Environment

We wish to share best practices by encouraging collaboration

Published

7 years ago

January 2, 2019

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It was nearly a year ago that nine of the leading global majors in the cement and concrete sector, including CEMEX, CNBM, CRH, Dangote, Eurocement, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Taiheiyo and Votorantim, launched the Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA). INDIAN CEMENT REVIEW recently caught up with Benjamin Sporton, CEO, GCCA in New Delhi to understand how the global body seeks to develop and strengthen the sector’s contribution to sustainable construction by promoting the development of durable, resilient and environmentally sensitive buildings and infrastructure as well as its plans for India.

It’s been four months since you took charge as Chief Executive at GCCA. What would be your role at the association going forward?
The GCCA essentially has three main objectives. One of them is to ensure that we maintain the work of the Cement Sustainability Initiative; to continue the focus and accelerate the work of the industry’s drive on sustainability right across the globe. We are going to keep working on that. Included with this is taking on the Getting the Numbers Right or GNR reporting and the sustainability guidance work. But the other two elements of the programme that are probably even more exciting are to run innovation across the cement and concrete industries, where we can, for example, bring best practices from one country and share them with another. But most importantly, and the reason why the GCCA has been established is to be the global voice of concrete by speaking about its role as the sustainable building material of choice in construction.

As the GCCA head, this is your first visit to the country. What kind of engagement do you seek to build in India, which is both the world’s fastest-growing major economy and also urbanising at a rapid clip at this point?
As you rightly said, the country is both growing and urbanising very fast. Your Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs went on record saying that India will be adding a new Chicago to the public space every year until 2030. That’s pretty phenomenal! Around 600 million people are going to be living in cities by 2030 in India. These are big changes, presenting enormous challenges and opportunities It’s clear that cement and concrete will continue to be incredibly important to India’s future because you are talking about building new cities with vital infrastructure requirements. But even in the growing existing cities, providing affordable housing, public sanitation and water supply, these are all things that are critical to India’s sustainable development and that cement and concrete will play a very important role in well into the future. Our member companies are committed to a sustainable future and we will continue the work in India of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) India chapter with a new GCCA India. We are now in the process of setting this up and that will, hopefully, start operating in the first quarter of 2019.

Earlier, as the CEO of the World Coal Association (WCA), you played a pivotal role in changing the narrative around the fuel. What are some of the areas that you would like to initiate a dialogue as far as cement and concrete are concerned?
Well, some of the challenges are similar in terms of sustainability, low carbon economy and climate change, and there are overlaps there. But there are also some differences. With coal there is always a challenge with its existence and therein lies the argument that it may not have a role in the future. That’s a very difficult argument to try and make in relation to cement and concrete as they are fundamental to where life happens. What the GCCA can do is work with partners both domestically and internationally, not only to build an understanding about the fundamental role that concrete plays in building the modern world, but also to build new partnerships that help improve the way we think about concrete. Like what we can do in terms of building design or the role concrete plays in building efficiency through thermal mass and the role of recarbonation in absorbing CO2. All of those factors we need to be talking more about.

Since the circular economy is the new buzzword, would GCCA also be promoting recycling of concrete globally?
Absolutely! There are a couple of interesting things about concrete. One of them is that concrete actually absorbs CO2 and that’s part of the circular economy as well. If you have a concrete building that absorbs CO2, you can break it down towards the end of its life and recycle to turn it back into concrete. The old concrete can then essentially be treated as a new aggregate. Moreover, you don’t only get to reuse the material, but the CO2 also gets embedded into a new building. We will be looking into this at the GCCA, examining the work underway and ensuring that there is both understanding and recognition of how it can help in sustainable construction.

What are some of the most exciting regions as far as cement is concerned?
The thing that I always got very excited about in my old role at WCA was the fact that by 2030 1.1 billion people are going to move into cities, globally. A lot of that will happen in the developing and emerging economies in Asia and some in Africa. That is a really big number and to me probably one of the most significant in terms of both cement and concrete because you are talking about providing affordable homes, infrastructure, schools and hospitals. And all of that needs concrete. How we use concrete in those structures is going to be incredibly important and we need to make sure that we understand the role that it has as the sustainable building material of choice. Recently I read an article about the top 50 cities you’ve probably never heard of. It looked at global megacities in 2050 and beyond, and a lot of them were in Africa. There is a growth in urban populations in Africa as well as here in India and elsewhere in Asia.

