Global Cement News

India: Ramco Cement has ordered three vertical roller mills from Germany’s Loesche. It has ordered two LM 41.2+2 CS type mills with two grinding rollers and two support rollers with a power range of 3000kW and a capacity of 130t/hr for two of its cement plants to grind the Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC). The first mill will be installed at Kolaghat, West Bengal, where Ramco Cement is upgrading a grinding plant to 2Mt/yr from 0.95Mt/yr. The second mill will be used at a grinding plant in Gobburupalam, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

A third mill has been ordered for a newly-built plant at Haridaspur in Odisha. Here, a LM 46.2+2 CS type mill with a capacity of 3750kW will be used to grind PPC with a throughput of 165t/hr. This order also includes mill fans, bag-type filters and further auxiliary equipment. It will all be delivered by the end of 2018.

India: Dalmia Bharat has launched a fine blend composite cement product called Dalmia FBC. The product is a mix of slag and silica and it is intended to combine the properties of Portland Slag Cement and Portland Pozzolona Cement. The new brand was launched by BK Singh, Senior Executive Director, Group Marketing and Communications, Dalmia Bharat Group and Indrajit Chatterji, Executive Director Sales and Marketing (East) Dalmia Bharat Cement.

US: Lehigh Hanson’s Speed cement plant in Indiana will be converted into a distribution terminal. The decision follows an investment of US$600m towards upgrading the Mitchell cement plant in Indiana, according to the Evening News and Tribune newspaper. At present the Speed plant has a cement production capacity of 1Mt/yr and the Mitchell plant has a production capacity of 0.7Mt/yr. Following the upgrade the Mitchell plant will have a capacity of 2.8Mt/yr. Changing the focus of the Speed unit is expected to lead to the loss of 100 jobs. although half of these could be moved to Mitchell.

Germany: Two cement plants are installing selective catalytic reduction (SCR) units ahead of new environmental emissions limits that will start in 2019. CRH Opterra Zement’s Karsdorf plant has started a Euro23m upgrade project to its emissions systems. The plant will install SCR units on each of its production lines. Work on the upgrade is scheduled to be completed by the start of 2019.

Holcim WestZement is also installing a SCR unit purchased from Yara at its Beckum cement plant. The Euro14.2m project will start trial operation by the end of 2018.

Russia: Iskitimcement’s sales volumes fell in the first half of 2018 due to a poor construction market. Its sales dropped by 7.5% year-on-year to 0.42Mt from 0.44Mt. A particular dip was noted in Western Siberia.