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Lehigh Cement’s Mason City cement plant completes Portland limestone cement transition 09 February 2022
US: Lehigh Cement’s Mason City cement plant in Iowa has transitioned to Portland limestone cement (PLC) production. The plant will produce the company’s EcoCem brand PLC. It previously launched the cement in Canada in February 2021.
Ash Grove re-opens upgraded Port Manatee terminal in Florida 09 February 2022
US: Ash Grove Cement has re-opened its Port Manatee terminal in Florida following the installation of a new Kovako type ship unloader supplied by FLSmidth. The machine was custom built for Ash Grove by the Denmark-based company to meet its specific needs. The cement producer says it is the largest mobile pneumatic ship unloader built, has twin 800hp blowers, 37m suction arm and can offload a dry bulk vessel at a high rate while maintaining maximum efficiency and minimising environmental impact by eliminating dust emissions.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the event was held on 7 February 2022 as a shipment of fly ash was processed at the site. This maiden shipment completes the Phase 1 transformation project at Port Manatee, which began in early 2021. The project is intended to improve the subsidiary of CRH’s capacity to import cement, slag and fly ash for customers in Florida and South Georgia. It is also planning to use the terminal’s existing silo capacity to complement the capabilities of Ash Grove’s cement plants in Sumterville and Branford.
TransAlta Corporation to supply Lafarge Canada’s Exshaw cement plant with wind power 09 February 2022
Canada: TransAlta Corporation has secured a contract to supply 100Gwh/yr of wind power to Lafarge Canada’s Exshaw, Alberta. The power will cover an estimated 25% of the plant’s electricity needs.
Lafarge Western Canada’s head of sustainability and environment Cailee Ellis said “This agreement, first of its kind for Lafarge in Alberta, is an important step to utilising higher amounts of renewable electricity at our facilities.”
Togo: Cimenterie de la Côte ouest-africaine’s (CimCo) new 2.5Mt/yr grinding plant in Lomé is preparing to produce its first cement in March 2022. Germany-based Intercem Engineering says that construction work has been completed on the project and that the cladding is in place. Currently, the cold commissioning is in progress. The plant will operate as a subsidiary of CimMetal Group.
Bamburi Cement orders two solar power plants 09 February 2022
Kenya: Bamburi Cement has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Momnai Energy to set up two solar plants. One 14.5MW unit will be situated next to its integrated Mombasa plant and the other 5MW unit by its Nairobi grinding plant. This will account for up to approximately 40% of the cement producer’s total power supply. Construction of the solar power plants is scheduled to begin end of 2022, after requisite regulatory approvals with expected completion within a year.
“We are elated to be making this step towards switching to more affordable and clean energy that will not only lead to a significant reduction in power costs but also bring us closer to our goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions,” said Miriam Ngolo, Bamburi Cement’s Strategy and Business Development Director.
Other recent sustainability work by the subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim has included substituting heavy fuels with alternative fuels like biomass, including rice husks, and other waste material such as waste tyres and waste oil in its operations.
