Recent Development of the Indian Cement Industry... by R. Gupta, N. Muthuswami India is the largest Democracy in the World with a stable government representing the whole nation (now in the region of 1.21 billion) accountable for the rapidly expanding urban commercial centres such as Mumbai with some of the highest earners in the world today and highest property values and a rural economy where there remains much work to do. Flowing from these obligations inevitably we see rapid and sustained developments in housing, infrastructure, health care and education all of which feed one on the other perpetuating the expansion of wealth generation. In any economy wealth generation is the key driving factor and eventually benefits every level of society. Of course all of this impacts directly on the Indian Cement Industry where it is estimated the per capita consumption of cement is less than 200 kg, while world average is around 500 kg where reliable data is available... Clearly this gives grounds for optimism particularly when compared to China where infrastructure projects and urbanisation have driven cement consumption onwards and upwards to dizzy heights. Based on the Cembureau figures for 2011 China represents 57 % of the world market whereas India is at 6.2 % out of a total of 3.6 billon tons. Whilst the figures may vary according to source the message is clear, if the same logic could be applied in India there is indeed reason to be optimistic of continued growth. The Cement industry in India after being de-licensed in 1991 has shown remarkable growth, it was in 1914 that the first cement manufacturing unit in India was set up by India Cement Company at Porbandar, Gujarat, with a capacity of 1000 tonnes per annum. In 1980-81, capacity of the cement industry in India was 27 million tonnes and production was 18.1 mt. The low capacity utilization (67 %) could be attributed to government controls on production, pricing and distribution. It took eight decades to reach the capacity of first 100 million tonnes per annum mark, the next decade added another 100 mtpa, and in next five years, the coveted third 100 mtpa was added. At the end of 11th Five year Plan (2007-2012) it is 323 million tonnes, surpassing the target of 298 million tonnes fixed for five-year period up to March 31, 2012.
India has 145 large and 365 smaller cement plants. ACC & Ambuja Cement (part of HOLCIM Group), UltraTech Cement, Jaiprakash Associates, Shree Cements, and The India Cement account for little more than 50 % of the total production of Cement in India. India is the second largest producer of cement in the world, after China, by a substantial margin when compared country by country. The 12th Five-year Plan (2012-2017) had pegged at 479 million tonnes capacity for Cement, as per Cement Manufacturers Association, the capacity target is 550 million by 2020. In the current financial year (2012-12 April 12 to March 13), India s cement production is expected to increase to 340.6 million tonnes from 336.10 mt during the last fiscal (April 11- March 12). When compared to the rest of the world (China excluded) this is a considerable achievement under the extreme duress of present global financial conditions. As a measure of efficiency in cement manufacture the power consumption in the Indian Cement Industry is comparable with global values 65 kw per tonne (India) vs. 66 kw (global) reflecting the state-of-theart design of the new plants installed over recent years incorporating all of the latest innovations to drive down energy usage. In today s environment eco-friendly packaging is the norm and technology has in this played a very important role. In the past Cement was generally perceived by many as a polluting industry mainly air pollution by fugitive dust as cement production obviously involves the handling of very fine material. Thus, it is necessary that such emissions are controlled during the production, handling, storage and dispatching processes involving the expanded application of high performance dust control measures such as bag filters and electrostatic precipitators to contain the inevitable dust generation within the handling systems resulting in a comparatively clean atmosphere within and around the plant. The international Standards for particulate emission have also come down from 150 mg normal per cubic metre to 50 mg per normal cubic metre. The Indian cement industry has responded accordingly and is well equipped to comply with this standard, particularly in new plants with the benefit of a green-field-site. Respecting international sustainability obligations the Indian cement industry is poised to play a big role in improving the environment by utilising substitute raw materials such as fly ash and granulated blast furnace slag which may be co-ground to make blended cements thus reducing the clinker content and therefore the carbon dioxide inevitably created when burning limestone in the kiln both by the chemical reaction and by burning fossil fuels. To reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, and therefore net greenhouse gas emissions, municipal waste or refuse derived fuel (RDF) plus agriculture waste like rice husk and many other industrial waste materials or co-products or by-products are being exploited as alternative kiln fuels. India compares favourably on all areas of quality and energy efficiency and, when the present CO 2 mitigation measures are fully implement, will compete favourably with the world market leaders in environmental greenhouse gas generation terms also. Because China and India are the only plus one billion populations they are inevitably often compared but with Indian GDP less than one quarter of China comparison is often misleading in terms of volumes but the direction for India is clear...
