FLSmidth has won an order to supply CBI Ghana Ltd’s cement plant outside of Accra in southern Ghana with the world’s largest clay calcination installation. The facility will include the world’s largest gas suspension calciner system and a complete grinding station, adding another 120 per cent grinding capacity.
Together with the new grinding station, the Swiss-owned company expects both financial and environmental return-on-investment from lower specific CO2 emissions, energy- and fuel savings, and reduced costs from clinker imports.
"Ghana is the perfect location for using clay as an environmentally friendly alternative to clinker," said Frédéric Albrecht, CEO at CBI Ghana Ltd. "West Africa is traditionally a clinker- and cement importing region due to the lack of suitable limestone reserves. Developing countries with their young populations and a growing need for infrastructure and housing represents the future in cement consumption. Calcined clay cements are the most sustainable alternative to traditional clinker-based cement. With the support from FLSmidth, we will be able to operate clay calcination in a large scale,” Mr Albrecht concluded.
"In the light of the commitments made by the international community – most recently at COP 26, the CBI Ghana project is yet another example of how the cement industry is responding to the need for more environmentally friendly processes. We are very excited to work with CBI Ghana on the project that sets a new standard for green cement," says Carsten Riisberg Lund, Cement Industry president, FLSmidth. “Using clay as a supplement in the cement production is not new – it has been done for decades. But, with our new clay calciner system, we can produce a highly reactive clay that is able to substitute between 30-40 per cent of the clinker in the final product, resulting in up to 40 per cent CO2 reductions per tonne of green cement compared to traditional OPC cement," he adds.
The contract became effective and booked as order intake in the 1Q22.
FLSmidth to deliver World's largest calcined clay installation in Ghana
