Welcome to the new builds (1)

The global economic crisis has not only seen a considerable drop in new kiln capacity projects in 2011, but has also caused significant shifts in the world of turnkey services. However, new kiln capacity figures for 2012 indicate signs of a recovery as around 50-60Mta of new capacity are estimated to have been added over the past year. In the first of a three-part feature, CemNet takes stock of new cement capacity projects around the world, focussing on the Americas and Europe.

The turnkey service landscape has changed dramatically in the last few years. According to FLSmidth data, the major companies supplying engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for the global cement industry have seen a steep rise in Sinoma International’s market share and a reduction in projects for traditional turnkey specialists from Europe. Between 2006-11, the market share of sold kiln capacity outside of China has FLSmidth at 31 per cent, Sinoma at 28 per cent, ThyssenKrupp Polysius at 15 per cent, KHD Humboldt Wedag at 12 per cent, others including Fives FCB and Fars & Khuzestan on nine per cent and other Chinese suppliers at five per cent.

FLSmidth’s new cement division records an order intake of DKK4.4bn (€0.6bn) in 2011 and expects this trend to have slightly increased in 2012. Its major ongoing projects during the year include: Novoroscement, Sebryakov Cement and Kluge Cement in Russia, Mongolun Alt (Mongolia), Semen Gresik (Indonesia), BUA International (Nigeria), Djebel Cement (Tunisia), Al Hadena Cement (Libya), Votorantim, Cimpor and Supremo Cement in Brazil, ANCAP (Uruguay) and 10 projects in India.

KHD saw a strong start to 2012 with a jump in new orders and reported that its order backlog was at its highest level since 2008. It forecast that BRIC markets would be the main regions for future expansion. The company’s major kiln projects awarded in 2011 were for Invecem (Venezuela) where it is constructing a 2400tpd line, a 5000tpd line for Straits Cement (Malaysia) and Eurocement’s 3500tpd kiln for its Stavropolsky plant in Russia. KHD expects difficult market conditions going forward and project delays may rise as a result. The unstable situation in the Middle East in particular is an added concern for EPC companies.

Meanwhile, ThyssenKrupp Polysius announced its Plant Technology division results for the nine months ended 30 June 2012, showing an order intake of €2637m, down from €3009m in the same period of 2011. It also highlights kiln project delays caused by financing deferrals, especially in North Africa.

New projects

The countries that are seen as the most active in seeking new cement capacity are the emerging markets of Kenya, Tanzania, Philippines, Nigeria, Brazil and Indonesia. These countries are at the bottom of the economic and cement consumption tables and should see cement capacity rise steeply in the next few years. However, as a result of the global economic crisis, new kiln capacity projects worldwide dropped from 65Mta in 2010 to 46Mta in 2011. New kiln capacity should rise again in 2012 with around 50-60Mta added.

ICR now looks at the major completed cement plant projects over the last 12 months to see where new cement capacity has come on-stream.

Americas

Brazil

Cia de Cimento Itambé started production at its new 3000tpd kiln line at its Balsa Nova works, near the southern city of Curitiba. Built by ThyssenKrupp Polysius, the plant features a second-generation Quadropol roller mill, designed to grind 265tph of raw meal. The mill is easily adjustable to raw meal demands (which typically fluctuate between 30-100 per cent) as it is able to switch automatically from four-roller to two-roller operation.

 

Votorantim Cimentos Ltda is nearing completion of ongoing modernisation projects at various facilities. In early-2012, FLSmidth commissioned an OK-30 mill at the São Luis plant – the first of four OK mills ordered as part of Votorantim’s modernisation programme.

By October 2012, two OK-33 mills were commissioned at the Rio Branco plant and the new 5000tpd pyroline is expected to come online shortly.

At Cuiaba, a new 3000tpd pyroline and the OK-36 mill are nearing completion. In addition, the new 3000tpd pyro line and the OK-36 mill are due to be commissioned in due course.

