Displaying items by tag: Upgrade

Philippines: Holcim Philippines plans to invest US$2.5m on increasing its alternative fuels use until 2022. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim says it will spend the money on installing new equipment and improving storage and feeding facilities at its Bulacan cement plant in Barangay, Norzagaray. It also plans to support its Geocycle subsidiary in supplying higher amounts of post-consumer and municipal solid wastes.

“This investment ensures we can continue being a reliable partner in the country’s sustainable development, while also meeting our objectives of making our operations more efficient and respectful of nature,” said Holcim Philippines president and chief executive officer (CEO) John Stull. In 2020 the company co-processed close to 130,000t of qualified wastes from local governments, industry partners and agricultural processors in its plants in Luzon and Mindanao led by its Geocycle unit.

France: Vicat started using a CO₂ntainer system supplied by UK-based Carbon8 Systems at its Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant in November 2020. It uses captured CO₂ from the unit’s flue gas emissions to carbonate cement-plant dust and produce aggregate, which can then be used to make products such as concrete. The system has particular relevance for a plant burning alternative fuels due to the additional chlorinated dust created compared to the use of conventional fossil fuels. The company says it is the first European cement producer to use the process at an industrial scale. Previously, Carbon8 Systems said that its CO₂ntainer would process and convert up to 12,000t of cement bypass dust in its first phase of operation.

Vicat Group scientific director Laury Barnes-Davin said, “We were drawn to Carbon8 Systems’ two-part technology: capturing the CO₂ that Montalieu emits, and using it to produce an aggregate that can be marketed in the construction industry. It opens up great potential for our operations not just in France but also in all the countries where we work across the globe.” The group hopes to reach a 100% alternative fuel substitution rate in France by 2024.

Turkey: Denmark-based FLSmidth has released details about a new clinker production line it is currently supplying to Bursa Çimento. Work at the site is underway at present covering the line from crushing to clinker cooling. The new line is scheduled to start at the end of 2022. FLSmidth says the equipment it is supplying includes a Hotdisc Combustion Device, which will help increase the substitution rate to 86%, the highest in Turkey. The order also includes an OK Raw Mill, a Rotax-2 kiln, Pfister feeders and new air pollution process filters.

"The modernisation of our Bursa site is a strategic investment, providing us with a more competitive cost base,” said Osman Nemli, General Manager at Bursa Çimento. “But just as important is the entire upgrade which focuses on reducing emissions and power consumption. In this way, we are proactively mitigating future possible environmental regulation."

Bulgaria: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Devnya Cement is planning to invest Euro5m in two upgrades to achieve 100% alternative fuel (AF) substitution in the kiln line of its Varna cement plant. SeeNews has reported that the line, established in 2015, currently uses 60% AF.

General manager Silvio Thiede said, “We have the ambitious goal to reduce our net carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2050, at all of our plants."

Austria: Loesche subsidiary A TEC has won a contract for the supply and installation of a Flash Dryer for alternative fuels (AFs) in the kiln line of Lafarge Zementwerke's 1.1Mt/yr Mannersdorf cement plant in Lower Austria. The supplier said that it will complete the project in early 2021.

The company said, “Reaching high thermal substitution rates (TSR) requires firing of alternative fuels at the kiln burner. To reach a stable sintering zone for the required clinker quality a high fuel quality (high LCV, small particle size) is needed, otherwise the clinker quality may suffer or the TSR can be limited. With the A TEC Flash Dryer various waste heat sources can be used (clinker cooler flue gas, bypass gas, preheater gas, etc.). The material is dosed to the hot gas flow in the flash dryer and transported with this gas flow, while the moisture is evaporated, to a cyclone and a subsequent filter where the fuel is separated from the gas flow and on-line fed to a kiln burner or a satellite burner. In addition to the drying the lifting effect of the gas can separate 3D impurities which contributes in a further increase of the fuel quality.”

South Korea: SungShin Cement has placed an order with Denmark-based FLSmidth for the supply of two HotPlate combustion devices for installation in lines three and six of its SungShin cement plant. The plant is in the transition from coal fuel to the possibility of 100% alternative fuel (AF) use in the two lines, which it plans to commission in mid and late 2021 respectively.

Team manager of production technology Cho K-R said, “With its degree of flexibility, the HotDisc allows us to substitute coal with a wide range of AFs – refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in our case. As we turn waste into energy, the HotDisc lowers our operating costs without compromising energy efficiency.”

FLSmidth previously delivered two HotDiscs to South Korea, to SsangYong’s Donghae and Yeongwool cement plants.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has installed three BWZ bucket elevators and a Louise TKF drag chain conveyor supplied by the Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Aumund at its new power plant at Ofunato. The cement producer uses both biomass and coal at the plant.

Two elevators and the drag chain conveyor are used to transport palm kernel shells (PKS) and palm empty fruit bunches (EFB), which are used as alternative fuels in the power plant. Each has a capacity of up to 150t/hr. The conveying concept is designed so that the different materials are kept apart and enter the silo buffer tanks separately. The third bucket elevator is used for coal handling. It is a gravity discharge type BWZ-S elevator with a capacity of up to 35t/hr.

Netherlands: N+P has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract for a 170t/yr SubCoal refuse-derived fuel (RDF) plant in Farmsum, Groningen Province to Germany-based Sutco RecyclingTechnik. The plant, scheduled for commissioning in early 2021, will occupy the site of an existing N+P SubCoal production facility, acquired by the company in 2012.

It said that the new plant will be equipped “to allow further control of key fuel parameters such as chlorine, sulphur and, nitrogen.” It added, “N+P has developed and fine-tuned the SubCoal production method, resulting in plans for a new layout to implement the lessons learned over the past 10 years.” Managing Director David Driessen said, “The decision of the board to go ahead with a full new-build is a clear sign of our ambition to grow and expand across the globe.”

Belarus: Krasnoselskstroymaterialy has announced that its US$7.8m refuse-derived fuel (RDF) plant at its 1.6Mt/yr Krasnoselskstroymaterialy plant will be completed in September 2020. The plant is installed with equipment worth US$4.5m from Czech suppliers. The Ministry of Construction and Architecture has said that waste from the Grodno Recycling and Mechanical Sorting Plant will replace Belarusian peat and Russian coal as the cement fuel in the plant’s kilns, fulfilling Krasnoselskstroymaterialy’s goals of renewability and national self-reliance.

Ministry of Construction and Architecture energy conservation head Sergey Nikitin said, “The transition to RDF will create an opportunity to reduce the cost of cement production in the future, strengthen the financial and economic situation of the Krasnoselskstroymaterialy enterprise and create additional competitive advantages over producers operating on traditional fossil fuels.”

Hungary: Italy-based Entsorga has completed the installation of an automated alternative fuel (AF) line at a Hungarian cement plant. The plant is believed to be Nostra Cement’s 1.0Mt/yr integrated Kiralyegyháza cement plant, which in early 2020 received an AF fuel store expansion aimed at bringing AF substitution rates to 80% from 60%. The upgrade consists of an Entsorga Spider crane and Pelican power system which will be able to maintain a continuous feed to the plant’s calcination system 24 hours a day.

Entsorga CEO Francesco Galanzino said, “Bringing a commission to a successful conclusion in the middle of the maximum intensity period of the coronavirus crisis has been a great satisfaction. The cement plant will make significant savings in CO₂ emissions.”