Displaying items by tag: Waste Heat Recovery

Malaysia: Cahya Mata Cement will build a second line at its Mambong facility in Kuching to increase cement production and support Sarawak's infrastructure development. Construction is expected to take 24 months, with expected completion in March 2027.

The project will add 6000t/day of clinker capacity, raising output to 1.92Mt/yr. This will enable the company to become self-sufficient in its clinker supply and therefore eliminate the need for imports.

The company signed a technical consulting agreement with Sinoma Industry Engineering in November 2023 to design and construct the new production line. It will feature a waste heat recovery system, generating up to 6MW of power, alongside a dust filter designed to cut emissions to half of the current regulatory limit, according to the New Straits Times. The new line will also use locally-sourced alternative raw materials to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

Cahya Mata Cement acting division head Choong Ju Tang said "Once the project is approved and construction is completed, Cahya Mata Cement will be well-positioned to meet the construction industry's demand.”

India: Ramco Cements has commissioned an additional 2MW waste heat recovery turbine at its Alathiyur cement plant, doubling the facility's waste heat power capacity to 4MW. The company's total waste heat power capacity has now increased to 45.15MW, as stated in a regulatory filing. According to its Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report 2024, Ramco Cements aims to meet about 45% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2030. According to Energetica India, the company has also reduced its reliance on fossil fuels by using wind energy and rooftop solar panels.

Sweden: NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers has placed an order for Climeon’s organic rankine cycle (ORC) waste heat recovery technology, HeatPower 300, to be installed on a new methanol dual-fuel cement carrier. The HeatPower 300 unit will generate up to 300kW of electricity on board the carrier by harnessing residual heat from the engine cooling water and exhaust gases to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

Portugal: Cimpor recently celebrated the 50^th anniversary of its Souselas plant, which has been operational since November 1974. The plant was initially launched with a production capacity of 500,000t/yr of clinker, but has since adapted to meet market demand.

Throughout its five decades of operation, the Souselas plant has produced over 69Mt of clinker and processed approximately 667,000t of alternative fuels. Current projects include the rehabilitation of Line 2 for producing calcined clays, installing photovoltaic plants and focusing on co-processing and heat recovery initiatives, with the aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The anniversary event showcased recent projects, such as the installation of a 1MW photovoltaic plant and the planned introduction of a 10MW plant by 2025. Additionally, a 7.4MW waste heat recovery system will commence operation in February 2025 and a 10MW hydrogen plant is scheduled for 2026.

Vietnam: Thailand-based Siam Cement Group (SCG) says it is expanding the production of its SCG Low Carbon cement product in southern Vietnam. It plans to export up to 8000t/day of the product to the US, Canada, and Australia, as well as supplying local green-procurement projects, according to the Vietnam Business Forum. The company says its low-carbon cement reduces CO₂ emissions by up to 20%, compared to regular products, through the use of alternative fuels, renewable energy sources and installing waste heat recovery (WHR) units at its plants. SCG formally launched SCG Low Carbon Super Cement in the country in July 2024.

Germany: Schwenk Zement will utilise Germany-based Orcan Energy's organic Rankine cycle (ORC) technology at its Allmendingen cement plant in Baden-Württemberg. The installation of five ORC modules aims to harness residual heat from the clinker cooling process to generate electricity, saving 8.5GWh/yr. Orcan Energy expects operations to begin in the first quarter of 2025. The company has previously worked with Dyckerhoff and Cemex.

Energy has been the theme for a couple of cement news stories of note from Egypt this week. The first concerns the government’s impending plan to centralise distribution of mazut (heavy fuel oil) to cement plants to help them cope with ongoing power shortages. Earlier in the week Cemex signed a deal with the Assiut Governorate to operate a second municipal solid refuse processing unit in the country. The company’s first Regenera facility, in Mahala, started operations in May 2024. Another story from mid-September 2024, along the same theme, covered the inauguration of an 18MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit at Heidelberg Materials Egypt's Helwan Cement plant.

