UAE: Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and Arkan have agreed to test using spent smelter pot inner lining as a fuel in the cement producer’s kilns. EGA will provide between 1000 – 3000t of the pot lining to test as both fuel to fire the kiln and as refractory material to be incorporated in the finished cement produced at Arkan’s Al Ain plant, according to the National newspaper.

EGA produces about 37,000t/yr of pot lining and has already been testing the waste at other cement plants. The aluminium producer is jointly-owned by the Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

Ireland: Limerick City and County Council has given permission for Irish Cement to co-process alternative fuels at its local cement plant. Permission has been granted subject to 16 conditions, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. The cement producer has been seeking a licence to use solid recovered waste and tyres at its plant but it has faced local opposition.

Sweden/UK: Siwertell, part of Cargotec, has signed a contract with the Spanish-Korean consortium, TR-Samsung, for a Siwertell ship unloader to support a new biomass-fuelled power plant under construction in Teeside, Middlesbrough in the UK.

"We provided extensive references demonstrating our ability to meet the owner's high standards and design criteria," said Peter Goransson, Siwertell Sales Manager & Senior Advisor. "Important factors included compliance with environmental directives, a proven track record of good reliability and safety, high through-vessel discharge rates and the ability to handle sensitive products with minimal cargo degradation or breakages."

Siwertell will deliver a customised rail-mounted ST 790-type D Siwertell unloader, which will be located close to the 299MW plant in Teesport. It will discharge wood pellets and wood chips to a matched Siwertell jetty conveyor with a movable transfer trolley, supplied as part of the contract. Siwertell biomass unloaders are also equipped with a new-generation safety system to mitigate the risks of fire and dust explosion when handling biomass in an enclosed space.

The unloader has a rated average capacity of 1200t/hr and a maximum rate of 1320t/hr, designed to meet the plant's requirements of 16,000t/day. It is equipped with a dual truck loading system for continuous direct truck loading at a rate of 300t/hr. This is a redundancy feature that allows operations to continue if the shore conveying system fails.

The unloader will be built in Europe by Siwertell's production partners and will be delivered fully assembled in 2018.

China: Dongwu Cement has struck an agreement with Suzhou Dongfang Jiujiu Industry to start a waste disposal company to supply alternative fuels for its kiln. The cement producer based in Wujiang City, Suzhou Prefecture and its partner will invest US$7.3m in the joint venture to start with, according to the ET Net News Agency. Dongwu Cement will own a 52% share in the company.

It will co-process urban sludge, organic waste and industrial solid waste. It will also collect, store and dispose of soil for soil remediation. It is expected the company will dispose of 50,000t/yr of industrial solid waste.

Dongwu Cement operates a 0.75Mt/yr cement plant with two grinding mills, giving it a cement production capacity of 1.64Mt/yr. It manufactures 42.5 and 32.5 class Ordinary Portland Cement.