Displaying items by tag: Substitution rate

UK: Helvellyn Group, a manufacturer of high energy, low impact solid fuels, has announced the official launch of its cement industry direct coal replacement product in Europe.

Helvellyn has chosen the Global Cemfuels Conference (Paphos, Cyprus 19 - 20 February 2020) as the location for the launch and will be sponsoring the event as well as attending in person.

Helvellyn solid fuels are designed to meet the needs of hard to adapt large industrial plants that are seeking to reduce, or even eliminate, their reliance on coal. The fuels are manufactured to replicate the physical and combustion properties of coal, while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with mining, transporting and burning fossil fuels.

This latest renewable coal replacement fuel has been developed to address the specific needs of cement producers, many of whom have already introduced alternative fuels but are now struggling to increase the ratio due to physical, chemical and technical constraints.

Helvellyn’s product allows operators to maintain their existing alternative fuel mix while, in most instances, adding Helvellyn fuel as a direct drop-in replacement for coal from the point of delivery through pre-combustion processing and in combustion.

The Helvellyn fuel for cement production is based on four core principals, high energy, low moisture, low chlorine and ease of handling. While exact fuel specification and presentation can be fine-tuned to meet the specific needs of a given plant, fuel is typically presented as 50mm hard, hydrophobic lumps with the following properties: energy >25kJ/kg (10,750btu/lb, 5.97kcal/kg); ash content <6%; moisture <2%; chlorine <0.07%; carbon >60%; sulphur <0.2%; nitrogen <0.4%.

Frank Harris, CEO of Helvellyn Group, said, “We are delighted to be launching this important product at the Global Cemfuels Conference 2020. The cement industry has shown innovation and leadership in utilising alternative fuels and we believe we can help them to meet the challenges of the next decade as they further reduce the environmental impact of their product. We are excited to meet with the industry and let it see our fuel for the very first time - it is like nothing they will have seen before.”

Namibia: Ohorongo Cement’s plant at Walvis Bay has had an alternative fuels substitution rate of 40% for the last six months of 2018. Local recycling company Rent-A-Drum said that it has been supplying waste fuels to the plant, according to the Namibia Economist newspaper. As well as fuels from domestic waste the plant is using wood chips and charcoal dust in its kiln.

Spain: Local environment authorities have approved Cementos Cosmos to increases its alternative fuels substitution rate to up to 45% from its current limit of 30%. The plant has been supplementing its petcoke use with refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and biomass, according to the Córdoba newspaper. The plant, and its owners Brazil’s Votorantim Cement, have faced local opposition to changing its fuels mix.

Slovenia: Salonit Anhovo has won a bronze European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Sustainable Energy Award for progress in the use of non-hazardous solid recovered waste in its energy mix. The cement producer is increasing its alternative fuels substitution rate to over 75% from 60%. This will allow its plant to achieve a carbon emission intensity factor of 0.737kg CO₂/kg clinker, which is below the relevant European Union (EU) benchmark.

The EBRB also said that Salonit Anhovo presently operates at levels expected for the industry for 2025 in terms of specific heat consumption and for 2030 in terms of clinker ratio in cement and specific CO₂ emissions. The bank supported the company with a Euro15m loan in December 2016.

“We are very pleased to recognise Salonit Anhovo’s foray into alternative fuels with this award. This is an excellent example of how an innovative, tailor-made solution can benefit both finances and the environment. This investment will bring significant cost savings, contribute to the operational restructuring and support the resource efficiency of Salonit Anhovo by increasing the use of alternative fuel in the energy mix,” said EBRD director Dariusz Prasek.

France: LafargeHolcim has launched a Euro100m upgrade to build a new clinker production line at its Martres cement plant in Tolosane. Construction work on the new line will start in the third quarter of 2018 and will be completed in mid-2020. A key feature of the upgrade will be a focus on using alternative fuels in the new kiln, particularly tyres. Following the project’s completion the plant will have a substitution rate of 80% from 30% at present.

Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has reported a record alternative fuels substitution rate of up to 46% at its Ewekoro cement plant. The cement producer reported that its energy optimisation strategy achieved strong performance compensating for gas shortages at a relatively low cost. It added that made progress during the first quarter of 2017 towards initial alternative fuels conversion work at its Mfamosing line II at Ashaka Cement.

Japan: Aso Cement aims to raise its alternative fuels substitution rate to 50% by 2020 from its current rate of around 30%, according to comments made by its Tagawa plant manager Kenji Kawauchi to Jiji Press. The cement producer operates a unit capable of disposing of 160t/day of waste plastic at its Tagawa plant in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Poland: Gorazdze Cement intends to cut costs partly by increasing its usage of alternative fuels, according to its CEO Ernest Jelito. As the Polish cement producer is currently operating at a 60 – 70% capacity utilisation rate it has no plans to increase its capacity. Gorazdze Cement has a thermal substitution rate of around 50% at present and it intends to raise this to 70 – 80%.