Cementtech 2018

The conference was inaugurated with speeches by Kong Xiangzhong, vice president of the CCA, and Bai Yan, president of the Sichuan Cement Association.

Mr Xiangzhong stated that while the country’s cement industry had to face issues of excess capacity and structural adjustments in 2017, it has reacted positively to these issues. In particular, he noted that the CCA has strengthened its self-discipline and the competitive environment of the impartial market has improved continuously, while the operational quality and profitability of the industry has also increased.

Kong Xiangzhong and Bai Yan

presented the inaugural speeches

Alongside this, the president of the CCA hoped that the ‘Made in China’ strategy will “make [a] greater contribution to [the] cement industry”. The ‘Made in China’ project, an ambitious 10-year industrial development plan to upgrade the country’s manufacturing sector, will support high-value industries through government subsidies and investment.

Bai Yan welcomed international guests to the conference on behalf of the Sichuan Cement Association. During his speech, he recognised how the Sichuan cement industry had made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of the province and people’s livelihoods in general. However, he noted that the Sichuan industry is facing numerous challenges such as overcapacity, energy-saving measures and emission-reduction strategies. These issues are not constrained to one province, with the country recently reported to be facing energy shortages due to the seasonal increase in demand for heating.

This, alongside the policy changes with regards to cement production, resulted in the country becoming an importer of cement at the end of 2017.

Despite this, Bai Yan stated that he hoped the exhibition would “expand the external cooperation channels of [the] Sichuan cement industry and promote the improvement of the technical equipment and management level of cement enterprises in Sichuan province”.

Exhibition

Over 130 exhibitors from 25 countries presented at the conference, including Germany, UK, Denmark and France. Furthermore, over 200 cement plants were represented at the event, including those of Tangshan Jidong Cement Ltd, China United Cement Corp and Huaxin Cement.

China National Building Materials Group Co Ltd (CNBM) displayed the group’s new business sector and corporation culture with a completely new overall image. Meanwhile, the group is set to complete its merger with China National Materials (Sinoma) in the first week of May this year.

CNBM exhibited its new business sector at the event

The engineering platform of CNBM, China Triumph International Engineering Co Ltd, was also in attendance at the exhibition. This follows its own subsidiary, Beijing Triumph International Engineering, recently announcing its involvement in constructing a new 12,000tpd plant with fellow exhibitors FLSmidth.

RHI Magnesita (Austria) also exhibited at the event. According to the company, the raw materials crisis in China has influenced the demand for refractories, after customers looked to secure their ability to supply raw materials.

Qiao Longde, president of China Building Materials Federation and China Cement Association, met with many companies at the exhibition site. Speaking with company leaders, he discussed several topics such as the development of the cement industry, green intelligence products, innovation and development.

Conference

Parallel to the exhibition, the event featured several conference sessions. These included the ‘Fourth China Cement Industry Grinding System Optimisation and Transformation Technology Seminar’, ‘The China Top-50 High-Level Forum and China Cement Association Governing Conference’ and ‘The Cement Technological Reform and Energy Saving Summit 2018’.

The technological reform and energy-saving meeting was held to help cement companies solve urgent technical issues. As part of the session, a selection of kiln and grinding experts visited the exhibition site to share practical cases and discuss energy-saving methods that can be used in cement production. The detailed cases, shared data and experience provided a useful reference point for the management of cement companies.

Technical presentations
As part of the different sessions, a series of technical presentations were held over the course of the event.
Kiln expert and Southwest University of Science and Technology professor, Mr Qi Yanyong spoke about how increasing the temperature of the sintering zone is core to improving the efficiency of precalciner kiln systems.
FLSmidth presented on how to prepare for future cost savings by using different types of alternative fuels.
Sinoma Technical Service and Sinoma International Research Institute presented an evaluation and discussion of the power consumption of a roller press pre-grinding system.

Tianjin Cement Industry Design & Research Institute discussed how the norm of energy consumption per unit of cement produced has been unable to meet the requirements of the developing cement industry. Therefore, the company suggested that it was time for a revision of the standard to improve the energy efficiency of the Chinese cement industry and reduce emissions.

To achieve this, it is reportedly necessary to use the latest equipment, improve production technology and promote sustainable development.