Displaying items by tag: Plant

UK: Thousands of tonnes of waste ceramics from one of the UK’s largest ceramic tile manufacturers will be recycled to make cement as part of a new initiative from Aggregate Industries. The cement producer, owned by Holcim, has agreed a four-year deal with Johnson Tiles to take 20,000t/yr of legacy waste scrap from its Stoke factory in Staffordshire. They will be transported a short distance to Aggregate Industries’ Cauldon cement plant, where they will be crushed and mixed with limestone and the other raw materials prior to entering the kiln.

Andrew Whyatt, Geocycle UK General Manager at Aggregate Industries, said “We are delighted to be working with such a potteries stalwart as Johnson Tiles in order to recycle what would otherwise be a waste product. Materials such as this offer a great alternative to excavating fresh raw materials, preserving our local natural resources, whilst offering a solution whereby 100% of the material will be upcycled into new local cement. Both companies share a drive towards sustainable manufacturing and partnerships like this are vital as Aggregate Industries aims to reclaim or recycle 3Mt/yr of materials by 2025.”

Saudi Arabia: City Cement has announced that its waste management subsidiary Green Solutions for Environmental Services (GSES) has launched a new company to produce alternative fuel (AF) for local and overseas markets. The company is a joint venture in which GSES holds a 29% stake, with the majority stake held by Public Investment Fund subsidiary Tadweer Environmental Services. The joint venture has US$1.8m-worth of capital.

Portugal: Cimpor Portugal has signed a contract with Germany-based KHD Humboldt Wedag (KHD) for an upgrade to production line 7 at its Alhandra cement plant. The project is intended to increase the production capacity at the plant to 3600t/day from 3000t/day and increase the line’s alternative fuels thermal substitution rate to over 80%. It will also be the first installation of KHD’s Pyrorotor alternative fuel combustion reactor in the country.

The scope of the engineering and supply contract comprises:

• New HKSK 224/335 preheater ID fan
• New downcomer duct
• New preheater with 8064/5-type HEM cyclones
• Pyroclon R calciner with Pyrotop mixing chamber. The Pyroclon R will utilize fine refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and natural gas
• 4m x 10m Pyrorotor alternative fuel combustion reactor
• Pyrobox coal firing system for process start-up and operation balancing
• Shortening of the existing kiln and installation of new kiln inlet chamber with bypass extraction
• New kiln drive station 2 (the existing girth gear and two pinions will be reused)
• New kiln hood and take-off of tertiary air from the cooler roof
• New main kiln burner designed to use more than 50% alternative fuels (but will also be capable of burning natural gas, as well as liquid fossil and alternative fuels)
• New Pyrofloor PFC²829AW cooler with a Pyrocrusher PRC 420-3ES clinker crusher.

KHD will also be supplying its KHD ProMax software product as part of the project.

Matthias Mersmann, chief technology officer at KHD, said “The decision by Cimpor Portugal to opt for KHD pyroprocessing equipment - and especially the Pyrorotor - underlines the leading market position of KHD, as well as the outstanding capability of KHD’s unique alternative fuel-processing solution.”

Project execution will be led by KHD Germany, with support from Humboldt Wedag India and the Turkish branch office of Humboldt Wedag. Commissioning of the upgraded production line is scheduled for 2025.

US: Continental Cement has ordered a Fuelflex Pyrolyzer alternative fuels combustion system from Denmark-based FLSmidth for installation at its Davenport plant in Buffalo, Iowa. The supplier says that its product offers a lower capital expenditure compared to competing systems, can control NOx emissions without the need for ammonia water and can be installed without a long shutdown period. This is the first commercial installation of the Fuelflex Pyrolyzer system following a pre-commercial installation at the Mannok cement plant in Northern Ireland, UK, in 2022.

David Loomes, the president of Continental Cement, said “We’re very excited about what the Fuelflex Pyrolyzer will do for our process.” He added, “We’re planning to achieve 55% fossil fuel replacement across the plant, utilising non-hazardous waste that would otherwise go to landfill or incinerators. The economic and environmental benefits of this technology are very significant and a key element of executing our carbon reduction commitment.” Continental Cement, a subsidiary of Summit Materials, has been incorporating waste materials as fuels for more than 30 years.

Jens Jonas Skov Larsen, Head of Capital Sales at FLSmidth, said “Mannok has called the Fuelflex Pyrolyzer a game-changer for the cement industry.” He continued, “This system effectively rearranges the order of the combustion process to make use of hot preheater meal, which is the heat source for the waste fuel pyrolysis. It’s a more efficient way of burning alternative fuels and it comes with a host of benefits, including reduced emissions and a more stable process.”

