Displaying items by tag: Coal

UK: Helvellyn Group, a manufacturer of high energy, low impact solid fuels, has announced the official launch of its cement industry direct coal replacement product in Europe.

Helvellyn has chosen the Global Cemfuels Conference (Paphos, Cyprus 19 - 20 February 2020) as the location for the launch and will be sponsoring the event as well as attending in person.

Helvellyn solid fuels are designed to meet the needs of hard to adapt large industrial plants that are seeking to reduce, or even eliminate, their reliance on coal. The fuels are manufactured to replicate the physical and combustion properties of coal, while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with mining, transporting and burning fossil fuels.

This latest renewable coal replacement fuel has been developed to address the specific needs of cement producers, many of whom have already introduced alternative fuels but are now struggling to increase the ratio due to physical, chemical and technical constraints.

Helvellyn’s product allows operators to maintain their existing alternative fuel mix while, in most instances, adding Helvellyn fuel as a direct drop-in replacement for coal from the point of delivery through pre-combustion processing and in combustion.

The Helvellyn fuel for cement production is based on four core principals, high energy, low moisture, low chlorine and ease of handling. While exact fuel specification and presentation can be fine-tuned to meet the specific needs of a given plant, fuel is typically presented as 50mm hard, hydrophobic lumps with the following properties: energy >25kJ/kg (10,750btu/lb, 5.97kcal/kg); ash content <6%; moisture <2%; chlorine <0.07%; carbon >60%; sulphur <0.2%; nitrogen <0.4%.

Frank Harris, CEO of Helvellyn Group, said, “We are delighted to be launching this important product at the Global Cemfuels Conference 2020. The cement industry has shown innovation and leadership in utilising alternative fuels and we believe we can help them to meet the challenges of the next decade as they further reduce the environmental impact of their product. We are excited to meet with the industry and let it see our fuel for the very first time - it is like nothing they will have seen before.”

India: Birla Corporation has been granted use of two coal mines in Madhya Pradesh. Accord has reported that the mines will provide ‘cost optimisation and fuel security’ to Birla Corporations and its subsidiaries in their central Indian operations.

Ethiopia: The Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Chemicals and Construction Inputs Industry Development Institute are working with cement producers to replace imported coal with biomas in a bid to lower carbon CO2 and reduce reliance on foreign currency. The institute has conducted a feasibility study, with the support of the Global Climate Fund and the European Union, studying using a weed, Prophecies Newfora, as potential biomass, according to the Reporter newspaper. Plants run by Dangote Cement and Habesha Cement factories took part in the study. The government is also encouraging cement producers to use locally mined coal until the biomass project becomes fully operational.

Uzbekistan: The government is preparing to increase the use of alternative fuels in the cement and lime industry. A draft decree intends shift local industry to meet global trends in energy consumption and away from natural has consumption, according to the Trend News Agency. The government intends to encourage the use of coal, wood briquettes and pallets, biogas and other fuels.

The Ministry of Energy, together with the Academy of Sciences and research institutes, is planning to develop energy efficiency levels for industrial gas boilers. Local gas suppliers Uzneftegazinspektsiya, Uzenergoinspektsiya and Uztransgaz will then stop supplying natural gas to non-compliant industrial users from the beginning of 2020.

UK: N+P says that Subcoal production will start at its Teeside plant in July 2019. Following nearly a year of de-commissioning and site preparation works. The project has achieved financial close and construction work has commenced following nearly a year of de-commissioning and site preparation works. The plant will consume 0.25Mt/yr of commercial and industrial waste feedstock and will produce 0.19Mt/yr of N+P’s Subcoal product. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor is Fairport Engineering.

The Teeside plant will supply Subcoal pellets to different outlets including Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) for use in its Uskmouth 220MW coal-fired power station, which is being converted from coal to waste-derived fuel. N+P and SAE have agreed a fuel-supply agreement to supply nearly 1Mt/yr to the power station once it has been converted to using Subcoal in place of coal in 2021. To meet demand for the contract, N+P plans to build a further three Subcoal plants.

Egypt: Khaled Fahmy, the Minister of Environment, has opened a new production line at Arabian Cement Company’s Ain Sokhna plant in Suez. The line uses FLSmidth’s Hotdisc combustion device to allow it to use high levels of alternative fuels, according to the Watani newspaper. The opening was attended by Muhammad Shehab Abdel-Wahab, chief executive of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Nahed Youssef, head of waste management organisation, as well as a number of representatives of the financiers, and director of the European Investment Bank.

In 2015 Arabian Cement Company commissioned another Hotdisc installation. At the time is said it had a designed fuel mix of 70% coal and 30% alternative fuels, using a mixture of agricultural wastes, municipal sludge, and refuse-derived fuel (RDF).

Egypt: Chemical Industries Holding, a industrial chemical manufacturer, has formed a committee for a consultancy to study offering a mixture of coal and alternative fuels for National Cement. The committee will also consider the financial and technical aspects of supplying a cement mill for the cement producer.

Tanzania: Dangote Cement has signed two agreements that will enable its US$600m cement plant in Tanzania to generate 150MW from coal.

One agreement is with Tancoal. Dangote Cement has also signed a coal prospecting licence for a site in Mbinga. However, the plant will first run on diesel until it is able to generate its own electricity from coal.

The deals ends a year-long dispute between the government and the cement plant after Tanesco failed to provide electricity. The plant was considering importing coal from South Africa, which was a cheaper option than buying it from the area.

The cement plant is expected to reduce cement prices by 50% once production commences in early 2016. It will take advantage of the growing construction industry, which contributes 12.5% to the country's GDP. It will offer more than 1500 direct jobs and 9000 indirectly.

Egypt: Investments worth US$30bn in the coal industry are expected to be conducted within the next five years, according to Egypt's investment minister Ashraf Salman.

Salman said that there is 'full coordination' between the ministries of environment, electricity and investment to adhere to international environmental standards when using coal. Egypt's cabinet announced new rules on coal use in April 2015, which stipulate that coal imports can only take place after approval from the ministry of environment. The new rules are an amendment to a law on environmental affairs and allow the use of coal for cement, iron and steel, coke and aluminium production and in power plants.

Salman said that using coal as an energy source would decrease the dependency on natural gas as a primary energy source and petroleum products in steel and cement production. Despite the energy crisis, which has caused frequent and numerous power outages for years, the cabinet's approval of new coal use has caused controversy both within the government and outside.

Egypt: 90% of cement plants have agreed to use coal to increase their cement production, according to Egypt's Industrial Development Authority.

The authority is facilitating plant upgrades to enable coal use and ensuring that the necessary quantities of coal can be supplied, according to the head of the Industrial Development Authority, Ismail Gaber. He added that Egypt needs more than 32Mt/yr of cement to meet the needs of the domestic market.

In light of the population increase, the demand on energy has significantly increased in Egypt in recent years. The government agreed to include coal in the cement industry energy system in April 2014. Prior to that, coal was used only in the iron and steel, coke and aluminium industries. It is now also allowed to be used for electricity and cement production.