Are you also looking at enhancing industry-level linkages?
One of the important things for our industry is collaboration and that means the industry working together across companies and the sector. We really want to be able to share the best practices across our membership. Anything interesting that is happening in India that isn’t happening in the Americas, for example, we should be looking at sharing it. Similarly, if there is something interesting happening in China that isn’t happening in India, we can look at sharing it. That is the sort of thing we should be doing across the industry. But globally as well, the industry should be collaborating with other players, institutions, governments, policymakers and financiers to talk about the future of construction with concrete. Say, on how we can work together on innovations around lower carbon cement, alternative binders using waste materials and innovative building products with concrete.

What do you propose to achieve in India?
One of the things that we really want to achieve is the establishment of GCCA India and that would take over the work of CSI in India. It is important that the agenda for GCCA India is set by the industry here. The companies in India know what is important to them and, therefore, they should be setting the local agenda. We continue to work across the industry on innovations in cement to reduce CO2 as well as issues around road transportation. One of the things that I have learned on my trip here is that ready-mix concrete and pre-cast concrete are much less utilised in India than elsewhere in the world. It is something that we can do to talk about the role of concrete being produced in a more centralised way, which will help in improving both quality and meeting other challenges as well.

– MANISH PANT

Concrete

We engineer smarter systems to reduce waste

Published

1 month ago

December 12, 2025

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Naveen Kumar Sharma, AVP – Sales and Marketing, Toshniwal Industries, talks about redefining instrumentation with customised, digitally enabled solutions engineered for harsh plant environments.

For over six decades, Toshniwal Industries has played a pioneering role in advancing process instrumentation for Indian manufacturing. In this exclusive conversation with Kanika Mathur, Naveen Kumar Sharma, AVP – Sales & Marketing, explains how the company designs kiln and grinding plant solutions tailored to the unique demands of the cement industry. As plants transition to higher AFR use and smarter automation, Toshniwal’s technologies offer greater reliability, accuracy and predictive insight.

Tell us how are your process instruments and condition monitoring system customised for cement kilns and grinding plant operations?
Toshniwal is a company with a legacy of over 65 years, and our experience has taught us that cement kilns and grinding units are fundamentally different in their operational demands. As an Indian company, we understand the unique requirements of Indian cement manufacturers. We work closely with our customers, engage deeply with their technical teams, and study operational challenges in real-time.
Based on these insights, we customise our solutions for both kiln and grinding applications. This tailoring is not just at a product level, but at a solution level—engineering design, instrumentation logic, and process optimisation. Our primary objective, for both the industry and our customers, is to reduce yield loss. Every customisation we implement is driven by this goal. We engineer smarter systems to reduce waste, improve consistency and increase plant reliability.
Ultimately, our solutions are built on an understanding that cement manufacturers require robust, practical and maintainable instruments. We design with this mindset so plants can operate more efficiently, with better control and higher profitability.

With the rising use of AFR, how do your solutions support thermal zone reliability and process time?
Our solutions are built around four core parameters: energy efficiency, yield loss reduction, product quality and environmental responsibility. These pillars drive our engineering decisions and define how our technologies support cement plants, especially as they adopt alternative fuels and raw materials (AFR).
We strongly believe in energy conservation. Every product we offer—whether for thermal monitoring, kiln control or flame optimisation—is engineered to improve energy performance. Reducing yield loss is another principle deeply embedded in our solutions, because production interruptions and material losses directly affect plant profitability and clinker quality.
We are also highly conscious of the end-product quality delivered by our customers to their markets. Consistency in burning, heat transfer, and thermal profiling directly influences clinker characteristics, and our instruments help maintain this stability.
Lastly, and most importantly, we care about the environment. We want to leave a greener world for the next generation. This mindset aligns with India’s digitalisation movement, advocated by our Prime Minister. Digital technologies are crucial for optimising AFR use, process stability, emissions and kiln efficiency. We are proud to contribute to this transition.
By optimising flame patterns, energy use, and pollution, our solutions deliver direct and indirect savings. Plants benefit from lower operational losses, reduced maintenance, and improved reliability, especially in pyroprocessing zones.

Tell us how do you address harsh environment challenges in cement plants, say dust, temperature, etc. with your sensor and monitoring?
This is a very important question because cement plants, steel plants, and power plants operate in extremely harsh environments. There are two major categories of specifications that we must respect while designing solutions: technical specifications and environmental specifications. Technical specifications relate to performance accuracy, measurement integrity, responsiveness and process safety. Environmental specifications, on the other hand, relate to high temperatures, heavy dust, humidity, vibrations and corrosive atmospheres. Our solutions are engineered to withstand both. We customise sensors, housings, mounting mechanisms and protective systems so that our instruments operate at 100 per cent functionality in harsh conditions. We ensure that the plant experiences minimal downtime from our systems. That is our engineering philosophy—solutions must work reliably in real-world environments, not just in ideal laboratory conditions.