The installation at Davenport cement plant is expected to start operation in 2024. The full commercial launch for the system is scheduled by 2025. No value for the order has been disclosed.

UK: Geminor opened a new waste processing facility in Hull on 25 April 2023 in the presence of close to 100 guests. Kalvin Neal, the Deputy Lord Mayor of Kingston upon Hull, and Geminor chief executive officer Kjetil Vikingstad jointly cut the ribbon at the new HUB site, which can produce 150,000t/yr of refuse-derived fuel (RDF). Following the ceremony, guests were taken on a tour of the 11,000m² that was built by engineering company Keltbray. The unit in East Yorkshire had an investment of Euro11.3m. Most of the HUB facility will be used to service Geminor’s existing 68,000t/yr waste processing contract with Hull City Council, which currently runs to 2030.

The HUB site is equipped with the latest industry requirements and technology, such as an Exeons Odour Abatement system and a Helios Fire Suppression system, alongside plant vs people proximity sensors to ensure safety.

David Singh, the project manager for the Hull processing facility at Geminor UK, said "The journey has been incredible, from the point of sourcing land back in 2018 and all the way up to the opening ceremony. Brexit, Covid-19, and the somewhat significant weather conditions sometimes caused challenges, but not more than we could handle. We are well underway in commissioning the facility and look forward to operating in May 2023.”

Lithuania: Arturas Zaremba, the head of Akmenes Cementas, has warned that government proposals to increase the import tax on coal in 2024 and the abolition of subsidies for the fuel will affect the company. The country’s parliament is also proposing scaling the import tax based on a CO2 scale, according to the Baltic Business Daily newspaper. Zaremba said that the cement producer uses 130,000t/yr of coal. However, it is currently investing Euro22m on an upgrade to its Akmenes integrated plant to allow it to switch to using a higher proportion of solid-recovered fuel. It currently has a 10% alternative fuels substitution rate using dried sewage sludge and tyres.

Zaremba said "There will be some impact because we will still have some of that coal left, but not as much as we would have had without the investment. I have not followed how much they plan to increase the excise duty, but we need to look into how much that would be in the financial terms. Any increase has an impact."

Ethiopia: East Africa Holding (EAH) has set up a subsidiary, Pan Afric Energy, to pilot using the prosopis juliflora shrub as a biomass alternative fuel at its integrated Dire Dewa plant operated by its National Cement subsidiary. The US$50m project testing using the invasive species is backed for a number of different partners, including the local government and the European Union, according to the Capital newspaper. So far the initiative has reached a 5% thermal substitution rate at the Dire Dewa plant. The project is also considering using the shrub as an alternative fuel at a new cement plant being built at Lemi town, in the North Shoa zone of Amhara region. EAH has formed a joint-venture with China-based West China International Holding to build the new plant.

Chile: Cbb Cementos and Ambipar Environment have announced an upgrade to the Curicó plant that will allow it to process refuse-derived fuel (RDF). The US$5m investment will allow the unit to process around 36,000t/yr of RDF. The work will include building a reception hopper, a screening system, a belt feed belt to the calciner and a dosing system. Three warehouses will also be constructed. The alternative fuels upgrade is expected to start operation in early 2024.

Finland: Kuusakoski is planning to spend over Euro4m towards building a new composite shredding and treatment plant at Hyvinkää. The investment includes the renovation of a building that currently exists at the Kuusakoski Hyvinkää site, as well as the construction of the new processing line. The new plant will consist of two shredders, several covered conveyors, a magnet and a dust control system. 35% of the spend will be financed by Business Finland from RRF (Recovery and Resilience Facility) funding. Commissioning is scheduled by the end of 2025.

Mikko Kuusilehto, the president and chief executive officer of Kuusakoski, said "Our investment brings the circular economy solution piloted in Germany to Finland. With it, we can provide the best industrial scale recycling process for composite materials locally." He added, "The demand for a recycling solution for composites is rising already, as the amount of composite waste will increase: wind turbines, airplanes, boats and other vehicles contain considerable and increasing amounts of composites."

The shredded composite material will be supplied to cement plants for use as an alternative fuel.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has installed a chlorine bypass at its integrated Vidal Ramos plant in Santa Catarina. The US$10m upgrade is intended to allow the unit to process more alternative fuels such as plastics, fabrics and personal protective equipment. The company says it is the first such installation in the country. It will allow the plant to increase its co-processing volumes by 62% to 73,000t/yr from 45,000t/yr. In 2021 the plant used 65,000t of petcoke. This is expected to fall to 53,000t/yr with the addition of the chlorine bypass, reducing CO₂ emissions by 5% or 12,200t.