International Cement Review articles tagged under : Tech Forum

08 December 2020 Arthur Harrisson

Process, mineralogy and cement quality

This month Arthur Harrisson looks at the relationship between temperature differences in the clinker manufacturing process, the composition of clinker produced and the quality of the final cement. Figure 1: variation of iron oxide and alumina in alite with clinker exit temperatures In a project to explore the influence of different temperature profiles on clinker characteristics, ...

24 November 2020 Dr Michael Clark

Determining the cost

In this month’s Technical Forum, Dr Michael Clark considers how to reduce electricity costs by looking at how much is consumed and ways to lower the price of energy. While this is less of an issue in countries with l...

28 September 2020

The last iceman in west Africa

Dr Michael Clark takes a look at the history of the cement industries in Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo, which have each seen an influx of new capacity surplus to demand.  Regarding the strategy behind the comp...

13 July 2020 Dr Michael Clark

The dangers of debt

In this month’s Technical Forum, Dr Michael Clark considers how the history of the Kenyan cement industry can serve as a case study for some of the dos and don’ts of the sector. Going forward, impaired sales performa...

Preparing for a financial crisis 30 June 2020 Dr Michael Clark

Preparing for a financial crisis

Dr Michael Clark looks at how the global health emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected develop into a financial crisis, and the potential impacts of this for the cement industry. By looking back over the past...

24 March 2020 Dr Michael Clark

Cement plant and company readiness for the COVID-19 pandemic

The cement industry must now prepare for the global COVID-19 pandemic As this extraordinary Technical Forum is being written, the world is reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy, Spain and ...

Magnesia in clinker 18 November 2019 Arthur Harrisson

Magnesia in clinker

Magnesia is often present in clinker as periclase, which is formed of free MgO. However, periclase does not always provide a welcome part of the clinker’s composition and can lead to significant volume expansion of t...

21 October 2019 Arthur Harrisson

Progress in quantification of clinker phases

The quantification of clinker phases is not always straightforward and often raises a number of questions. However, there has recently been significant progress in this area, as outlined below. Figure 1: share...

07 October 2019

New opportunities for Europe

Dr Michael Clark looks at how the EU ETS is expected to change the face of European clinker manufacture. With the price of carbon credits rising, it could become more economically viable to import clinker and grind i...

09 September 2019 Arthur Harrisson

Construction and demolition waste as clinker raw material

The concept of the circular economy encourages the reuse of waste products as raw materials in the production of cement. Arthur Harrisson looks at the use of construction and demolition waste as a raw material for cl...

19 August 2019 Arthur Harrisson

New supplementary cementitious materials

The search for new supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) is ongoing. A recent review of existing SCMs and the potential for new ones caught the eye of Arthur Harrisson and provided further potential for investi...

22 July 2019 Arthur Harrisson

Belite in Portland clinker

While belite is often represented as a pure dicalcium silicate, in practice the phase contains a range of impurities. Arthur Harrisson highlights the differences in belite composition and examines the causes of such ...

02 July 2019 Dr Michael Clark

Solar to the rescue

Dr Clark looks at how concentrated solar energy could help the cement industry move closer to carbon neutrality. Furthermore, the latest solar technology could make other carbon-reduction strategies more viable. ...

16 May 2019

Using plant cost profiles

As in January 2018, Dr Michael Clark has once more spent most of the last month developing manufacturing cost profiles for cement factories in different geographies across the globe. This time, Dr Clark considers how...

18 February 2019 Dr Michael Clark

The finishing lime

In this month’s Technical Forum, Dr Clark examines the conditions and complications under which raw materials compete for the available lime during the production of clinker. During the production of clinke...

30 January 2019 Dr Michael Clark

Evaluating an EPC project

In this month’s Technical Forum, Dr Michael Clark looks at the essential factors that cement producers must take into account when choosing the right contractor for a potential EPC project. Time to completion ...