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Lubricant solutions for cement industry

Published

6 years ago

January 7, 2019

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Synthetic gear oils for the vertical coal mill is a common trend and every time, more and more cement plants are making use of these type of products.

Since 1885, a chemical company with a long background history. We focus on lubricants (oils and greases), metal working fluids, coolants and car auxiliary products; all of these, meticulously developed in our state-of-the-art R&D centre located in Barcelona.

Our laboratories stand out thanks to having the best equipment for lubricant analysis but, the key point is, the people. Our outstanding technical engineer staff design tailor-made products for all industrial needs, this is possible thanks to their enriched experience and top tier technical knowledge which has been acquired with time and patience.

In order to obtain the highest lubricant performance, the most tough and challenging conditions to take into consideration are: high temperatures, high speeds and heavy loads. These three conditions will easily diminish the lubricant’s function. For example, at cement plants, the most common environment to which the equipment is exposed to is high temperature, heavy load, and abundant dust.

So, the main goal for the maintenance engineer is to find the way to confront these adverse factors and keep production smooth, offering the highest efficiency possible to the machinery. Having the guarantee that the maintenance is being done with an expert company in lubrication, which displays a full range of own-made lubricants is the main drive to success and, safety. Brugarolas S.A., as a 100 per cent original manufacturer, offers its customers the best solution to each single case based on their world-wide established experience.

As we know, nowadays, cement plants all try to push as much as possible their efficiency but, at the same time have the need to reduce costs though energy savings. From the past to now, the production levels have gone from 3000T/D to a boosted 12000 T/D, from using ball mill technology to roller press machines. So, if the equipment has upgraded, shouldn’t the lubricants improve too? Yes, obviously. Each machine has different needs, each need has different solution; according to the machine we will offer a specific lubricant.

When talking about rotary kilns; let’s visualise a new and modern rotary kiln with a diameter size from 4 m to 6 m, the open gear girth will have dimensions from 800 to 1,200 mm, it will have a double gear driving, and the power of the driving motor will be from 670 KW to 1,500 KW, so, the surface gear pressure is for sure going to be much higher than older models (smaller dimension, one gear drive, less power). Pitting, micro-pitting and metal fatigue, all these, are negative outcomes from using old technology open gear lubricants and/or applying them incorrectly. Our job and aim is to offer and transmit the correct information to avoid undesirable effects by using or applying incorrectly lubricants. Selecting the suitable open gear lubricant (neat oil type or fluidy grease+solid additives type) and the suitable lubricant method will allow us to obtain the best protection.

Another example that reflects our expertise and industry-focused range of products: our BESLUX GRAFOL 320. It is the most ideal product to use for the lubrication of the support tire of rotary kilns. This top sold product minimises the friction between supporting parts and the kiln’s tire and, at the same time, offers a dry lubricant film which can stand temperatures of up to 6000C. BESLUX GRAFOL 320 needs to be applied by spraying system between tire and kiln shell. As a correct reference, the gap between the tire and kiln is 10 to 30 mm. Each tire needs to re-lubricated once a week with an average dose of two to three litres, like this, we will be able to obtain the best performance with the guarantee that the equipment is fully protected and will keep in good conditioning.

Not using the correct protection can lead to big and undesired incidents. One of the 3000T/D cement plants, did not use this product on their tire as they insisted on making saving by not using any lubricant. We explained about how the damage can gradually occur and the risk they were taking, but the customer, only orientated on reducing costs did not accept using it. At that time, no problem ever occurred but, when this factory upgraded their production to 6000T/D and also upgraded to a bigger tire, they still believed they did not need to protect this point. After a few months of operation, the rotary kiln started to vibrate heavily and the anti-fire bricks dropped, this caused the factory to stop production and they had to check and inspect all points. They found severe tire wear which destabilized the kiln and lead to rotary problem. After this they started to apply the tire protection lubricant to ensure the kiln turning smoothly.

Nowadays cement factory lubrication is not that simple. It is not only a matter of selling lubricant to the factory, nor simply referring to the OEM indication and supply the product mentioned, it demands more than that. A well prepared technical service team along with the maintenance department of the plant, and taking into account the OEM’s recommendation will have to cooperate together in order to achieve installing a correct lubrication plan that will ensure the safe and good performance of the equipment. Our technical service team has full knowledge on open gear inspection and possess the needed onsite experience, which will not only help to solve any lubricant problem but also be able to give maintenance predictions and guidance. We are very proud of this and are able to offer an international service to all plants in all locations around the globe. Through modern equipment checking, we are able to reveal the real state of the open gear surface and its current conditioning.

Grinding processes have improved. By swapping from common ball mills to roller presses, cement plants have been able to obtain higher production efficiency, but, not all these cement plants have updated their lubricants. The diameter of a roller bearing can nowadays be up to 120 cm, this is a significant size that demands a higher performing grease than a general lithium moly grease, if we continue applying this lithium moly greases we will reduce the life of the bearing drastically. Only by using the suitable grease we can extend the bearing life. We are a lubricant expert on this type machine and, can prove it with OEM approvals and at the same time are proud to say that we have more than 500 units running with our high performance grease. Synthetic gear oils for the vertical coal mill is a common trend and every time, more and more cement plants are making use of these type of products. Although the cost of these may initially frighten, when taking into account the very significant reduction on maintenance costs that these will offer, they end-up being a great option. Moreover, they are much more environmental friendly when compared to common mineral gear oils.

