Concrete Plants, Equipment & Applications

The predicted rise is below the rise of 26.1% in production in 2011, but will push output notably beyond the 5.5million m3 achieved in 2011. According to RBC and other economic experts, the demand among building companies for cellular concrete wall blocks, especially in the housing construction sector, will fuel the continued rise in production levels.

Command Alkon recently delivered its 5,000th COMMANDbatch system, the plant automation solution that is said to enhance plant performance, simplify concrete production, and deliver cost savings to the average ready-mixed producer. Mark Merino, vice president of Product Development says: “When we started the effort 11 years ago to replace three esteemed batch products with a next generation offering, I don’t think any of us thought it would become as successful as it turned out. I attribute this success to

Lafarge's modernisation of the production facilities at its plant in the town of Wössingen, Germany, also included an existing belt bucket elevator that feeds limestone to the mill bunker. Thanks to a new technology, the existing bucket elevator could be easily altered and his service life considerably be increased.

The plant, approved five months ago, will replace the firm's current factory in neighbouring Mont-Saint-Martin. Due for commissioning this spring, the site is expected to have an annual production rate of over 70,000tonnes.

In partnership with waste specialists Ikos and Etares, French cement producer Lafarge started up a production unit for secondary recovered fuel in Le Havre in July, 2011. The unit is capable of producing 15tonnes of secondary recovered fuel per hour and produces 20% of the energy needs of the cement works in Le Havre, France.

In Kostanay, Kazakhstan, MBI has launched a paving stone plant having a design capacity of 33,500m³ or 400,000m² of products a year. Automated German equipment as well as Iranian and local raw materials will allow the plant to manufacture high-quality damage-proof slabs.

Kostanay MBI intends to reach the full capacity this month.

Cemex has produced its one millionth tonne of cement at its new plant in Broceni, west-central Latvia, the largest amount of cement produced and sold per year in the history of Latvia.

The plant's capacity completely satisfies the demand on the local market and also ensures supplies to the company's export markets of the Baltic States, Finland, Russia and Belarus.

Concrete used to be seen as a functional construction material. Now the growing popularity of fair faced concrete is placing it at the forefront of architectural aesthetics. Claire Symes looks at the role of aggregates in this emerging market. Few can deny that the concrete used to create the sweeping and smooth lines of the Zaha Hadid-designed Phaeno Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany are dramatic. But it is not an experimental project - it is one of a growing number of high profile buildings in Europe that are