in Nepal are upgrading their plants in preparation for the start of operation by a number of foreign owned cement companies. Dhruba Thapa, the president of the Cement Manufacturers' Association of Nepal (CMAN), said that the imminent ‘invasion’ by foreign cement producers has led to unease amongst local producers, in comments to the Kathmandu Post
Dangote Cement from Nigeria, Hongshi and Huaxin from China and Reliance Cement from India have all been granted clearance to start operations in Nepal. Their combined foreign direct investment amounts to US$1.45bn and their proposed output stands at 22,000t/day.
Local projects include Cosmos Cement’s plan to build its first clinker plant. It is expected to start production in the second half of 2016. At present the cement producer operates two cement grinding plants with a combined capacity of 800t/day. It is also upgrading the capacity of these plants to a total of 2000t/day.
Arghakhanchi Cement has announced that it will nearly triple its capacity to 3000t/day by the end of 2017. At present the plant has a production capacity of 1200t/day. Agni Cement Industry has planned to set up a new plant with a daily capacity of 1200t/day. Currently, its capacity is 300t/day.
Domestic demand for cement is 5.5Mt/yr and production is 4.6Mt/yr according to CMAN. Domestic cement manufacturers claim that they have become able to meet 80% of the country's requirement with a capacity utilisation of 50 – 60%. However, foreign investors have said that there is unexplored potential demand for cement in Nepal as infrastructure development grows. Local producers have countered this claim, saying that foreign direct investment has been promoted by offering foreign investors more tax incentives than what domestic producers receive.
Myanmar: The state-run No. 33 cement plant in Kyaukse, Mandalay will be upgraded to produce up to 5000t/day of cement in a partnership with Myanmar Conch Cement. The plant was established in 1983 and has been running under the Ministry of Industry with a capacity of 300t/day. The upgrade is expected to be finished in three months, according to Myanmar Business Today.
The agreement with Myanmar Conch Cement will give the government profit from 2.71% of production in the first year and from 5% in the following 19 years. “In profit sharing, the government owns its net profit without investment for production and staff payment. The partnership company will pay for it,” said U Saw Aung, General Manager of Technology at the Development Department of the Ministry of Industry.
Domestic demand for cement in Myanmar is around 8Mt/yr with half of this figure imported from abroad.
KCP to expand production at Muktyala cement plant
10 June 2016India: KCP plans to expand the production capacity of its cement plant at Muktyala in Andhra Pradesh to 3.5Mt/yr from 1.8Mt/yr. The company said in a statement that the upgrade is expected to cost US$60m. KCP operates two integrated cement plants in Andhra Pradesh.
Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d’Algérie (GICA) has signed two agreements with CBMI, a subsidiary of Sinoma, to build a new cement plant in Bechar and upgrade the Zahana plant at Mascara. The agreements were signed in the presence of Industry and Mines Minister Abdessalem Bouchouareb, China's ambassador to Algiers Yang Guangyu and the chief executive officers of GICA and Sinoma, according to the Algeria Press Service.
The Bechar cement plant will have a cement production capacity of 1Mt/yr and it will be run by the Saoura Cement Company. The upgrade work at Zahana cement plant has an investment of US$344m. A new 1.5Mt/yr production line will be built at the site run by the Cement Company of Zahana. Work at both sites is planed to be complete in 2018.