For example, when using a mineral gear oil, it needs to be changed once per one year while, when using a synthetic gear oil it can easily be changed once every four years (always taking into account the oil condition, quality of base oil, the coal dust pollute, etc). We can therefore get substantial saving by avoiding to: stop the mill four times, four times more of waste gear oil, and four times more of maintenance cost. There is a saying that goes as so "you need to put the right person at right place", this can also be applied to lubricants. Our technical service team will always offer the best suggestion and instruct you on the most suitable lubricant for each case. We as, Brugarolas India Pvt, will have a technical service team part of Brugarolas S.A and, according to the condition of your country cement plants’ will be able to provide the most suitable products.

We will provide the "Factory Health Survey" to all India cement plants and, according to our visual and detailed inspection report, the plant maintenance staff will be able to know the real condition of their key equipment. Last but not least, after having checked exhaustively the machinery, will be able to provide the "Prediction Maintenance", here, you will find the new steps to keep the lubrication correctly and never have problems again.

About the author Tony Liu, Asia Manager, Brugarolas

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Price hikes, drop in input costs help cement industry to post positive margins: Care Ratings

Published

3 years ago

October 21, 2021

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Region-wise,the southern region comprises 35% of the total cement capacity, followed by thenorthern, eastern, western and central region comprising 20%, 18%, 14% and 13%of the capacity, respectively.

The cement industry is expected to post positive margins on decent price hikes over the months, falling raw material prices and marked drop in overall production costs, said an analysis of Care Ratings.

Wholesale and retail prices of cement have increased 11.9% and 12.4%, respectively, in the current financial year. As whole prices have remained elevated in most of the markets in the months of FY20, against the corresponding period of the previous year.

Similarly, electricity and fuel cost have declined 11.9% during 9M FY20 due to drop in crude oil prices. Logistics costs, the biggest cost for cement industry, has also dropped 7.7% (selling and distribution) as the Railways extended the benefit of exemption from busy season surcharge. Moreover, the cost of raw materials, too, declined 5.1% given the price of limestone had fallen 11.3% in the same aforementioned period, the analysis said.

According to Care Ratings, though the overall sales revenue has increased only 1.3%, against 16% growth in the year-ago period, the overall expenditure has declined 3.2% which has benefited the industry largely given the moderation in sales.

Even though FY20 has been subdued in terms of production and demand, the fall in cost of production has still supported the cement industry by clocking in positive margins, the rating agency said.

Cement demand is closely linked to the overall economic growth, particularly the housing and infrastructure sector. The cement sector will be seeing a sharp growth in volumes mainly due to increasing demand from affordable housing and other government infrastructure projects like roads, metros, airports, irrigation.

The government’s newly introduced National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), with its target of becoming a $5-trillion economy by 2025, is a detailed road map focused on economic revival through infrastructure development.

The NIP covers a gamut of sectors; rural and urban infrastructure and entails investments of Rs.102 lakh crore to be undertaken by the central government, state governments and the private sector. Of the total projects of the NIP, 42% are under implementation while 19% are under development, 31% are at the conceptual stage and 8% are yet to be classified.

The sectors that will be of focus will be roads, railways, power (renewable and conventional), irrigation and urban infrastructure. These sectors together account for 79% of the proposed investments in six years to 2025. Given the government’s thrust on infrastructure creation, it is likely to benefit the cement industry going forward.

Similarly, the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, aimed at providing affordable housing, will be a strong driver to lift cement demand. Prices have started correcting Q4 FY20 onwards due to revival in demand of the commodity, the agency said in its analysis.

Industry’s sales revenue has grown at a CAGR of 7.3% during FY15-19 but has grown only 1.3% in the current financial year. Tepid demand throughout the country in the first half of the year has led to the contraction of sales revenue. Fall in the total expenditure of cement firms had aided in improving the operating profit and net profit margins of the industry (OPM was 15.2 during 9M FY19 and NPM was 3.1 during 9M FY19). Interest coverage ratio, too, has improved on an overall basis (ICR was 3.3 during 9M FY19).

According to Cement Manufacturers Association, India accounts for over 8% of the overall global installed capacity. Region-wise, the southern region comprises 35% of the total cement capacity, followed by the northern, eastern, western and central region comprising 20%, 18%, 14% and 13% of the capacity, respectively.

Installed capacity of domestic cement makers has increased at a CAGR of 4.9% during FY16-20. Manufacturers have been able to maintain a capacity utilisation rate above 65% in the past quinquennium. In the current financial year due to the prolonged rains in many parts of the country, the capacity utilisation rate has fallen from 70% during FY19 to 66% currently (YTD).

