Paraguay: Denmark’s FLSmidth has been awarded a contract to deliver equipment for a new cement plant. The contract has a value of over US$54m. The expected plant start-up is within 24 months and the plant is expected to be fully operational in 2021. The plant will have a capacity of 2500t/day and will mainly supply cement to its local market.

FLSmidth will design and engineer the production line and will deliver equipment for the entire production line, from crushing to packing, while the customer will be in charge of the civil design and construction of the plant.

"The customer needed a state-of-the-art solution to meet the steady demand for cement in this developing region. This contract reinforces our position as the leading supplier of the most productive and energy-efficient equipment and technology for customers in the cement industry who focus on productivity, reliability and sustainability," says Jan Kjaersgaard, President, Cement, FLSmidth.

Argentina: China’s Sinoma International says that it has successfully lifted the first steel column of the pre-heater tower on a 5800t/day production line it is building at Loma Negra’s L'Amalí cement plant. The work in late December 2018 marked the start of the installation phase of the project. It is the subsidiary of China National Building Material’s (CNBM) first engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) project in South America. When the project was first announced in late 2017 it had a completion date of early 2020.

Chile: FCT Combustion has been awarded a kiln conversion project by an unnamed cement company. The project is a conversion of an existing direct-fired rotary kiln into a state of the art indirect-fired kiln using pulverised coal. Delivery for material is scheduled by April 2019 and for it to be commissioned by October 2019.

FCT is responsible for the complete engineering and procurement supply, including the following main equipment: coal bag filter; process ID fan; fire and explosion detection and suppression; coal dosing; multi fuel burner for coal, natural gas and fuel oil; motorised burner trolley; coal pneumatic conveying; primary air fan; emergency cooling; automatic ignition; flame monitoring; and fuel oil pumps and valve train. The project targets are low NOx emissions, better kiln operation and stability and improved fuel consumption.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) says that its despatches of cement grew by 2% year-on-year to 12.7 million bags in 2018 from 12.6 million bags in 2017. The company described how it overcame a ‘difficult moment’ in late 2018 by normalising the cement despatch process and supplying overdue orders. Local media reported a shortage of cement and technical issues at INCs Villeta plant in late 2018.