Economy & Market

Building up Capacity

Published

11 years ago

January 31, 2015

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2015 will be another year of more consolidation in the cement industry where quality players may take over smaller inefficient and high cost players with weak cash flows.
As per reports, the results of the government?s initiatives have already started reflecting in the growth of the cement industry to 8.5 per cent in the first eight months of the current fiscal. If this momentum gains further, the cement demand will again pick up a double digit growth. Even with 10 per cent growth, this will accelerate the cement production by over two-and-a-half times, to 665 MT in the next ten years, i.e. by 2024, which would require a cement capacity of around 750 MT at 90 per cent utilization. This will call for an additional investment of about Rs 2.5-3 lakh crore for creating another 390 MT of cement capacity. Concretisation of roads, dedicated freight corridors, development of smart cities, metro rail projects, are some of the major thrust areas of the government, which will drive cement consumption in coming year. At the same time, as per industry sources, 2015 will be another year of more consolidation in the cement industry where quality players may take over smaller inefficient and high cost players with weak cash flows. Impact of consolidation According to Manoj Misra, Chairman and Managing Director, Cement Corporation of India, large cement players in India will use the acquisition route to enhance capacity and market share; and in the long term smaller plants will not be able survive. Says Misra, ?The top five players will hold 70-80 per cent of capacities and market in the next decade; there is expectation that more global players would come into India as they would like to get a foothold in the market as the demand will propel in the emerging economies.?

Says Prashant K Tripathy, Group Head – Manufacturing, Dalmia Cement Bharat, Cement industry has experienced more change in the last decade than its entire history. With the demand in the cement sector poised to grow over 9 per cent in the next two years, increase in prices is a huge concern. Thus, consolidation helps in stabilizing prices? Tripathy adds,?There has been and increased focus on infrastructure and development with growth in demand in housing and industrial sector, with growing Indian GDP. Entry of foreign cement players resulted in the consolidation of the fragmented industry. Large number of mergers and acquisitions were witnessed in recent years.?

Explaining to what extent this is going to alter the market structure Misra adds, ?To better serve their markets, companies will combine their operations and streamline their offerings. Efficiencies of scale allow businesses to reduce costs and prices and ease decisions for potential investors. As a business segment ages and matures, numerous companies may find themselves offering the same products, at roughly the same price and quality, to the same market. The competition drags down sales and profits, while businesses struggle to innovate and remain viable. The answer in this situation is market consolidation: the takeover of the small by the strong through outright purchase or merger. By merging or acquiring, combining operations, closing factories and reassigning workers, a firm can reduce costs and improve profit margins. In addition, cutting redundant administrative workers and combining sales and marketing divisions can significantly lessen labour and head-office costs. This action reduces competition and tends to boost prices. That?s not so good for the consumer, perhaps, but it?s a natural cyclical development in the business realm.? He further adds, ?Global giants like Holcim and Lafarge have joined hands and their estimated capacity in Indian market is now at 65 million tonne. Indian giant Aditya Birla is also in the mode of acquiring and merging with small units throughout India to maintain its leadership position. AB group has also expanded its capacity to 59 million tonne, but has plans to enhance further to maintain its leadership. Hence the cement industry will be controlled mainly by two giants. The market will be dictated by the two groups in matter of pricing and supplies.?

Speaking about the positive impact of consolidation in the cement industry, Arvind Pathak, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Cement Company says, ?Consolidation being witnessed in the industry is good and is in the right direction. Serious players increasing stakes in terms of manufacturing capacity is a good indicator of long term growth and stability for cement markets. Large players given the available financial headroom and scale of operation are expected push the industry towards operational efficiency and better service quality to the consumers. Consolidation will ensure not only healthy competition but also high level of quality and service assurance to the end consumers.? He adds, ?The Indian cement markets are poised for unprecedented growth on the back of both infrastructure as well as growth in the housing sector. This can be witnessed in the structural changes in the Indian economy being proposed by the present government. Reliance Cement is gearing up accordingly to cater to the upcoming demand and our capacity addition plans are in line with the expected demand in the coming years.?