What retrofit pathways do you offer for older cement lines to upgrade measurement and monitoring systems and how is the Indian market responding?
Every solution we provide is scalable and digitally adaptable. Technology evolves rapidly, and our offerings evolve with it. When we upgrade instruments or monitoring systems, we design them to integrate with existing plant infrastructure, so customers do not have to rebuild everything from scratch. Once our solution is installed, software upgrades or performance improvements can often be deployed without major cost. This ensures that customers continue to benefit from ongoing technological advancements. The Indian market has responded positively to this approach. Plant operators appreciate solutions that are future-ready and dynamic rather than static. Scalability helps them maintain competitiveness, extend asset life, and move toward smart manufacturing with confidence.

So how is your organisation leveraging digital technologies in your instrumentation portfolio for cement plants?
Digitalisation is at the core of every product we manufacture. We stand firmly behind the digital movement, not only because it represents efficiency, but because it is the direction in which the Indian industrial ecosystem is evolving. We deploy machine-vision technologies, advanced inline monitoring systems, and solutions capable of visualising the
inside of the furnace. These systems help reduce downtime, enable predictive asset management and provide actionable analytics to customers. All our technologies communicate seamlessly with Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 automation. This allows integration across SCADA, DCS, ERP, and cloud ecosystems. Digitalisation for us is not an add-on—it is foundational to how our instrumentation is built.

What are your key innovation priorities to help Indian cement plant producers hit harder, higher substitution rates, lower emissions and smarter processing?
Sustainability is a national priority, and we are committed to supporting it. Our current portfolio already helps improve efficiency, reduce emissions, and support alternative fuel integration. But our innovation roadmap goes further. We are now developing specialised productivity-oriented software modules that will provide proactive alerts—not just alarms triggered after a fault has occurred. These modules will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect patterns early. The intention is to help plant teams take corrective actions ahead of time, reducing yield loss and environmental impact. Instead of informing the plant that a disruption has happened, the system will indicate that a disruption will happen, giving operators time to prevent it. We believe that within the next 12 to 18 months, we will launch these predictive solutions in combination with our instrumentation. When implemented, they will significantly improve decision-making, process stability and environmental performance across the Indian cement sector.

– Kanika Mathur

Concrete

India donates 225t of cement for Myanmar earthquake relief

Published

7 months ago

June 17, 2025

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On 23 May 2025, the Indian Navy ship UMS Myitkyina arrived at Thilawa (MITT) port carrying 225 tonnes of cement provided by the Indian government to aid post-earthquake rebuilding efforts in Myanmar. As reported by the Global Light of Myanmar, a formal handover of 4500 50kg cement bags took place that afternoon. The Yangon Region authorities managed the loading of the cement onto trucks for distribution to the earthquake-affected zones.

Concrete

Reclamation of Used Oil for a Greener Future

Published

7 months ago

June 16, 2025

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In this insightful article, KB Mathur, Founder and Director, Global Technical Services, explores how reclaiming used lubricants through advanced filtration and on-site testing can drive cost savings, enhance productivity, and support a greener industrial future. Read on to discover how oil regeneration is revolutionising sustainability in cement and core industries.

The core principle of the circular economy is to redefine the life cycle of materials and products. Unlike traditional linear models where waste from industrial production is dumped/discarded into the environment causing immense harm to the environment;the circular model seeks to keep materials literally in continuous circulation. This is achievedthrough processes cycle of reduction, regeneration, validating (testing) and reuse. Product once
validated as fit, this model ensures that products and materials are reintroduced into the production system, minimising waste. The result? Cleaner and greener manufacturing that fosters a more sustainable planet for future generations.

The current landscape of lubricants
Modern lubricants, typically derived from refined hydrocarbons, made from highly refined petroleum base stocks from crude oil. These play a critical role in maintaining the performance of machinery by reducing friction, enabling smooth operation, preventing damage and wear. However, most of these lubricants; derived from finite petroleum resources pose an environmental challenge once used and disposed of. As industries become increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, the paramount importance or focus is shifting towards reducing the carbon footprint and maximising the lifespan of lubricants; not just for environmental reasons but also to optimise operational costs.
During operations, lubricants often lose their efficacy and performance due to contamination and depletion of additives. When these oils reach their rejection limits (as they will now offer poor or bad lubrication) determined through laboratory testing, they are typically discarded contributing to environmental contamination and pollution.
But here lies an opportunity: Used lubricants can be regenerated and recharged, restoring them to their original performance level. This not only mitigates environmental pollution but also supports a circular economy by reducing waste and conserving resources.

