·        Pictures and Product Analyses from the Cement Conference in Orlando

·        TDL and FTIR are Options for Cement HCl Measurement

·        Optimization and Automation was a Focus at the Conference

·        Bedeschi was an Exhibitor with Big European Presence

·        Some Cement Show Exhibitors also Displayed at the Biomass Show

·        Many of the New Projects are in Asia

·        New 1Mta Tajikistan Plant to be Commissioned

Pictures and Product Analyses from the Cement Conference in Orlando

McIlvaine interviewed exhibitors, took pictures of people and products, and has now posted this information in the Global Decisions Orchard.  Click on the titles below and then “additional exhibitor information” for the full text and pictures.

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·         A TEC America at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Abresist Kalenborn Corporation at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         ADA Environmental Solutions at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Airtech Environmental Services, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Apex Instruments at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         California Analytical Instruments (CAI) at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Christian Pfeiffer America at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Claudius Peters (Americas) Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Continental Construction Company, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Control Analytics at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         DALOG GmbH at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Diamond Power at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         DURAG at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Dustex at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Dynamis at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         EnviroCare International, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         FCT, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Fives FCB at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         GE Power & Water at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         H2E, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Howden Covent Fans, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Lhoist North America at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Loesche America, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         LTB America at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Materials Handling Equipment Company at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Merrick Industries, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         METCO Environmental at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         MKS Instruments at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Muhlen Sohn Industries, LP at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Natronx at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Onsite Energy at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         PANalytical at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         PCME, Ltd. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Pentair Environmental Systems at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Promecon USA at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Redecam US, LLC at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         SABIA at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         SICK MAIHAK at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Siemens at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         The Avogadro Group, LLC at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         ThermoFisher Scientific at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         ThyssenKrupp Polysius AG at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         TLT-Babcock at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Trinity Services, Inc. at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         UNiCAST at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

·         Ventilatorenfabrik Oelde (Venti Oelde) at IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2013

TDL and FTIR are Options for Cement HCl Measurement

The cement industry will be challenged to measure HCl along with a number of other pollutants. Tunable diode lasers (TDL) and FTIR are the methodologies which were on display at the conference. Control Analytics is selling the NORS TDL. Cemtek is selling Unisearch TDL for NH₃ and HF. Two of the eight moniroeinf exhibitors were primarily instrument aggregators. Sick is an aggregator and has its own TDL. A number of instrument competitors were exhibitors.

A Trinity Consultants analysis said CEMS were available to meet the Cement NESHAP. The paper listed both sorbent traps and dilution extractive gas monitors for Mercury. For HCl both TDL and FTIR were generally considered successful. “TDL is often judged to be the furthest along in development and it is the most likely to be acceptable under developing EPA requirements. HCl CEMS requirements are in the early stages of development and they are likely to change significantly as more reliable information is made available. Compliance with current draft EPA performance specifications for HCl has not been able to be determined as issues with spiking, calibration and limitation of detection (LOD) remains a concern for all parties involved.” There are a number of prototype instruments presently being tested with the purpose of improving performance on low level HCl concentrations.

Optimization and Automation was a Focus at the Conference

There were a number of exhibitors and some papers dealing with automation and optimization of cement processes. Here is an abstract of one of the optimization papers.

Thomas MARX, ABB, Switzerland

ABSTRACT:

The optimum quantitative addition of gypsum to clinker prior to cement grinding is an optimization opportunity for cement manufacturing, which has not yet been extensively used. Near Infra-Red identifies complex chemical molecular structures of minerals. The drawback of this method is that it measures on the material surface only. Since the gypsum additive is statistically homogeneous, it is a suitable material for Near Infra-Red online analysis.

This paper presents calibration results of SO₃ in gypsum. It also describes how this analysis can be used as input to an optimization algorithm software suite, which is based on model predictive control to arrive at an optimum cement quality within complex plant and cement type specific constraints. This optimization software solution implements closed loop quality control at the minimum overall production costs.

Bedeschi was an Exhibitor with Big European Presence

Bedeshi exhibited its bulk handling equipment at the show. The company is based in Italy and works in cement plants around the world.  A subsidiary CTP Tean Srl specializes in dust control. In Turkey, it has been converting precipitators to fabric filters as well as installing fabric filters in new plants.

Some Cement Show Exhibitors also Displayed at the Biomass Show

Another exhibit in April focused on biomass combustion. There is more interest in alternative fuels such as biomass in the cement industry. So there is shared air pollution control technology for the two processes. Here are exhibitors of fabric filters and bags at the two conferences:

·         Fabric Filter Exhibitors at Cement and Biomass Shows in April

It is interesting that two offshore companies (Scheuch and LTB) were exhibitors in both U.S. shows.  

Many of the New Projects are in Asia

A number of new cement plants are underway. Many are in Asian countries:

Cimentos da Bahia S.A. (Recife, Brazil) Cimentos da Bahia is releasing long-lead equipment bids for a new cement plant to be constructed in northern Brazil. The facility will be located in the city of Paripiranga, 310 kilometers from Salvador, Bahia's state capital.

Secil Lobito, Angola– Companhia de Cimento do Lobito plans to invest 18 billion kwanzas (US$187 million) in a new cement plant in Lobito, with capacity to produce 1.2 million tons of cement per year, the company’s chief executive, Augusto Manuel Miragaia said Wednesday in Luanda.

The new plant will be built just 200 metres from the current Secil Lobito plant, the CEO said at the end of a meeting at the Industry Ministry. Saying that he did not know when the new cement plant would start to be built, Miragaia said that the currently operational unit had a production capacity of 400,000 tons per year.

