Global Cement News

Estonia: Kunda Nordic Tsement plans to spend Euro2.2m on upgrades to its operations. The investment will be used for emission improvements, updating its plant’s power distribution system, starting to use clinker dust in cement grinding and dredging the port of Kunda, according to the Virumaa Teataja newspaper.

The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement increased its output of clinker and cement by 20% and 60% respectively in 2017. Its plant relaunched its second kiln in 2017 but this increased its CO₂ emissions. It produced 1081kg of CO₂ per ton of clinker compared to the European target of 766kg. The plant operates two wet process kilns but it plans to switch to a dry production process in the future as this would help it reduce its emissions.

HeidelbergCement holds a 75% stake in the company with the rest belonging to Ireland’s CRH.

Sri Lanka: Insee Cement’s new grinding plant at Galle is scheduled to be completed in August 2018. Chairman Paul Hugentobler said that the company had spent US$50m on the project, with US$5m of this total on environmental features, according to the Daily News newspaper. The 0.45Mt/yr mill is being supplied by Germany’s Loesche. It will grind clinker and granulated blast furnace slag into Portland Limestone Cement and Portland Slag Cement (PSC) with a throughput of up to 60t/hr.

India: The Supreme Court has said that the final sale of Binani Cement cannot complete without its approval. It added that no decision on the sale will now be made until at least early July 2018. However, it has allowed the debt resolution process to continue, according to the Press Trust of India. UltraTech Cement and Dalmia Bharat have both made bids for the bankrupt cement producer but they have fought each other legally over the process.

Philippines: Phinma Corporation has secured a US$16.7m loan for its cement business, PhilCement, to build a terminal at Mariveles in Bataan. The five-year fixed term loan agreement was signed with Security Bank on 1 June 2018, according to Business World. PhilCement was set up in September 2017. Phinma Corporation owns a 85.7% stake in the business.

South Korea: Ssangyong Cement plans to install a waste heat recovery (WHR) unit at its Donghae plant in Gangwon. The upgrade will be operational by August 2018, according to the Maeil Business Newspaper. The new unit is expected to save the cement producer about 33% of its electricity costs or US$24m/yr.

The investment is the largest that the cement producer’s owner Hahn & Company has approved since it took control. The WHR will work with an energy storage system (ESS) that was installed in March 2018. The ESS saves power consumption by storing energy during the night and then using it during the day. The 22MWhr storage system is power by powered by 2880 batteries. The company said that it would save it at least US$2.4m/yr.

Ssangyong Cement’s Donghae plant is one of the largest in the world with a cement production capacity of 11.2Mt/yr across seven production lines. It occupies an areas of 11.3MM².