Says Noopur Jain, Assistant Vice President, ICRA, ?Of late, there has been some activity of acquisition in cement industry. Indian cement industry is still fragmented and can see some consolidation of assets to synergise. But I have not seen any exits by most companies except those who are facing liquidity crunch. More than consolidation, the more important input in pricing will be the demand-supply because although some sort of consolidation is happening by way of acquisitions, it is not changing the structure of the industry.?

Capacity utilization
After expanding at an average rate of 8-10 per cent in the last three decades, the cement growth in 2013-14 had dwindled to 3 per cent, the lowest in the last 20 years, due to slowdown in the economy and deceleration in the construction activities. With cement production at 256 MT against a capacity at 360 MT, the cement industry was saddled with an idle cement capacity of over 100 MT valuing a colossal dead investment of over Rs 70,000 crore at today?s cost. What will be the impact of lower capacity utilization on the industry as a whole? Says Tripathy, ?We are expecting that the capacity utilization in 2015-16 will be better than current financial year, giving a positive impact on the company bottom-line. The advantages of consolidation have been witnessed for over a decade now since sustained merger and acquisition activity in cement has led to much improvement in profitability and valuations in the sector.? He adds, ?During 2007-12, the cement capacity in India almost doubled to around 300 MTPA. Our capacity utilisation has adequate margin in the Tamil Nadu and AP plants therefore we may be able to fulfill the market demands. Our cement plants in India have grown manifolds in terms of capacity; we are also acquiring some new plants to increase the volume and expand further.?

?While it may be correct when we say the cement industry is projected to operate at 70-75 per cent in the near terms – a closer look at the expected regional performance is required. The central region where Reliance Cement is currently present is expected to operate far better than other areas. Our expectation is that the capacity utilisation in this region would be close to 90 per cent if not more and hence we foresee a positive impact on our performance,? says Pathak. He adds, ?We have current capacity of 5.8 MTPA, operating from four locations – Maihar (Satna), Kundanganj (Raebareilly), Butibori (Nagpur) and Durgapur. We have another 10 MTPA in the immediate pipeline. Capital expenditure is expected to be in the range of Rs 7,000-7,500 crore.?

Cement industry was at its all-time low in FY 14 with a marginal growth by 3 per cent and there was an excess capacity. Now we see a reversal in that trend as the demand has grown. In the first eight months of the current FY, the demand has grown by 8.5 per cent as compared to 3 per cent last fiscal. Says Jain, ?In the previous fiscal, since there was excess capacity existing, there was a slowdown in fresh capacity additions. With the demand is growing now, we expect the excess capacity to be absorbed by the industry in the next 2-3 years and expect the utilization level to improve in medium term from around 72 per cent to 78 per cent by 2017. As per industry trends, the capacity addition in the next two years is going to be in the range of 20-25 million tonne per annum. However, some of these projects will be running with delays and may face execution challenges or they may come up in the middle of the year with the effective capacity addition. I think the demand improvement will be the key for the overall utilization level to improve in future. Also the stable government at the Centre has taken steps to speed up the execution of various projects. All these are going to materialise in the coming 2-3 years.?

Jain adds, ?Although the utilisation level will improve from the current level of 70-72 per cent to 78-80 per cent in a couple of years, it will be still lower than what we saw in the peak of FY 06 and FY07 when India was witnessing a very high growth rate. That time the utilisation level touched 90s and even 100 per cent.? According to him even though there is a surplus capacity in the system, most of the cement players will keep announcing new capacities. This is because many existing plants are very old and they won?t be so efficient. So the players will set up new facilities to increase operational efficiency.