According to Angolan news agency Angop, Augusto Manuel Miragaia also said that Angola’s cement industry was wasting around 30 to 40 percent of its production capacity due to strong competition from imported cement, after the management of the cement companies operating in Angola concluded that the usage rate of equipment currently stands at between 60 and 70 percent.

“Imported cement arrives here at very competitive prices and is forcing national industry to reduce its prices, which practically happens every two months,” noted Miragaia adding that Secil Lobito was affected, as well as by competition from imported cement, by a downturn in the market since the beginning of 2013.

New 1Mta Tajikistan Plant to be Commissioned

A new 1Mta cement plant is expected to be commissioned in the second half of this year in southern Tajikistan.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) Secretariat, Tajikistan-China joint venture, Huaxin Gayur Cement Co, Ltd, is constructing this plant with capacity of in the Yovon district. Plant construction began on 15 September 2011 and is now nearing completion, according to reports by Asia Plus.

Currently there are five cement plants operational in Tajikistan with a combined cement capacity of 1.3Mta. The largest producer is the 1.1Mta state plant of Tajikcement at Dushanbe, which has four 600tpa kilns and two 300tpa lines. However, according to local press reports this plant has not been operational since the start of this year due to a lack of natural gas supplies.

Actual production, which in 2012 was expected to have reached 0.25Mt, falls well short of current demand levels of 0.82Mt. Imports continue to play an important role in meeting the shortfall. However, the Tajik government has attracted foreign investment to expand its cement production base, and eight new projects are now in the pipeline.

Texas Industries, New Braunfels On April 18, 2013 Texas Industries hosted an Investor Day Conference in Austin, Texas. In recognition of the newly-constructed kiln at its Hunter Cement Plant near New Braunfels, TXI has invited investors, analysts and others to participate in the event next week.

"We believe the Central Texas market will experience strong growth over the long-term, and we are pleased to have the plant coming online at this time," stated Mel Brekhus, President and CEO. "We are excited to have this opportunity to showcase the new production line, which increases our capacity by 1.4 million tons."

Medcem Madencilik, Turkey Loesche is to supply grinding technology to Medcem Madencilik ve Yapi Malzemeleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.’s Silifke cement plant in Turkey. The plant will be located in southern Turkey, around 100 km west of Mersin. It will be the largest cement plant in the country, with a capacity of 10 000 tpd.

Loesche will supply the plant with six vertical roller mills. An LM 41.4 D with a 1250 kW motor will be provided for coal grinding. This VRM has a capacity of 75 tph at a product fineness of 8% R DIN 0.09 mm. Two LM 56.6 VRMs will be used for grinding cement raw material, each at a product rate of 420 tph at a fineness of 12% R DIN 0.09 mm. The two mills will be equipped with 4600 kW drives. Finally, three LM 56.3+3 mills will carry out clinker grinding. Each VRM will produce 210 tph of OPC at 3200 Blaine and 250 tph of PPC at 5500 Blaine. The LM 56.3+3 mills will be driven by 5300 kW motors.

Loesche’s scope of supply includes the discharge device of the mill pre-bunker and its corresponding dosing technology, parts of the mill circulation system, dedusting filters and fans, in addition to components of the product transportation and special electrical components. It will also offer basic engineering for the three grinding plants, as well as mounting services and commissioning supervision. Delivery is scheduled for 2014.

CTEM, Sierra Leone. Albrecht Olivier, the General Manager of CTCEM made it clear in a public disclosure that a fifty million dollar budget that has been slated for the establishment of both the manufacturing and packaging sites at Cline Town and Wellington Industrial Estate respectively.
Ahead of the establishment of CTCEM manufacturing and packaging company, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment has already been undertaken by Sierra Leone’s engineering company; CEMMATS, who was independently contracted by CTCEM to meet the benchmark required for establishing a manufacturing company in the country.

Holcim Weston, New Zealand. A new $400 million cement plant near Weston and cement-handling facilities at Timaru's port remain in limbo because of ongoing uncertainty in the global economy and a flat demand for cement.

Holcim (New Zealand) Ltd has resource consents to build the plant and port facilities, but its parent company in Switzerland has delayed giving approval.

Holcim's New Zealand chairman, John Lindsay, and managing director, Jeremy Smith, in a recently released review of the 2012 calendar year, said while the project did not gain approval last year, various areas of work continued to ensure the project remained ready should funding become available.

''The company appreciates the uncertainty this generates for staff, communities and other stakeholders. ''However, unfortunately it is an inevitable outcome of the broader economic uncertainty in New Zealand and globally,'' they said.

While the market for cement in New Zealand remained flat or was decreasing in some parts of the country, this had been off-set by the start of the rebuilding in Canterbury after the earthquakes. The higher New Zealand dollar had resulted in increased competition while cost pressures squeezed margins last year.

All these factors had contributed to the company taking a conservative approach to its activities and continuing the focus on reducing the delivered cost of product to the market, cash recovery and customer service.

Its outlook for this year was the construction industry in New Zealand remaining subdued, but with hints of recovery through increases in building consents, particularly in Christchurch. Auckland also looked poised for a gradual recovery.

The Weston plant could employ about 140 people directly and about 170 indirectly in services associated with it.

Holcim, NZ sought approval from its parent company in October 2011, but that was delayed a year. Last year it was delayed again. Once approved, it would take about two years to build and commission the plant.

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