Ceramics Industry
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN THE CEMENT INDUSTRY

Corporate
BERALMAR TAKES PART IN THE ECTS SYMPOSIUMS IN MALAYSIA AND VIETNAM
PRESENTATION AT THE YIWU FAIR (CHINA)

News and Accomplishments
NEW INSTALLATION OF CLEAN HOT AIR GENERATORS USING PETCOKE

Naming those mainly responsible for the world’s CO₂ emissions is a hot topic these days, and there all sorts of rankings by country and by economic activity that are now common knowledge among the general public.

Everyone knows the country at the top of these rankings is China, thanks to its demographics, its economic growth and its contractions of all kinds of infrastructure, and also that the energy industry is at the top of the rankings by sector.

Other economic sectors with lower emissions are also getting a bad rep, such as the aviation industry, despite being responsible for "only" 4% of the world’s emissions.

But there is an industry that is responsible for 8% of the world’s CO₂ emissions, double that of the aviation sector, which does not get the same sort of exposure among the general public: the cement industry.

Cement production process: source of 8% of the world’s CO₂ emissions.

Impressive growth in cement production in the last 50 years.

Cement, the main raw material in concrete, is produced through a thermal process in which CO₂ emissions are generated in two ways in equal measure: first as a result of the combustion of the fuel used in the process, and second as a result of the firing of the limestone, the main ingredient of concrete, which emits a large amount of CO₂ during its calcination process.

We in the ceramics industry know very well that the cement industry also generates emissions in a third way: as a result of the low thermal insulation efficiency of concrete blocks (in comparison to ceramic blocks), which generates a greater energy expenditure in heating spaces.

It is difficult to replace cement and concrete in some of their applications, such as in the building of infrastructure (bridges, tunnels, large structures, etc.). However, there is an obvious substitute for concrete blocks which generates far lower emissions both during production and during its application and life cycle: ceramic blocks. Something that should be common knowledge when talking about the world’s CO₂ emissions.

For several years now, the ECTS has been organizing one or two annual symposiums in certain markets where the level of mutual understanding between local ceramists and the majority of European suppliers is still low.

On 5 and 7 November, the ECTS held two ceramic symposiums in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Hanoi (Vietnam) respectively, with the participation of 13 group member companies.

Both symposiums were very well organized and attended. On behalf of BERALMAR, Miquel Moix gave an overview of the most appropriate solutions for each country.

Taking advantage of its presence in Kuala Lumpur, the group visited the KILANG BATU BATA HAP KEE ceramics plant, where in 2018 BERALMAR supplied a tunnel kiln and a direct stacking dryer for a production of 750 tonnes/day. All the ECTS speakers found the visit, to what is today the most modern factory in the Malaysia, very interesting.

The ECTS has symposiums programmed in India and the United States for 2020.

Miquel Moix in his presentation in Kuala Lumpur.

Kiln cars with fired material during the visit.

Presentation in Hanoi.

On the occasion of the construction machinery fair in YiWu (China), on 9 November Miquel Moix gave a presentation on behalf of BERALMAR on different aspects related to quality in the ceramic materials firing process.

The presentation was given to about 500 people present in the auditorium, and was the result of an invitation from the fair’s organizers to present different production solutions in the thermal field.

Specifically, Moix demonstrated to the attendees different actions that improve the quality of the firing process based on BERALMAR's experience in this field.

It should be noted that BERALMAR specializes in improving existing technical processes, among other things.

We hope the presentation was of interest to those present.

Location of YiWu in mainland China.

Miquel Moix giving his presentation in YiWu.

Beralmar has just commissioned a new installation for the generation of clean hot air using petcoke combustion.

The installation has been implemented in the CERAMICA LA MÉDITERRANÉE brick plant in Nador (Morocco), and consists of:

• CCP/2000 petcoke cyclonic combustion chamber with 2,000,000 kcal/h.
• GB/1500 heat exchanger with a maximum capacity of 1,500,000 kcal/h.

The installation is fed petcoke directly from the kiln circuit, which also uses this fuel, so it is already dry and micronized when it reaches the cyclonic combustion chamber.

The commissioning has been a success and the installation is already supplying clean hot air in the factory dryer, almost completely replacing the previous consumption of fuel-oil and resulting in very important savings, since petcoke is approximately 60% cheaper than fuel-oil in Morocco. And all this without affecting the drying process in any way, since the hot air produced by the installation supplied by BERALMAR is completely clean.

Petcoke is a readily available and fairly cheap fuel, but very difficult to consume using a fixed grate, so its use is not yet widespread for drying processes.

Installation consisting of the petcoke combustion chamber (right) and heat exchanger (left).

Detail showing the micronized coke injection, combustion air, and auxiliary burner to heat the combustion chamber.

BERALMAR came up with this solution by combining its knowledge in this field in the 70s with the quality and characteristics of the currently available petcoke. This and some important changes in the design of cyclonic chambers have resulted in this installation being a success.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Abarchan family for entrusting BERALMAR to make this important change to the fuel used by the dryer.