India: UltraTech Cement has successfully commissioned a second clinker line with a capacity of 2.7Mt/yr at its Hirmi cement plant in Chhattisgarh. The company says that it is on track to also commission a new 1.3Mt/yr grinding unit at the plant in mid-2022.

Germany: Schenck Process’ first-quarter sales increased by 21% year-on-year to Euro187m in 2022, led by an ‘outstanding performance’ in its Americas region, according to the company. The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter were Euro20m, up by 9.3% year-on-year. Schenck Process said that it experienced synergy effects from its acquisition of Thailand-based material processing and packaging company SHAPE and agreed to sell its mining business to Sweden-based Sandvik. It said that a Euro598m order book ensures its ‘continued business momentum’ throughout the remaining quarters of 2022.

Chief executive officer Keith Cochrane said “We continued to demonstrate the resilience of our business by delivering another strong performance in the first quarter of 2022. The disposal of our mining business will enable us to advance a more focused strategy for our other core businesses and strengthen our positions as a global solutions provider for the food, chemical and performance materials as well as the infrastructure and energy markets. Despite a difficult global environment, we are looking forward to a period of further growth building on our recent successes.”

Germany: The Ministry for Economy and Climate Protection has presented HeidelbergCement with its German Climate and Environment Innovation Prize (IKU) for its ReConcrete-360° concrete recycling process. The process retrieves hardened cement paste from waste demolition concrete for use in place of limestone in clinker and cement production. The recycled material can also bind CO₂ to act as a carbon sink.

Global research and development Wolfgang Dienemann said “With ReConcrete-360°, we have succeeded in developing a limestone substitute from demolished concrete that also allows us to use the carbon-containing exhaust gases from cement production. A small revolution with a big impact: In Germany alone, the CO₂ savings potential of this process is 10Mt/yr. The IKU award underlines that we can be proud of our pioneering innovation.”

Dominican Republic: First-quarter domestic cement consumption in the Dominican Republic rose by 2.9% year-on-year in 2022. The Dominican Association of Portland Cement Producers (ADOCEM) said that producers’ costs rose year-on-year, particularly in the area of fuels, which accounts for 60% of costs. Electricity prices also rose during the quarter.

Association president Felix Gonzalez said "Without a doubt, energy management is a key point in the economic sphere of a cement plant since it makes this industry very susceptible to deficiencies and high tariffs in the electricity sector, as well as to the continuously increasing costs of oil and its derivatives.”

In 2021, ADOCEM members produced 6.5Mt of cement, up by 27% year-on-year from 5.1Mt in 2020. Full-year consumption was 5.5Mt.