Displaying items by tag: monitoring

Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has installed a new bag filter at its 3.9Mt/yr Ewekoro cement plant in Ogun State. The filter cost US$8.51m. Lafarge Africa says that the equipment has successfully reduced the plant’s dust emissions to below 50mg/Nm³. The company said that it has made ‘significant adjustments’ to its production activities, besides introducing air quality measurement systems across a 10km radius of the plant.

Lafarge Africa’s head of health, safety and environment Rachael Ezembakwe said “Care for the environment and for our host communities is built into all aspects of our operations within the country. Our social impact is focused on the areas of the most need: education, empowerment, health and safety, and shelter/infrastructure.”

Japan: Tokuyama Corporation has installed ABB’s Expert Optimizer automated optimisation system in the kiln line of its Nanyo cement plant. The system controls the line’s calciner, kiln and cooler processes. The supplier says that the technology will reduce the Nanyo cement plant’s thermal energy consumption by 3%.

Tokuyama Corporation "We selected ABB's Expert Optimizer to equalise operations and improve operational efficiency. As expected, we have significantly reduced the number of the operator manual operations normally spent on manual tasks.” It added “We believe that this solution will also support our young operators in learning the know-how of our operations efficiently."

Switzerland: Holcim has commissioned the world's first cement plant digital twin at one of its cement plants in Switzerland. The software models the plant and is integrated with sensors, analytics and machine learning technology. UK-based HyBird also participated in the development of the technology. Holcim expects it to help to optimise its operations. Under its Plants of Tomorrow automation strategy, it will now aim to roll out the system across all of its cement plants, beginning with those in Europe.

Holcim's global head of Plants of Tomorrow, Rozemarijn Wesby, said "Our digital twin in Switzerland is a breakthrough for the entire industry. By leveraging digital technologies like this, we are generating massive amounts of data, allowing smarter decision-making to take our operational efficiency to the next level."

India: Operators of limestone mines in Karnataka's Chamarajanagar District have suspended quarry operations indefinitely in protest against the Karnataka state government's increased licensing royalties and rules requiring drone surveillance. The companies also demand that the state government cease to implement new policies affecting them. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the strike has impacted a total of 10,000 jobs, both at quarries and downstream in the building materials and construction sectors.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines carried out 70 upgrades aimed at increasing automation in its operations during 2022. The projects aim to optimise cement production, generate cost savings and ensure best safety practices. The Manila Times has reported that new Industry 4.0 initiatives include equipment monitoring systems offering 90-day performance projections, software capable of predicting cement's strength development and drones to replace visual inspections in remote spaces.

Holcim Philippines said that it is currently exploring the use of new predictive technologies in its operations.

UK: RealWear has launched the world’s first voice-controlled head-mounted thermal camera. The new product combines the supplier's RealWear thermal camera and RealWear Navigator 500 headset with Teledyne FLIR's Lepton radiometry technology, enabling effortless capture of visible-spectrum and thermal imagery. Cement plant operators can then quickly identify temperature anomalies in mission-critical equipment like pumps, pipes, wiring and motors.

Chief Product Officer Rama Oruganti said “RealWear Navigator head-mounted devices, with a revolutionary modular design, continue to gain support with global 1000 companies as the new gold standard in assisted reality. The compelling option to add thermal image capture without occupying your hands in hazardous environments gives frontline professionals more real-time information to do their jobs safely and productively.”

US: Titan America has successfully implemented machine learning monitoring and adjustment software systems at its cement plants at Pennsuco in Florida and Roanoke in Virginia. The producer says that the increased automation will enhance the plants' efficiency, reliability and product quality.

President and chief executive officer Bill Zarkalis said "I'm incredibly proud to mark the end-to-end digital transformation of our cement plants. A systematic process of test and learn that started several years ago has reached an important milestone.”

Pakistan: The Pakistan National Forum of Environment and Health (NFEH) has recognised Lucky Cement’s sustainability successes with a prize at the 19th Annual Environment Excellence Awards 2022. The company’s comprehensive environmental management and monitoring plan covers its solid waste, noise pollution and emissions, including particulates. It says that this is essential to preserving the ecosystem in which it operates.

Chief operating officer Amin Ganny said “We believe in environment-friendly practices and are committed to conserving the environment. Implementation of sustainability into our core business operations has always been one of our main objectives.”

UK: Holcim subsidiary Aggregate Industries has invested in a new monitoring system from Envirosuite for its Cauldon cement plant in Staffordshire. Called EVS Omnis, the cloud-based environmental management software will collate complex environmental information from surrounding sites outside the plant to facilitate proactive monitoring and management of its impacts. The producer expects to commission the system later in 2022.

Sustainability director Kirstin McCarthy said “Understanding the environment we operate in and the impact we’re having is integral to our business strategy and our commitment to building progress towards a more sustainable construction industry. We know that noise and dust can have an impact on surrounding communities, which is why we’re extremely proud to become the first cement plant in the world to commit to using a complete monitoring solution. EVS Omnis will allow us to continuously monitor at key community locations, 365 days a year. This will help us to not only better understand our operations within the local community but also give us insights into our processes to proactively manage them.”

World: US-based Martin Engineering has announced the launch of its N2 remote monitoring system on European, Middle Eastern, African and South Asian markets. The system's position indicator works with any belt cleaner with a polythene blade, delivering continuous, real time feedback to the user.

Martin Engineering’s Europe, Middle East, Africa and India (EMEAI) regional vice president Robert Whetstone said “With this smart yet simple upgrade, the technology does the legwork, providing real-time data on each belt cleaner blade to give an early indication of when servicing is needed. In the meantime, plant managers can be confident that material carryback, spillage and build-up is being controlled by the belt cleaner so they can keep the plant running to maximise productivity.”