The wider story is that the country has faced so-called load shedding, or power rationing, since mid-2023 due to falling gas production, rising energy demand and negative currency exchange effects making it harder to buy fuel imports. The power cuts were extended in duration in July 2024 due to a heat wave. The government then said in late September 2024 that it is making investments to prevent domestic power cuts in 2025.

The cement stories mentioned above show some of the ways cement companies cut their energy costs. Two potential ways of doing this are to increase the use of alternative fuels (AF), such as municipal solid waste, or to install a WHR unit. Titan Cement, for example, reported AF thermal substitution rates of above 40% in Alexandria and above 30% in Beni Suef in the first half of 2024. The local press hasn’t reported power shortages amongst the country’s cement producers, but the plans to control the distribution of mazut suggest that either ‘something’ has happened or the government is trying to avoid ‘something.’ Readers may recall that producers have periodically faced step changes in power supplies over the years. In the mid-2010s, for example, lots of plants switched from heavy fuel oil and gas to coal. The energy price fluctuations following the start of the Russia - Ukraine war in 2022 then saw the price of coal rise.

However, what the foreign-owned producers have complained about in the first half of 2024 is the declining exchange rate of the Egyptian Pound. Cementir, Cemex and Titan Cement all noted this. However, Titan reckoned that International Monetary Fund and European Union investment had actually eased the economic situation in the first half of the year leading to an increase in the number of large construction projects.

One effect of the currency problems upon the cement market has been a focus on exports. At the start of September 2024 the Federation of Egyptian Industries said that national cement consumption in 2024 was expected to drop by 4% year-on-year to 45Mt. However, exports were projected to rise to 15Mt. The first and second most popular destinations so far in 2024 have been the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Yet, exports to Libya, the third biggest external market, may have had the biggest effect. These have been blamed for creating a shortage of trucks that was causing delays to the local construction sector. The round-journey from Egypt to Libya can take up to 12 days. This has left building sites bereft of raw material deliveries because all the trucks are elsewhere! Vicat acknowledged the growing importance of imports for its business in Egypt in its half-year report for 2024. It said that ‘sluggish’ domestic market conditions “were more than offset by growth in cement and clinker volumes for export to the Mediterranean and Africa regions.”

The wider picture of the cement sector in Egypt remains one of overcapacity with integrated capacity estimated above 70Mt/yr. The government introduced cement production quotas in mid-2021 and this stabilised prices (and profits). The recent state of the local economy may have strained this, but the latest round of external investment appears to have buoyed things for now. Although the effects of the Israeli military action in Lebanon may have unforeseen consequences upon neighbouring markets. In the meantime, cutting energy costs and growing exports offer two ways for producers to raise their profits.

Saudi Arabia: Turboden, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has announced its first project in Saudi Arabia — a 13MW organic rankine cycle (ORC) power plant at Riyadh Cement Company. This marks the first ORC plant in the Kingdom and the largest globally.

The plant will capture residual heat from the cement plant's clinker coolers and pre-heaters (2 kilns of 5000t/day each), offering high energy efficiency and eliminating water consumption. Sinoma Energy Conservation serves as the project's engineering, procurement and construction contractor.

General manager Andrea La Gioia said "Turboden is honoured to spearhead this groundbreaking project in collaboration with Riyadh Cement Company. With around 460 ORC plants in 52 countries, 50 in ‘waste’ heat recovery application, our ORC technology represents a game-changer in the global energy landscape, and we are proud to support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its transition towards cleaner, more sustainable energy sources."

Egypt: A new waste heat recovery system has been inaugurated at Heidelberg Materials Egypt's Helwan Cement plant. The US$30m system is expected to produce 18MW of energy, equating to a saving of 40,000t/yr of CO₂ emissions.

Kenya: Mombasa Cement will build a 20MW power plant at its Vipingo plant in Kilifi County, to help reduce energy costs. The US$19.4m project will generate 10MW of electricity using a waste heat recovery system and 10MW from solid fuels. The waste heat will be recovered from flue gases emitted during cement production. The plant has two clinker production lines. The power generated will be used onsite to support cement production.