Speaking about the demand scenario, Misra says, ?The metro rail projects in Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and the expansion phase in Delhi drive cement demand in this segment. Concrete roads and national highways, rural linkage roads, development of smart cities, hydel dams, river canal lining and linkage and many other infrastructure related. Airports modernization across major cities will also expand demand. Huge demand of cement is expected to emerge as the above projects are expected to roll out in the entire country. With the huge demand coming, greenfield and brownfield units are going to be set up and by 2020 it is expected that the installed capacity in India would be 500 million tonne.? Misra adds, ?With CCI and its present operating units at Tandur in Telangana, Rajban in Himachal Pradesh (nearer to Uttarakand) and Bokajan in Assam will have the opportunity to maximize its capacity utilisation. We are in process of setting up a new clinkerisation unit at Bokajan and close circuiting at Tandur and Rajban to enhance the existing capacity.?

Challenges
Speaking about the challenges Jain says, ?On the demand side, there needs to be a big push from the government sector to speed up investment in infrastructure and housing, which is happening but it is to be seen whether this is happening on a sustainable basis. Major challenge faced by the industry is the cost. Major cost components are the freight cost, power and fuel cost and raw material cost. The raw material cost is increasing at a steady level, but the freight cost increase is steep due to increase in diesel prices and subsequent raise of freight rates by Indian Railways and other transport and logistics firms. This is happening at a time when the industry is already facing the slowdown.?

Misra is on the same page. He says, ?The rising cost of production attributed mainly due to high price of energy and coal is adversely affecting the industry. Also there is at time the issue of availability of railway rakes. Transportation at times by road and especially for loose cement movement is a challenge in front of the industry. Another aspect is the taxes which forms about 60 per cent of the price of cement (taxes/duties direct and indirect). There is a pressing need to rationalise the tax structure.?

Pathak had this to say. ?It may be observed that while the manufacturing facilities are concentrated around the limestone belts these facilities are catering to the entire nation. Cost of logistics account for over 35 to 40 per cent of the total delivered cost of cement to the end consumers. Innovations have taken place in terms of adoption of split grinding/blending facilities bringing down the cost of logistics however; availability of railway infrastructure (rakes, reach and unloading facilities), roads and fragmented transportation service providers pose a major challenge to the industry to increase efficiency in terms of total delivered cost of cement. We as an industry have to start looking at sea route and inland water ways to effectively and efficiently cater to the upcoming demand and start investing in developing these infrastructures. Says Tripathy ?Our current capacity is 20 million tonne of cement including the group plants in Odisha and newly acquired Bokaro grinding unit. We have existing plants in Tamil Nadu three lines, AP one kiln, Meghalaya one kiln and a grinding unit in Assam near Guwahati. We are currently executing two green field projects, one near Belgaum in Karnataka and the other one in Assam. These two projects will be commissioned in year 2015 and will add another 3 million tonne to our current capacity making a grand total of 23 million tonne per annum.?

However, the long term growth seems to be intact. The government?s continuous thrust on and commit?ment for, affordable housing, construction of cement concrete roads, creation of 100 smart cities, world-class infrastructure development, with emphasis on development of freight corridors and ports connectivity should give a definite fillip to the creation of more demand for cement in the country.

Agith G Antony with input from Sudheer Vathiyath

Concrete

PROMECON introduces infrared-based tertiary air measurement system for cement kilns

Published

1 day ago

May 20, 2026

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The new solution promisescontinuous, real-time tertiary air flow measurement in cement plant operations.

PROMECON GmbH has launched the McON IR Compact, an infrared-based measuring system designed to deliver continuous, real-time tertiary air flow measurement in cement plant operations. The system addresses the longstanding process control challenge of accurate tertiary air monitoring under extreme kiln conditions. It uses patented infrared time-of-flight measurement technology that operates without calibration or maintenance intervention.

Precise tertiary air measurement is a critical requirement for stable rotary kiln operation. The McON IR Compact is engineered to function reliably at temperatures up to 1,200°C and in the presence of abrasive clinker dust. Its vector-based digital measurement architecture ensures that readings remain unaffected by swirl, dust deposits or drift. Due to these conditions conventional measurement systems in pyroprocess environments are often compromised.

