Eighth AUCBM – Amman

This call was immediately backed up by the conference papers which focussed heavily on issues such as energy efficiency, carbon reduction, and environmentally-friendly technologies.

Representing the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI), Salem Sousou, CEO of Lafarge Cement Jordan, provided a robust defence of the cement industry’s commitment to sustainability, and highlighting successes to-date in reducing harmful emissions and the industry’s carbon footprint through the modernisation of cement plants. Currently, the CSI agenda is targeting  attempts to improve employee health and safety and eliminate fatalities in the industry.

Ingo Engeln, Polysius, describes the
capabilities of the new Quadropol 2
vertical roller mill to delegates

Lower energy consumption through the use of modern technology was a primary theme of many presentations. In his paper entitled “Energy efficient raw material grinding systems,” Ingo Engeln of Polysius spoke about the various grinding options available to producers, from roller presses and ball mills through to vertical roller mills (VRMs). Here he presented Polysius’ latest innovation: the Quadropol 2 VRM, which is available with an installed power of between 500-12,000kW and claims to be the most flexible grinding solution on the market, suitable for a wide range of materials. An innovative roller unit design allows the mill to continue operating at around 65 per cent capacity, even after the removal of one roller unit from the mill during servicing.

Alternative fuels (AF) are becoming increasingly relevant to cement producers in the Middle East, a region which is yet to see widespread use due to the absence – up until now – of the typical cost and environmental drivers. According to Dirk Lechtenburg (MVW Lechtenberg, Germany) an expert in the field, even producers in energy rich countries such as Saudi Arabia, which have been exposed to fuel supply interruptions over the past year, could make a case for establishing AF capabilities. Furthermore, other countries in the MENA region, such as the UAE and Jordan, are likely to start offset their comparatively high fuel prices by employing AF technology.

Continuing this theme, Karl Menzel (Vecoplan FuelTrack, Germany) stressed the importance of carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of both raw materials and burning conditions in any plant, ahead of establishing an AF system. While a standard calciner may theoretically permit up to 100 per cent AF substitution, a long dry kiln (with no calciner), for instance, would have to burn all materials via its burner. The fuel for this kind of application would have to be specially prepared for the burner to ensure an economically efficient process is achieved.

Jesper Nielsen (FLSmidth, Denmark) presented a valuable overview of the company’s portfolio of alternative fuel solutions, and highlighted the Hot Disc combustion device. FLSmidth claims to be ‘the most flexible system’ on the market due to its ability to burn a wide variety of bulk materials, including whole tyres, thanks to a long retention time on the disc. Also of note is FLSmidth’s entry into waste heat recovery (WHR) systems using the Calina technology, acquired by the company in 2011. The Calina system uses a modified Rankine cycle technology and can reportedly generate more power than alternative systems such as the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems. An 8.6MW WHR power plant is currently being installed at DG Khan’s facility in Pakistan and will be commissioned in 2012.

Detailed discussion of refractories, particularly in the context of the high wear environment caused by the burning of AFs, was another key area of interest. Stefan Schwarz (Refratechnik, Germany) explained how producers should select specialised refractory materials to meet the demands of alternative fuel burning. Silicon carbide-based alumina refractories, he argued, offer the best thermal shock and alkali resistant properties that are essential for achieving a long life in refractories burning alternative fuels.

Northern Cement plant, Jordan

Erich Pichlmaier (Christian Pfeiffer, Germany) gave an impressive presentation describing the design and construction of a state-of-the-art grinding plant for Northern Cement Company (Jordan), located at Muwaqar, north of Amman.

The 1Mta capacity plant features a closed circuit ball mill (4.8m x 15m) supported by a slide shoe bearings and driven by a 5700kW lateral drive. The mill circuit is equipped with a high-efficiency separator, type QDK36, with two cyclones for product collection and dedusting is carried out by individual jet pulse filters. Equipment was designed, engineered and supplied by Christian Pfeiffer and features a very compact design, enabling the shortest possible transport distances, thereby increasing overall efficiency of the plant.

This year’s AUCBM event took place amidst the continued drama of the ‘Arab Spring’, which is still reshaping the region politically. The situation in post-revolution Egypt remains politically unresolved, with producers talking on the event sidelines of declining volumes and an increasingly difficult operating environment. Moreover, the government has threatened to remove the generous fuel subsidies that allow Egyptian producers to maintain a relatively low cost base. If this happens, export competitiveness could be undermined at a time when a surplus in production is becoming apparent. Other markets are also suffering, including the UAE, where rampant overcapacity has resulted in utilisation rates of less than 50 per cent, triggering a price war and forcing producers to urgently seek export markets in an effort to reduce losses.

But the picture is not all of doom and gloom. Saudi Arabia continues to enjoy robust demand driven by massive levels of state-sponsored construction. New capacity is been installed, such as Yanbu’s recently completed 10,000tpd line, and plans for additional capacity are on the drawing board. Over in Iraq, the picture is even more positive. In spite of political and security threats, cement demand continues to climb to an estimated 20-25Mta. The cement industry is responding in kind, with numerous greenfield projects planned or underway.

In Jordan itself, however, the situation is challenging. In the domestic market, Jordanian producers have been adversely impacted by rising energy costs, but to-date they have been able to pass these on to customers, with average prices rising to JOD97/t (US$136) in 1H11, up from JOD77/t (US$108) in the 1H10.

Newly-completed projects, such as Qatrana Cement and Northern Cement, have boosted cement capacity up to 10.4Mta. With domestic consumption limited to just 4.2Mt in 2010, the theoretical surplus now stands at 6.2Mta, and has forced producers to seek increasingly higher export volumes to Iraq, Syria and beyond. However, as some traders noted, the future outlook for exports to Syria could be restricted, following the imposition of sanctions on Syria by the Arab Union, in response to the Assad regime’s treatment of protestors.

Article first published in International Cement Review, January 2012