Source:moneycontrol.com

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Wonder Cement shows journey of cement with new campaign

Published

3 years ago

October 21, 2021

admin

The campaign also marks Wonder Cement being the first ever cement brand to enter the world of IGTV…

ETBrandEquity

Cement manufacturing company Wonder Cement, has announced the launch of a digital campaign ‘Har Raah Mein Wonder Hai’. The campaign has been designed specifically to run on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

#HarRaahMeinWonderHai is a one-minute video, designed and conceptualised by its digital media partner Triature Digital Marketing and Technologies Pvt Ltd. The entire journey of the cement brand from leaving the factory, going through various weather conditions and witnessing the beauty of nature and wonders through the way until it reaches the destination i.e., to the consumer is very intriguing and the brand has tried to showcase the same with the film.

Sanjay Joshi, executive director, Wonder Cement, said, "Cement as a product poses a unique marketing challenge. Most consumers will build their homes once and therefore buy cement once in a lifetime. It is critical for a cement company to connect with their consumers emotionally. As a part of our communication strategy, it is our endeavor to reach out to a large audience of this country through digital. Wonder Cement always a pioneer in digital, with the launch of our IGTV campaign #HarRahMeinWonderHai, is the first brand in the cement category to venture into this space. Through this campaign, we have captured the emotional journey of a cement bag through its own perspective and depicted what it takes to lay the foundation of one’s dreams and turn them into reality."

The story begins with a family performing the bhoomi poojan of their new plot. It is the place where they are investing their life-long earnings; and planning to build a dream house for the family and children. The family believes in the tradition of having a ‘perfect shuruaat’ (perfect beginning) for their future dream house. The video later highlights the process of construction and in sequence it is emphasising the value of ‘Perfect Shuruaat’ through the eyes of a cement bag.

Tarun Singh Chauhan, management advisor and brand consultant, Wonder Cement, said, "Our objective with this campaign was to show that the cement produced at the Wonder Cement plant speaks for itself, its quality, trust and most of all perfection. The only way this was possible was to take the perspective of a cement bag and showing its journey of perfection from beginning till the end."

According to the company, the campaign also marks Wonder Cement being the first ever cement brand to enter the world of IGTV. No other brand in this category has created content specific to the platform.

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In spite of company’s optimism, demand weakness in cement is seen in the 4% y-o-y drop in sales volume. (Reuters)

Published

3 years ago

October 21, 2021

admin

Cost cuts and better realizations save? the ?day ?for ?UltraTech Cement, Updated: 27 Jan 2020, Vatsala Kamat from Live Mint

Lower cost of energy and logistics helped Ebitda per tonne rise by about 29% in Q3
Premiumization of acquired brands, synergistic?operations hold promise for future profit growth Topics

UltraTech Cement
India’s largest cement producer UltraTech Cement Ltd turned out a bittersweet show in the December quarter. A sharp drop in fuel costs and higher realizations helped drive profit growth. But the inherent demand weakness was evident in the sales volumes drop during the quarter.

Better realizations during the December quarter, in spite of the 4% year-on-year volume decline, minimized the pain. Net stand-alone revenue fell by 2.6% to ?9,981.8 crore.

But as pointed out earlier, lower costs on most fronts helped profitability. The chart alongside shows the sharp drop in energy costs led by lower petcoke prices, lower fuel consumption and higher use of green power. Logistics costs, too, fell due to lower railway freight charges and synergies from the acquired assets. These savings helped offset the increase in raw material costs.

The upshot: Q3 Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of about ?990 per tonne was 29% higher from a year ago. The jump in profit on a per tonne basis was more or less along expected lines, given the increase in realizations. "Besides, the reduction in net debt by about ?2,000 crore is a key positive," said Binod Modi, analyst at Reliance Securities Ltd.

Graphic by Santosh Sharma/Mint
What also impressed analysts is the nimble-footed integration of the recently merged cement assets of Nathdwara and Century, which was a concern on the Street.

Kunal Shah, analyst (institutional equities) at Yes Securities (India) Ltd, said: "The company has proved its ability of asset integration. Century’s cement assets were ramped up to 79% capacity utilization in December, even as they operated Nathdwara generating an Ebitda of ?1,500 per tonne."

Looks like the demand weakness mirrored in weak sales during the quarter was masked by the deft integration and synergies derived from these acquired assets. This drove UltraTech’s stock up by 2.6% to ?4,643 after the Q3 results were declared on Friday.

Brand transition from Century to UltraTech, which is 55% complete, is likely to touch 80% by September 2020. A report by Jefferies India Pvt. Ltd highlights that the Ebitda per tonne for premium brands is about ?5-10 higher per bag than the average (A cement bag weighs 50kg). Of course, with competition increasing in the arena, it remains to be seen how brand premiumization in the cement industry will pan out. UltraTech Cement scores well among peers here.

However, there are road bumps ahead for the cement sector and for UltraTech. Falling gross domestic product growth, fiscal slippages and lower budgetary allocation to infrastructure sector are making industry houses jittery on growth. Although UltraTech’s management is confident that cement demand is looking up, sustainability and pricing power remains a worry for the near term.