Ecuador

Holcim Ecuador’s Guayaquil plant inaugurated the first two clinker lines of its expansion project in 1Q12. After finalising the engineering studies, construction on a third, 5000tpd clinker line is expected to start in December 2012. Through the US$400m project, Holcim Ecuador will raise its capacity from 3.5Mta to 5.4Mta. 

Peru

The new 4200tpd pyroline for Cementos Yura‘s plant near the city of Arequipa, southern Peru, was commissioned in October 2012. The new line incorporates the most modern processes and will reinforce Yura SA’s market position as the leading supplier to the coastal and Andean markets in the area.

Equipment for the works was selected to minimise operating costs as well as to ensure that all applicable World Bank international environmental standards were achieved. FLSmidth acted as a complete partner for the supply of engineering services, project management and commissioning as well as all major machines for the pyroprocessing line. 

Cemento Andino SA’s new 2100tpd line at the Condorcocha plant was commissioned May 2012, resulting in a total capacity at the plant of almost 6000tpd. FLSmidth’s scope of supply consisted of a five-stage ILC Low NOx preheater system and a Multi-Movable Cross-Bar™ cooler. In addition, engineering services, project management, training, and commissioning were included. All equipment was selected to minimise operating costs and ensure that all applicable World Bank environmental standards were achieved.

Europe

Austria

After detailed feasibility studies by A TEC GmbH, Leube GmbH decided in April 2009 to install a new kiln line at its St Leonhard works, located near Salzburg. A TEC GmbH received the EPCM order and was responsible for tender preparation and engineering for the plant’s different sections. The kiln feed equipment was supplied by IBAU, Aumund and Kukla while Cemprotec delivered the grate cooler. Cooler exhaust gas handling equipment was supplied by Scheuch with the kiln exhaust gas handling provided by Caldyn, Schirocco and A TEC. In addition, Aumund was responsible for the clinker transport section and Ilchmann, Schenck and A TEC provided the calciner fuel storage and dosing feed. The first clinker of the new line was burnt in late 2010 and the plant has since demonstrated low energy consumption and emissions with up to 80 per cent alternative fuel use.

Greco received the contract to update the kiln firing system at Wopfinger Zement, 60km south of Vienna. The 1200tpd cement plant uses RDF and fluff to fire its kiln and the new equipment includes a 40MW multifuel Flexiflame kiln burner, a new 34MW Flexical calciner burner with gas firing, along with gas control valve trains and a burner control system designed according to the latest EU safety standards.

 

Bosnia-Herzegovina

FCL Lukavac Cement, located near Tusla, modernised and upgraded its kiln burner to an easily-adjustable model with a flame length that could be well controlled. The reconstruction was carried out by Greco and resulted in lower kiln inlet temperatures, decreased NOx emissions, improved clinker quality as well as accurate flame adjustment.

Russia

Commissioning of JSC Verhnebakanskiy Cement Plant (VCP), including successful fulfilment of all performance guarantee tests, was completed on 31 August 2012. Located approximately 20km from Novorossiysk (Krasnodar region) on the Black Sea, the 6200tpd plant makes it Russia’s largest cement production line.

 

FLSmidth provided the complete production line from the crusher to the loading station. Equipment supplies based on FLSmidth engineering and documentation, and including a spare parts package, were complemented by supervision of installation and training of the staff. Raw meal preparation comprises a limestone crusher, a stacker/reclaimer system and an Atox™ raw mill. The pyro section features a preheater, calciner, Rotax-2® kiln and SF Cross-Bar clinker cooler. The project also includes UMS™ mills and a Ventomatic® packing plant. Automation and laboratory systems were also provided by FLSmidth.
The new Verhnebakanskiy line has been built around an existing older factory on a hillside. The interesting challenges of installing the new equipment within the framework of existing structures and at varying altitudes were successfully overcome.

In October 2012, final commissioning and performance guarantee tests were completed at Holcim (Rus) Construction Materials OAO’s new facility, Shurovsky Cement Plant, some 85km south of Moscow. FLSmidth provided the equipment for the main part of the 5500tpd project, ranging from feeding of the raw materials to discharging of the cement clinker into the silo. In addition to equipment supplies, the contract included civil design engineering.