In India the cement industry is exposed to 100 % FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), and global players like HOLCIM, LAFARGE, ITALCEMETI, HEIDELBERG and VICAT and others are all, at varying levels, in India at present. Of course these multinationals have brought with them the latest technologies they have developed worldwide which have clearly influenced local plant design accordingly. Reflecting world commodity prices input costs are rising in India in terms of the essentials; coal is the fuel of choice for most plants and prices are now very high with potential supply side problems and increased logistical costs also. Electrical grid power is improving but still presently sometimes unreliable and for this reason in the recent past many cement plants have set up their own captive power generation system to ensure supply continuity for the continuous cement process to avoid unscheduled kiln stops. The need to combine substitute raw materials in the cement blend and the higher efficiency of larger centralised kilns close to limestone (and ideally fuel) resources is also driving interest in local grinding stations able to combine clinker and locally available substitute raw materials to the blend the local clients demand. So where is the future? During the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017), the Indian government plans to spend $ 7 trillion on infrastructure... For example India has around 3.3 million kilometre of road network, less than half of which is paved. There is considerable influence being brought to bear at every level to expand local infrastructure and all associated works all of which will impact positively on the demand for cement... So where do AUMUND fit in this expanding picture? During the current year AUMUND Engineering Privat. Ltd. has been successful in securing new orders for its conveying equipment including: Type BWG Belt-Bucket Elevators for raw meal and finished cement Type BWZ-D Double String Central Chain Elevators Type BWZ Central Chain Bucket Elevators Type KZB Pan Conveyors for Clinker Transport Type SDG Silo Discharge Gates All the above orders has wide ranging capacity varying from 86 to 1,250 tph, for varying materials, such as raw meal, lime stone, limestone powder, hot filter dust, clinker, ground clinker, cement, rejects, fly ash, slag, slag cement. This will bring the grand total to around 1.800 delivered equipment s since AUMUND became active in India going back to 1977. After the initial deliveries it was soon realised the potential scale of the Indian market in particular required dedicated local support and so in 1996 AUMUND Engineering Privat. Ltd. was formed in the South India city of Chennai (Madras) and now encompasses sales for all India, plus local manufacturing using locally sourced engineering and production with key components only imported from the AUMUND Group Headquarters in Germany.
So what do AUMUND bring to the party? This can almost be summarised in one word and that is Dependability encompassing reliability, availability, performance, efficiency, quality and many other virtues available only from a long established worldwide organisation with more than 10.000 references in over 140 countries in total bringing experience at every level in continuous process industries where absolute long term reliability is critical to plant profitability. AUMUND in India benefit from the know-how gained by the Group worldwide and apply exactly the same quality standards to the local product as would be found in Germany. AUMUND contribute state-of-the-art equipment that enables the Indian cement industry to achieve the state-of-the-art performance they crave...
BW-G Belt-Bucket elevators raise the raw meal to the blending silos and pre-heater tower ( AUMUND)
Type BWD twin strand central chain elevator for extreme high handling rates ( AUMUND) Type KZB Pan Conveyor handles hot clinker from the cooler to storage silo ( AUMUND)
About the AUMUND Group The AUMUND Group is active worldwide. The conveying and storage specialists have special expertise at their disposal when dealing with bulk materials. With their high degree of individuality, both its technically sophisticated as well as innovative products have contributed to the AUMUND Group today being a market leader in many areas of conveying and storage technology. The manufacturing companies AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH (Rheinberg, Germany), SCHADE Lagertechnik GmbH (Herne, Germany), SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd (Ely, Great Britain) as well as AUMUND Logistic GmbH (Rheinberg, Germany) are consolidated under the umbrella of the AUMUND Group. In conjunction with the headquarters of the manufacturing companies, the global conveying and storage technology business is spearheaded through a total of eight locations in Asia, Europe, North and South America. Press Contact: AUMUND Holding B.V. Wilhelminapark 40 5911 EE Venlo The Netherlands Phone: +31 77 32 00 111 marketing@aumund-holding.nl www.aumund.com