The system is fully non-intrusive and requires no K-factors, recalibration or periodic readjustment, enabling years of uninterrupted operation. This design directly supports plant availability and reduces the maintenance overhead typically associated with process instrumentation in high-temperature zones.

PROMECON has deployed the McON IR Compact at multiple cement facilities, including Warta Cement in Poland. Plant operators report that the system has aided in identifying blockages, optimising purging cycles for gas burners, and supplying accurate flow data for AI-based process optimisation programmes. The practical outcomes include more stable kiln operation, improved process control, and earlier detection of process disturbances.

On the energy side, real-time tertiary air data enables reduction in induced draft fan load and helps flatten process oscillations across the pyroprocess. This translates to lower fuel and energy consumption, fewer unplanned shutdowns, and a measurable reduction in NOx peaks. This directly reflects on the downstream cost implications for plants operating SCR or SNCR systems for emissions compliance.

Concrete

Filtration Technology is Critical for Efficient Logistics

Published

6 days ago

May 15, 2026

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Niranjan Kirloskar, MD, Fleetguard Filters, makes the case that filtration technology, which has been long treated as a routine consumable, is in fact a strategic performance enabler across every stage of cement production and logistics.

India’s cement industry forms the core for infrastructure growth of the country. With an expected compound annual growth rate of six to eight per cent, India has secured its position as the second-largest cement producer globally. This growth is a result of the increasing demand across, resulting in capacity expansion. Consequently, cement manufacturers are now also focusing on running the factories as efficiently as possible to stay competitive and profitable.
While a large portion of focus still remains on production technologies and capacity utilisation, the hidden factor in profitability is the efficiency of cement logistics. The logistics alone account for nearly 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the total cost of cement, making efficiency in this segment a key lever for profitability and reliability.
In the midst of this complex and high-intensity ecosystem, filtration often remains one of the most underappreciated yet essential enablers of performance.

A demanding operational landscape
Cement production and logistics inherently operate in some of the harshest industrial environments. With processes such as quarrying, crushing, grinding, clinker production, and bulk material handling expose the machinery to constant high temperatures, heavy loads, and dust, often the silent destructive force for engines.
The ecosystem is abrasive, and often one with a high contamination index. These challenging conditions demand equipment such as the excavators, crushers, compressors, and transport vehicles to perform and perform efficiently. The continuous exposure to contamination across every aspect like air, fuel, lubrication, and even hydraulic systems causes long-term damage. Studies have also shown that 70 to 80 per cent of hydraulic system failures are directly linked to contamination, while primary cause of engine wear is inadequate air filtration.
For engines as heavy as these, even a minor contaminant has a cascading effect; reducing efficiency, performance and culminating to unplanned downtime. Particles as small as 5 to 10 microns, far smaller than a human hair (~70 microns), can cause significant damage to critical engine components. In an industry where margins are closely linked to operational efficiency, such disruptions can significantly affect both cost structures and delivery timelines.

Dust management: A persistent challenge
Dust is a natural by-product in cement operations. From drilling and blasting in the quarries to packing in plants, this fine particulate matter does occupy a large space in operations. Dust concentration levels in quarry and crushing zones often create extremely high particulate exposure for equipment. These fine particles, when enter the engines and critical systems, accelerates the wear and tear of the component, affecting directly the operational efficiency. Over time every block fall; engine performance declines, fuel consumption rises, and maintenance cycles shorten. In this case, effective air filtration is the natural first line of defence. Advanced filtration systems are designed to capture high volumes of particulate matter while maintaining consistent airflow, ensuring that engines and equipment operate under optimal conditions.
In high-dust applications, as in cement production, even the filtration systems are expected to sustain performance over extended periods without the need of frequent replacement. This becomes crucial in remote quarry locations where access to frequent maintenance may be limited.