The main equipment for the raw meal preparation section includes an ATOX™ 55 raw mill and a CF silo with Pfister® kiln feed. The pyroprocessing section consists of a two-string, four-stage ILC preheater, a three-base kiln, calciner and kiln burners, and a Multi-Movable™ MMC clinker cooler plus a slag flash drier and an ATOX™ 22.5 coal mill. Electrical and automation equipment includes motors and frequency drives, instruments and local control panels, AirLoq analyser, kiln and cooler cameras, CEM scanner, analyser and QCX automatic sampler. During implementation of the project, parts of the equipment had to be redesigned to overcome the challenges presented by the cold climate at the plant site and the seasonably very sticky raw materials.

In December 2011, ZAB Zementanlagenbau GmbH Dessau, a subsidiary of KHD Humboldt Wedag GmbH, carried out a successful performance test of the rotary kiln plant that was recently constructed on a greenfield site in Novotroizk, Russia, at the JUGPK Company.

October 2012 saw the launch of the Serebryansky Cement 1.7Mta factory in the Mikhailovsky district. The RUB10bn (US$326m) investment was realised through an agreement between Ryazan regional government and the Basic Element group, which includes Basel Cement.

Switzerland

ABB, EKZ GETEC and Jura Cement have signed an agreement to install an ABB system at the Wildegg AG cement plant, which generates power from waste heat. The advanced solution is based on the Organic Rankine Cycle. Once the system is in operation, plant energy costs at the Wildegg plant will be reduced dramatically as the cement producer will cut its electricity purchases by about 20 per cent.

Marcel Bieri, production manager at Jura Cement, says: “We will be able to generate 14,400MWh of electric power using ABB’s waste heat recovery system. That’s enough to satisfy the power demand of about 3600 Swiss households.”

EKZ GETEC is financing the system, which will not only generate CO2-free power but also improve energy efficiency at the cement works. It is also supported by the Swiss Federal Department of Energy within its EnergySwitzerland programme as an energy strategical project.

Turkey

Medcem’s greenfield cement plant project in Turkey awarded ABB the electrification order in July 2012. With a clinker capacity of 10,000tpd, the new Mersin works, located on the Mediterranean coast, will have the largest output capacity in the country. ABB’s scope of supply for the greenfield project includes its state-of-the-art control System 800xA, Expert Optimizer process optimisation software, medium- and low-voltage electrical motors, ACS800 series low-voltage drives, ACS1000 and ACS6000 series medium-voltage drives, ZS1 series medium-voltage cubicles, MNS series low-voltage cubicles, site erection, installation, commissioning and services. The equipment will provide high availability of the complete production process and raise efficiency through high-quality production at low energy consumption.

Ukraine

ABB successfully commissioned integrated electrical, control and automation systems at JSC Podilsky Cement, part of CRH. Located in Kamenets-Podilsky, about 420km southwest of Kiev, its new No. 7 production line has a 7500tpd capacity, which makes it the largest in Ukraine.

ABB supplied electrical and automation systems including medium-voltage switchgears, intelligent low-voltage (LV) motor control centres (MNSiS MCC), LV variable-speed drives, a plant-wide 800xA process control system, manufacturing execution system (MES), instrumentation, gas analysers, technical coordination, engineering services, site services as well as training. Also part of ABB’s overall solution was the design, procurement, support and coordination of third-party equipment including uninterruptable power supply (UPS) and additional instrumentation.

The new dry-process cement line is fitted with high-efficiency filtration equipment at all emission points. Emissions (eg particulates and CO2), have been cut significantly with the commissioning. Due to this improvement the project actually is the world’s first Track 2 “Joint Implementation” project registered with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. “The initial performance of the new plant shows fuel consumption to be less than 50 per cent of the wet process. Power consumption to make clinker shows a reduction of over 15 per cent. The optimisation of the new line will improve performance further”, said CRH Europe Material’s Technical Director Eamon Geraghty.

Article first published in International Cement Review, January 2013.