Concrete Plants, Equipment & Applications

Improving energy efficiency is the target of a €14million investment announced by Holcim Romania for its Alesd cement plant. Under the plan, the company will develop an electricity production unit that uses the heat generated during the cement production operations. The unit will generate around 25% of the electricity needed by the factory and is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2012.

Construction work on a €250million modernisation of Devnya Cement’s plant in Bulgaria is due to get underway this month, according to an announcement by parent company Italcementi. Main contractor Strabag and China-based CBMI will work on the two year scheme to upgrade the factory in Devnya with the latest environmental control systems and new technology. The new dry production line will have capacity to produce 7000tonnes of clinker per day and an annual cement capacity of 3million tonnes.

CBR-Harmignies has announced that it is to invest €3.2million in a new cement kiln and platform for stocking solid fuel at its cement plant in Belgium. The Heidelberg Cement subsidiary has also announced that it is working in partnership with Eneco and Windvision to install two 6MW wind turbines.

Titan Cement subsidiary, Antea Cement, has inaugurated its new 1.5million tonne per year cement plant in Kruja, Albania. The new facility, which was financed by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will help meet domestic demand and create surplus material for export.

Cemex has announced that its South Ferriby cement plant has set a new industry record by fuelling the facility completely with waste derived fuel. Our 100% record was set over a three day period in March, with the kiln remaining stable and producing good quality cement clinker,” said Cemex plant director Philip Baynes-Clarke. “The challenge is now to exceed our 90% weekly average record and use 100% over a more sustained period.

Uzbekistan-based Kyzylkumcement has announced the completion of its new 1million tonne per year capacity cement production line. The final testing of the Satarem-built plant brings the company’s production capacity up to 4million tonnes per year.

Advances in precast concrete element design is helping to improve environmental performance, deliver complex designs and speed up work on site

Concrete used to be thought of as a dull, grey and utilitarian construction material, but the latest precast techniques are helping to change that perception. Today the dramatic forms of new buildings and structures across Europe are being delivered quickly and easily thanks to precast concrete.

According to the European federation for the sector Bureau Interna

Akmel, which is a subsidiary of Germany-based Dyckerhoff, has announced plans to restart construction work on a cement plant in the Orenburg region of Russia. Work on the facility was suspended in 2009 due to the financial crisis. The new €450million plant will have an annual capacity of 2million tonnes per year and is expected to be operational by 2014 when it will serve both the export and domestic markets.

The outstanding safety record at Buzzi Unicem’s Geseke cement plant in Germany has been rewarded with a special award from the German Cement Association (VDZ). The gold award was presented to plant manager Theodor Grosse-Frie for achieving 11 years with a zero accident rate out of the last 20 years.