Circular economy in lubricants
In the world of industrial machinery, lubricating oils while essential; are often misunderstood in terms of their life cycle. When oils are used in machinery, they don’t simply ‘DIE’. Instead, they become contaminated with moisture (water) and solid contaminants like dust, dirt, and wear debris. These contaminants degrade the oil’s effectiveness but do not render it completely unusable. Used lubricants can be regenerated via advanced filtration processes/systems and recharged with the use of performance enhancing additives hence restoring them. These oils are brought back to ‘As-New’ levels. This new fresher lubricating oil is formulated to carry out its specific job providing heightened lubrication and reliable performance of the assets with a view of improved machine condition. Hence, contributing to not just cost savings but leading to magnified productivity, and diminished environmental stress.

Save oil, save environment
At Global Technical Services (GTS), we specialise in the regeneration of hydraulic oils and gear oils used in plant operations. While we don’t recommend the regeneration of engine oils due to the complexity of contaminants and additives, our process ensures the continued utility of oils in other applications, offering both cost-saving and environmental benefits.

Regeneration process
Our regeneration plant employs state-of-the-art advanced contamination removal systems including fine and depth filters designed to remove dirt, wear particles, sludge, varnish, and water. Once contaminants are removed, the oil undergoes comprehensive testing to assess its physico-chemical properties and contamination levels. The test results indicate the status of the regenerated oil as compared to the fresh oil.
Depending upon the status the oil is further supplemented with high performance additives to bring it back to the desired specifications, under the guidance of an experienced lubrication technologist.
Contamination Removal ? Testing ? Additive Addition
(to be determined after testing in oil test laboratory)

The steps involved in this process are as follows:
1. Contamination removal: Using advanced filtration techniques to remove contaminants.
2. Testing: Assessing the oil’s properties to determine if it meets the required performance standards.
3. Additive addition: Based on testing results, performance-enhancing additives are added to restore the oil’s original characteristics.

On-site oil testing laboratories
The used oil from the machine passes through 5th generation fine filtration to be reclaimed as ‘New Oil’ and fit to use as per stringent industry standards.
To effectively implement circular economy principles in oil reclamation from used oil, establishing an on-site oil testing laboratory is crucial at any large plants or sites. Scientific testing methods ensure that regenerated oil meets the specifications required for optimal machine performance, making it suitable for reuse as ‘New Oil’ (within specified tolerances). Hence, it can be reused safely by reintroducing it in the machines.
The key parameters to be tested for regenerated hydraulic, gear and transmission oils (except Engine oils) include both physical and chemical characteristics of the lubricant:

Kinematic Viscosity
Flash Point
Total Acid Number
Moisture / Water Content
Oil Cleanliness
Elemental Analysis (Particulates, Additives and Contaminants)
Insoluble

The presence of an on-site laboratory is essential for making quick decisions; ensuring that test reports are available within 36 to 48 hours and this prevents potential mechanical issues/ failures from arising due to poor lubrication. This symbiotic and cyclic process helps not only reduce waste and conserve oil, but also contributes in achieving cost savings and playing a big role in green economy.

Conclusion
The future of industrial operations depends on sustainability, and reclaiming used lubricating oils plays a critical role in this transformation. Through 5th Generation Filtration processes, lubricants can be regenerated and restored to their original levels, contributing to both environmental preservation and economic efficiency.
What would happen if we didn’t recycle our lubricants? Let’s review the quadruple impacts as mentioned below:
1. Oil Conservation and Environmental Impact: Used lubricating oils after usage are normally burnt or sold to a vendor which can be misused leading to pollution. Regenerating oils rather than discarding prevents unnecessary waste and reduces the environmental footprint of the industry. It helps save invaluable resources, aligning with the principles of sustainability and the circular economy. All lubricating oils (except engine oils) can be regenerated and brought to the level of ‘As New Oils’.
2. Cost Reduction Impact: By extending the life of lubricants, industries can significantly cut down on operating costs associated with frequent oil changes, leading to considerable savings over time. Lubricating oils are expensive and saving of lubricants by the process of regeneration will overall be a game changer and highly economical to the core industries.
3. Timely Decisions Impact: Having an oil testing laboratory at site is of prime importance for getting test reports within 36 to 48 hours enabling quick decisions in critical matters that may
lead to complete shutdown of the invaluable asset/equipment.
4. Green Economy Impact: Oil Regeneration is a fundamental part of the green economy. Supporting industries in their efforts to reduce waste, conserve resources, and minimise pollution is ‘The Need of Our Times’.

About the author:
KB Mathur, Founder & Director, Global Technical Services, is a seasoned mechanical engineer with 56 years of experience in India’s oil industry and industrial reliability. He pioneered ‘Total Lubrication Management’ and has been serving the mining and cement sectors since 1999.