Netherlands: Van Aalst says that NACC Alicudi is the world’s first cement carrier equipped with International Maritime Organization (IMO) Tier III compliant diesel engines driving the bulk handling system. Converted in 2017 with a Van Aalst dry bulk handling system, the vessel became a 120m self-discharging cement carrier, with a cement handling system based on compressors and vacuum pumps, driven by Tier III Scania engines. This has created a ‘unique’ vacuum-pressure system for pneumatic conveyance of cement, fly ash and granulated slag.

Directly after completion of the conversion, the NACC Alicudi entered the trade for a three-year contract on the east coast of the US and Canada, an area that has been a NOx Emission Control Area (ECA) for new built and converted vessels since January 2016. Van Aalst says that this approach fits well with the environmental policies of both NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers and McInnis Cement. The high emission standards of the vessel will enable a shift to the US Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

India: NCL Industries’ cement production rose by 36% year-on-year to 1.02Mt in the half year to the end of September 2018 from 0.75Mt in the same period in 2017. Its cement despatches increased by a similar amount to 1.02Mt from 0.75Mt. The company operates in cement, cement-based boards, ready-mixed concrete, prefabricated structures and hydroelectric power.

India: Shree Cement has ordered a TRT 5000/8.0 Triplex dryer from Germany’s Gebr. Pfeiffer. The dryer will be used to dry flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) gypsum from a captive coal-power plant for use in cement plants. In the planned dryer plant the moisture of the FGD gypsum will be reduced to a residual moisture of <2%. Artificial gypsum from the dryer will be used at other cement grinding plants in the country. The 50t/hr dryer will be installed at the end of 2018 and is expected to start commercial operation in mid-2019.

Gebr. Pfeiffer is also planning to partially calcine the gypsum in future installations of the dryer. The TRT Triplex dryer uses the uniflow principle, where both material and hot gasses flow in the same direction and pass through the dryer tubes from the centre outwards. Testing at the Gebr. Pfeiffer test station have yielded ‘positive’ results and further installations in other plants are being considered.

UK: Sweden’s LKAB Minerals has signed a deal to buy Francis Flower. The acquisition is intended to bring a portfolio of sustainable products into LKAB Minerals’ portfolio. Implementation of the agreement is subject to Austrian merger clearance. Both parties are confident that the merger control process will be completed by the end of November 2018. No value for the agreement has been disclosed.

Francis Flower is a family owned business, and the main shareholder is the current chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Adrian Willmott, who upon completion of the sale will resign his position in the business but remain available in a consultancy capacity during an integration phase. The company will be integrated into LKAB Minerals’ existing UK business under the leadership of Darren Wilson, who manages the UK and European business within LKAB Minerals.

Francis Flower recycles blast furnace slag from the steel industry for production of ground granulated blast furnace slag for use in cement production, among other offerings for industrial and agricultural use. It employs 130 people across four sites in the UK: Scunthorpe, Wicken, Gurney Slade and Runcorn.

LKAB Minerals in the UK has a similar size business across four sites and employs around 160 people. Its main operations are processing and marketing of minerals, primarily for the building, construction, polymer, coating, refractory and foundry industries.

“We have an ambition of growing the industrial minerals business significantly over time, to balance LKAB’s growing iron ore production,” said Leif Boström, Senior Vice President for the Special Products Division in LKAB and CEO of LKAB Minerals group. “This will strengthen LKAB Minerals’ offering to the building and construction industries.”