Global CemFuels News

Kuwait: Meshal Al-Rashed, the executive vice-chairman of Kuwait Cement Company, has asked that the government consider its request to use alternative fuels at its Shuaiba integrated plant, according to the Arab Times newspaper. It wants to co-process municipal waste at the unit.

UK/Ireland: Geminor says it has been engaged in a partnership with MSC transporting refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid-recovered fuel (SRF) from the UK and Ireland since February 2019. The first shipments were transported from Barking and Nottingham, UK to Aalborg, Denmark. This will be followed up by container shipments from Birmingham, UK to Habberstad, Sweden and Dublin, Ireland to Greece. The shipments are based on so-called ‘backload,’ where empty containers are used to reduce the price.

“Moving waste from the UK to Scandinavia can also be completed with trailers, but we will continue to use containers where this is the best option. Currently we are moving containers with RDF and SRF from Dublin to Greece and Spain, where container shipment is a more efficient way of transport,” said Oliver Caunce, Senior Account Manager at Geminor UK.

Finland: Metso has launched two new pre-shredders in its K-series. The new products are intended for sites with production requirements between 5 – 45t/hr. They are intended for market development in Asia. Particular features of the K-series include: both a synchronous and asynchronous shredding system with two shafts; a knife geometry that the company says reduces the risk of wrapping on the shafts; a modular system; and a build that allows easy access for maintenance.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos’ Salto de Pirapora integrated plant in São Paulo has recevied environmental clearance to burn municipal waste. The plant processed 17,900t of waste in 2018 during a testing phase. It has the capacity to process up to 65,000t/yr. From 2016 to 2019 it invested US$12m on upgrading the unit to accept alternative fuels. It now plans to spend US$43.5 over the next four years.

The cement producer is also running trial co-processing projects at its plants at Rio Branco do Sul in Paraná, Cuiabá in Mato Grosso, Sobral in Ceará and Brasíliain in the Distrito Federal. The company had a thermal substitution rate of around 30% in 2018 and it processed 0.85Mt of biomass, tyres and municipal waste.

India: Dhandapani Cements has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tiruchi City Corporation in Tamil Nadu to process inert waste. The cement producer had agreed to collect 1000t/yr of inert waste including plastic waste, cloth, tyres and other materials, according to the Hindu newspaper. The deal will last for five years.