Fluid cleanliness and system integrity
Beyond air filtration, fluid systems also play a crucial role for equipment reliability in cement operations. Fuel systems are required to remain free from contaminants for efficient working of combustion and injection protection. Additionally, lubrication systems also need to maintain the oil purity to reduce friction and prevent any premature wear of moving parts. The hydraulic systems, which are key to several heavy equipment operations, are especially sensitive to contamination.
If fine particles or water enters these systems, it can lead to reduced efficiency, erratic performance, and eventual failure of the system. Modern filtration systems are designed with high-efficiency media capable of removing extremely fine contaminants, with advanced fuel and oil filtration solutions filtering particles as small as two to five microns. Multi-stage filtration systems further ensure that fluid performance is maintained even under challenging operating conditions.
Another critical aspect of fuel systems is water separation. Removing moisture helps prevent corrosion, improves combustion efficiency and enhances overall engine reliability. Modern water separation technologies can achieve over 95 per cent efficiency in removing water from fuel systems.

Ensuring reliability across the value chain
Filtration plays a critical role across every stage of cement logistics:
• Quarry operations: Equipment operates in highly abrasive environments, requiring strong protection against dust ingress and hydraulic contamination.
• Processing units: Crushers, kilns, and grinding mills depend on clean lubrication and cooling systems to sustain continuous operations.
• Material handling systems: Pneumatic and mechanical systems rely on clean air and fluid systems for efficiency and reliability.
• Transportation networks: Bulk carriers and trucks must maintain engine health and fuel efficiency to ensure timely deliveries.
Across these operations, filtration plays a vital role; as it supports consistent equipment performance while reducing the risk of unexpected failures.
Effective filtration solutions can reduce unscheduled equipment failures by 30 to 50 per cent across heavy-duty operations.

Uptime as a strategic imperative
In cement manufacturing, uptime is currency. Downtime not only delays the production, but it also greatly impacts the supply commitments and logistics planning. With the right filtration systems, contaminants are kept at bay from entering the
critical systems, and they also significantly extend the service intervals.
Optimised filtration can extend service intervals by 20 to 40 per cent, reducing maintenance frequency while maintaining consistent performance across demanding operating conditions. Filtration systems designed for heavy-duty applications sustain efficiency throughout their lifecycle, ensuring reliable protection with minimal interruptions. This leads to improved equipment availability, lower maintenance costs, and more predictable operations, with well-maintained systems capable of achieving uptime levels of over 90 to 95 per cent in challenging cement environments.

Supporting emission and sustainability goals
With the rising environmental awareness, the cement industry too is aligning with the stricter norms and sustainability targets. In this scenario, the operational efficiency is directly linked to emission control.

Air and fuel systems that are clean enable
much more efficient combustion. They also reduce emissions from both the stationary equipment and transport fleets. Similarly, with a well-maintained fluid cleanliness, emission systems function better. Poor combustion due to contamination can increase emissions by 5 to 10 per cent, making clean systems critical for compliance.
Additionally, efficient and longer lasting filtration systems significantly reduce any waste generation and contribute to increased sustainable maintenance practices. Extended-life filtration solutions can reduce filter disposal and maintenance waste by 15 to 20 per cent. Smart and efficient filtration in this case plays an important role in meeting the both regulatory and environmental objectives within the industry.

Advancements in filtration technology
Over the years, there has been a significant evolution in the filtration technology to meet the modern industrial applications.
Key developments include:
• High-efficiency filtration media capable of capturing very fine particles without restricting flow
• Compact and integrated designs that combine multiple filtration functions
• Extended service life solutions that reduce replacement frequency and maintenance downtime
• Application-specific engineering tailored to different stages of cement operations
Modern multi-layer filtration media can improve dust-holding capacity by up to two to three times compared to conventional systems, while maintaining consistent performance. These advancements have transformed filtration from a basic maintenance component into a critical performance system.

