Displaying items by tag: Upgrade

Russia: Lafarge's Voskresensk cement plant has set up a continuous environmental monitoring system analysing cement furnace emissions. Siemens has designed and delivered the equipment. The monitoring system controls standard parameters like the content of dust, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide, oxygen, pressure, gas flow rate and organic content. Lafarge also has an environmental monitoring system installed at its Ferzikovo Cement Plant.

China/Russia: Eurocement plans to sign three contracts worth a combined US$280m at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing. The contracts cover the construction of dry-process cement lines at the Kavkazcement, Belgorodsky Cement and Oskolcement plants. Each line will have a clinkcer capacity of 6200t/yr or a cement capacity of 3Mt/yr. Each contract is for US$93.3m and the contractor is Sinoma International Engineering.

In May 2014 Eurocement signed six contracts to build new plants with Sinomach, CNBM and Sinoma for a total of US$580m. All of the projects are being carried out as part of a programme to switch to dry-process cement production. Overall investments in the programme will exceed US$2bn.

"We plan to switch our enterprises to the new technological platform in three years, between 2014 and 2017," said Eurocement president Mikhail Skorokhod. By 2018, Eurocement intends to produce 100% of its cement using the dry-process. This will boost capacities by 5Mt/yr to 45Mt/yr, according to Skorokhod.

Eurocement has calculated that the programme will pay for itself in 7 - 10 years. Cost of production is planned to fall by 35% - 40%. The debt/equity ratio of financing for the programme is 70%:30%. In May 2014, Eurocement signed a strategic agreement with Sberbank to finance its investment programme.

Kenya: The East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has begun the process of upgrading its Athi River cement plant, a project that is expected to cost approximately US$11.1m. The upgrade will halt the plant's normal operations for six weeks.

According to EAPCC head of production, Joseph Kombo, the upgrade targets the kiln and the packing plant. "In the packing plant, we are upgrading the mechanical and electrical components of the packers as well as improving the bag conveying system, all geared towards improved the loading process and quick turnaround thus ensuring customer satisfaction," said Kombo. "We are installing a bag house to replace the electronic precipitators, retrofitting the raw-mill gear box, replacing three sections of the cement kiln shell and installing a radio link into the raw material handling sections, among others."

EAPCC plans to improve reliability, increase production and improve energy-efficiency. The bag house will reduce emissions from the plant to insignificant levels, complying with international emission standards.

Bulgaria: Italcementi has launched its upgraded cement plant in Bulgaria, which is operated by its subsidiary, Devnya Cement. The upgrades will allow Italcementi to meet domestic demand and export demand from Eastern Europe.

"The new plant will enable us to respond to demand from the domestic market and from the neighbouring areas in Eastern Europe," said Italcementi Group chief executive officer Carlo Pesenti in a statement.

The revamp of the cement plant, located near the port of Varna in eastern Bulgaria, began in April 2012 and invovled an overall investment of more than Euro160m. Once the current test and commissioning stage has been completed on all the systems, the cement plant will be fully operational in early 2015. The new facility can produce around 4000t/day of clinker and about 1.5Mt/yr of cement.

The completion of the project will allow the group to consolidate its operations in Bulgaria, where it also runs the Vulkan grinding center in Dimitrovgrad, and boost its export capacity thanks to its proximity to the port of Varna West, which gives access to all the countries on the Black Sea and on the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Italcementi Group entered the Bulgarian market in 1998 with the acquisition of Devnya Cement, followed in 1999 by the acquisition of Vulkan Cement. In 2013, the Group reported revenue of Euro59m in Bulgaria.

Egypt: The military-run Al-Arish cement plant is building a new cement production line, which will be completed by the end of 2015, according to the head of the construction materials department at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce Ahmed El-Zeiny. After completion, the production line will double the plant's production from 3.5Mt/yr to 7Mt/yr. It is expected to cost up to US$112m.

"This is an attempt to fight the monopoly imposed by foreign cement facilities that sell cement at higher prices than the international standards," said El-Zeiny.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement Co has announced that it will not restart cement production after refurbishment work on two kilns at its Hofuf, Eastern Province plant due to high inventory levels and weak demand. The company has reported falling year-on-year profits in the first half of 2014. Between January and August 2014, sales fell by 14% year-on-year because of increased volumes being produced by Saudi cement firms and stagnant demand.

"The feasibility of operating the two kilns shall be reconsidered whenever market conditions warrants it," said Saudi Cement. The company expects to record annual depreciation charges of about US$2m related to the kilns from the fourth quarter of 2014 onwards.

Canada: Lafarge has completed a US$20m upgrade at its Exshaw cement plant in Alberta, which will reduce the level of emissions generated by its operations. The upgrade is one part of an ongoing expansion at the plant that will ultimately see Lafarge nearly double the plant's output from 1.2Mt/yr to 2.2Mt/yr.The expansion was originally planned in 2008, but was delayed because of the economic downturn.

Now, with Alberta 'booming again,' the timing is right, according to Bob Cooper, Lafarge vice-president for Western Canada Cement. The project will be completed by the summer of 2015.

"We're quite proud of this because we're helping to build Alberta. "We're the only company in Alberta right now, from a cement standpoint, increasing our output," he said. "The market is quite strong. We see a lot of growth going forward in Alberta, the Prairies and even British Columbia."

The environmental benefits of the expansion and side-projects will be 60% lower sulphur dioxide emissions and 40% lower nitrogen oxide emissions.In addition, new dust mitigation and noise abatement equipment has been installed. Lafarge has also installed a new water recycling system, which means that the plant will no longer discharge used water into the Bow River.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnian cement factory Tvornica Cementa Kakanj (TCK) plans to invest Euro10.2m in the 2013 - 2018 period towards environmental upgrades. In 2014 TCK plans to invest Euro2.55m on modernising its cement mills and dust collecting system. The company is majority-owned by Dutch-based CEEM Investment, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement.

India: India Cements plans to revamp and increase the production capacity of its cement plant in Tamil Nadu with an investment of US$13.3m.

The cement plant will be upgraded, including a new line and optimisation of the existing kiln, increasing capacity to about 1.70Mt/yr from the present 0.6Mt/yr. India Cements is currently seeking environmental clearance and, once this is in place, the project will commence. The total power requirement for the increased capacity will be about 28MW, including about 13MW for the new line.

Spain/Mexico/Argentina: Cementos Molins plans to build its international presence outside of Spain with expansions planned for Mexico and Argentina. The company hopes to generate just 20% of revenues in Spain in 2017. The company reported a profit of Euro6.5m for the first quarter of 2014.

The Spain-based cement producer intends to invest in a Euro147m cement plant project in Veracruz, Mexico in 2015 – 2016 shared with Buzzi Unicem and Mexican company Carso. Cementos Molins also plans to upgrade its existing cement plant in San Luis, Argentina. Other projects include two cement plants at unspecified locations.