Adapting to diverse operating conditions
The cement industry of India operates across diverse geographies. Spanning across regions with arid regions with higher dust levels, to the coastal areas with higher humidity, challenges of each region pose different threats to the engines. Modern filtration systems are thus tailored to address these unique challenges of each region.
Indian operating environments often range from 0°C to over 50°C, with some of the highest dust loads globally in mining zones.
Additionally, filtration technology can also be customised to variations which then align the system design with factors like dust load, temperature, and equipment usage patterns. Equipment utilisation levels in India are typically higher than global averages, making robust filtration even more critical. This approach ensures optimal performance and durability across different operational contexts.

Impact on total cost of ownership
Filtration has a direct and measurable impact on the total cost of ownership of equipment.
Effective filtration leads to:
• Lower wear and tear on critical components
• Reduced maintenance and repair costs
• Improved fuel efficiency
• Extended equipment life
• Higher operational uptime
Effective filtration can extend engine life by 20 to 30 per cent and reduce overall maintenance costs by 15 to 25 per cent over the equipment lifecycle. These benefits collectively enhance productivity and reduce lifecycle costs. Conversely, inadequate filtration can result in frequent breakdowns, increased maintenance expenditure, and reduced asset utilisation.

Building a more efficient cement ecosystem
With the rising demand across various sectors, the cement industry is expected to expand at an unprecedented rate. This growth is forcing the production to move towards a more efficient and resilient system of operations. This requires attention not only to production technologies but also to the supporting systems that enable consistent performance. Filtration must be viewed as a strategic investment rather than a routine consumable. By ensuring the cleanliness of air and fluids across systems, it supports reliability, efficiency, and sustainability.

The road ahead
The future of cement logistics will be shaped by increasing mechanisation, digital monitoring, and stricter environmental standards. The industry is also witnessing a shift towards predictive maintenance and condition monitoring, where filtration performance is increasingly integrated with real-time equipment diagnostics.
In this evolving landscape, the role of filtration will become even more critical. As equipment becomes more advanced and operating conditions more demanding, the need for precise contamination control will continue to grow. From quarry to construction site, filtration technology underpins the performance of every critical system. It enables equipment to operate efficiently, reduces operational risks, and supports the industry’s broader goals of growth and sustainability. In many ways, it is the unseen force that keeps the cement ecosystem moving, quietly ensuring that every link in the value chain performs as expected.

About the author
Niranjan Kirloskar, Managing Director, Fleetguard Filters, is focused on driving innovation, operational excellence, and long-term business growth through strategic and people-centric leadership. With a strong foundation in ethics and forward-thinking decision-making, he champions a culture of collaboration, accountability, and technological advancement.

Concrete

Cement’s Next Fuel Shift

Published

6 days ago

May 15, 2026

admin

Jignesh Kindaria highlights how Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) is emerging as a critical lever for cost savings, decarbonisation and competitive advantage in the cement industry.

India is simultaneously grappling with two crises: a mounting waste emergency and an urgent need to decarbonise its most carbon-intensive industries. The cement sector, the second-largest in the world and the backbone of the nation’s infrastructure ambitions, sits at the centre of both. It consumes enormous quantities of fossil fuel, and it has the technical capacity to consume something else entirely: the waste our cities cannot get rid of.
According to CPCB and NITI Aayog projections, India generates approximately 62.4 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with that figure expected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. Much of this waste is energy-rich and non-recyclable. At the same time, cement kilns operate at material temperatures of approximately 1,450 degrees Celsius, with gas temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees. This high-temperature environment is ideal for co-processing, ensuring the complete thermal destruction of organic compounds without generating toxic residues. The physics are in our favour. The infrastructure is not.
Pre-processing is not the support act for co-processing. It is the main event. Get the particle size wrong, get the moisture wrong, get the calorific value wrong and your kiln thermal stability will suffer the consequences.

The regulatory push is real
The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2026 mandate that cement plants progressively replace solid fossil fuels with Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), starting at a 5 per cent baseline and scaling to 15 per cent within six years. NITI Aayog’s 2026 Roadmap for Cement Sector Decarbonisation targets 20 to 25 per cent Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) by 2030. Beyond compliance, every tonne of coal replaced by RDF generates measurable carbon reductions which is monetisable under India’s emerging Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS). TSR is no longer a sustainability metric. It is a financial lever.
Yet our own field assessments across multiple Indian cement plants reveal a sobering reality: the primary barrier to scaling AFR adoption is not waste availability. It is the fragmented and under-engineered pre-processing ecosystem that sits between the waste and the kiln.

Why Indian waste is a different engineering problem
Indian municipal solid waste is not the material that imported shredding equipment was designed for. Our waste streams frequently exceed 40 per cent to 50 per cent moisture content, particularly during monsoon cycles, saturated with abrasive inerts including sand, glass, and stone. Plants relying on imported OEM equipment face months of downtime awaiting proprietary spare parts. Machines built for segregated, low-moisture waste fail quickly and disrupt the entire pre-processing operation in Indian conditions.
The two most common failures we observe are what I call the biting teeth problem and the chewing teeth problem. Plants relying solely on a primary shredder reduce bulk waste to large fractions, but the output remains too coarse for stable kiln combustion. Others attempt to use a secondary shredder as a standalone unit without a primary stage to pre-size the feed, leading to catastrophic mechanical failure. When both stages are present but mismatched in throughput capacity, the system becomes a bottleneck. Achieving the 40 to 70 tonnes per hour required for meaningful coal displacement demands a precisely coordinated two-stage process.

Engineering a made-in-India answer
At Fornnax, our response to these challenges is grounded in one principle: Indian waste demands Indian engineering. Our systems are built around feedstock homogeneity, the holy grail of kiln stability. Consistent particle size and predictable calorific value are the foundation of stable kiln combustion. Without them, no TSR target is achievable at scale.
Our SR-MAX2500 Dual Shaft Primary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive) processes raw, baled, or loosely mixed MSW, C&I waste, bulky waste, and plastics, reducing them to approximately 150 mm fractions at throughputs of up to 40 tonnes per hour. The R-MAX 3300 Single Shaft Secondary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive), introduced in 2025, takes that primary output and produces RDF fractions in the 30 to 80 mm range at up to 30 tonnes per hour, specifically optimised for consistent kiln feeding. We have also introduced electric drive configurations under the SR-100 HD series, with capacities between 5 and 40 tonnes per hour, already operational at a leading Indian waste-processing facility.
Looking ahead, Fornnax is expanding its portfolio with the upcoming SR-MAX3600 Hydraulic Drive primary shredder at up to 70 tonnes per hour and the R-MAX2100 Hydraulic drive secondary shredder at up to 20 tonnes per hour, designed specifically for the large-scale throughput that higher TSR ambitions require.

The investment case is now
The 2070 Net-Zero target is not a distant goal for India’s cement sector. It starts today, with decisions being made on the plant floor.
The SWM Rules 2026 are already in effect, requiring cement plants to replace coal with RDF. Carbon credit markets are opening up, and coal prices are not going to get cheaper. Every tonne of coal a cement plant replaces with waste-derived fuel saves money on one side and generates carbon credit revenue on the other. Pre-processing infrastructure is no longer just a compliance requirement. It is a business investment with a measurable return.
The good news is that nothing is missing. The technology works. The waste is available in every Indian city. The government has provided the policy direction. The only thing standing between where the industry is today and where it needs to be is the commitment to build the right infrastructure.
The cement companies that move now will not just meet the regulations. They will be ahead of every competitor that waits.

About the author
Jignesh Kundaria is the Director and CEO of Fornnax Technology. Over an experience spanning more than two decades in the recycling industry, he has established himself as one of India’s foremost voices on waste-to-fuel technology and alternative fuel infrastructure.