Concrete
Milestone Trends in Indian Cement Industry
KHD charts its green footprints on the road to low carbon emissions.
India is the second largest cement producer in the world and accounted for over 8 per cent of the global installed capacity. Of the total capacity, 98 per cent lies with the private sector and the rest with the public sector. The top 20 companies account for around 70 per cent of the total cement production in India. Having the high quantity and quality of limestone deposits throughout the country, the cement industry has promised huge potential for growth since 1914. In the past five years, the industry has witnessed a CAGR of approximately 5.5 per cent driven by demands in roads, urban infrastructure and commercial real estate. The cement sector has received good investments and support from the Government in the recent past.
In this growing trend, the industry has witnessed ups and downs, technological changes, import-export crisis, increased fuel prices, environment load, alternate solutions, mergers and acquisitions, market strategies, fierce competition and above all sustainability. Various trends were witnessed, which called for solutions that have a global approach particularly low carbon emissions. Due to the incessant changing technology and requirements of cement industry, KHD being a responsible partner is steadily delivering and contributing its best for more than 160 years presenting a sterling example in fulfilling the responsibility as a prime technology supplier. Continual development based on the need from the industry, guided the technology providers to think ahead and gear up to provide the cement industry with the latest state of art technology integrating the innovations, which are leading to the sustainability of the plants in long run. With the depleting resources, concerns for growing greenhouse emissions and sustainable practices, KHD with its long vision approach worked out that for the growth to be consistent the principle, which will form the basis should be derived on the sustainable life cycle. The coming sections will discuss the number of trends witnessed by industry in the past decades.
Trends for an efficient pyroprocessing system: In the past few decades, the basic nature of pyroprocessing has not changed. A little that had changed happened about twenty or thirty years ago, which was the transition from wet to semi-dry and semi-dry to dry processes. Post that, most of the processes have become more and more efficient, but have not changed fundamentally. It›s the continuous evolution of technologies from good to better to best like Preheaters Development in terms of increased efficiency, reduced pressure drops, lower exit temperatures and reduced emissions. For instance, the top stage twin cyclones as supplied by KHD are designed with highest dust collection efficiency of > 96 per cent, low exhaust gas temperatures up to 260oC and low pressure drop as low as 350 mmWG (Fig 1). Another development goes into the calciner series wherein the calciner was developed over a time for usage of alternate fuels of varying degree and quality. The developments were made keeping in view the requirement of industry to use more of alternate fuels than the noble nonrenewable fuel sources (Fig 2). Today the trend stands for the more and more usage of alternate fuels up to 90 per cent in the pyroprocessing system thus, decreasing the load on mother nature and contributing towards the ‘2050 Climate Ambition’.
Another trend is for decreased thermal energy consumption, which is addressed by developing the preheater cyclones and calciner by KHD. To arrest the radiation losses in the system KHD is doing proper insulation in the preheater and ducts along with special aluminum-based paints to retain the heat within the system and increase the availability for intrinsic processes. We will deal with more of the global mandates in coming sections on environment trends.
Cooling solutions have always played a major role in any clinkerisation line. The earlier generations of coolers like the rotary cooler, satellite coolers were replaced by grate coolers in the eras of 90 and later walking floor coolers. Further, developments were made in these coolers as better features like KHD further developed its clinker cooler ‘Static Inlet’ with state-of-art features. Latest generation clinker cooler ‘Static Grate’ is designed with ‘Horse Shoe’ for optimal clinker distribution on the static grate with high specific cooling air to achieve the benefits of highest recuperation efficiency, excellent clinker distribution across cooler width, minimum ‘Snowman’ formation and low clinker temperature at beginning of moving grate. For the cooling zone section, low maintenance-high efficiency grate plates are being offered. The salient features of these patented plates are autogenous wear protection and reduced pressure drop due to optimally designed aeration slots. Also, the fall through of dust was eliminated by the development of better sealing arrangements (Fig 3).
Another upcoming trend in the cement industry is the generation of power from exhaust. As known India is amongst the few G20 countries to be on track to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) committed under the Paris Agreement. According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the Indian Cement Industry has the highest potential (amongst identified sectors) to generate energy from waste. However, potential also lies in providing the technologies, which can provide the maximum waste heat. For instance, KHD coolers have high potential to provide more of the exhaust heat from its midpoint in order to be captured by the boiler after hot air recirculation
Also providing an intermediate crusher has an advantage of increasing the midair temp. Similarly in preheaters more of the exhaust gases are captured to generate more power. Recently one of the plants operating with KHD Preheater and cooler has generated approx. 15 MW gross from a potential 8000 tpd clinkerisation unit.
One more additional trend upcoming in the pyro system is the use of alternate raw materials to produce clinker without compromising on the quality and parameters. Selected waste and by-products containing useful minerals such as calcium, silica, alumina and iron can be used as raw materials in the kiln, replacing raw materials such as clay, shale and limestone. Even to some extent 3 per cent slag can be used in the raw material replacing some of the traditional raw material. In one of the KHD plants in Novotroitsk, Russia, copper slag, which is a byproduct from nearby industry, replaced up to 30 per cent of raw material for clinker production.
This iron corrective component (Martin Slag) material not only acts as alternate raw material but also produces heat and fulfils the heat content requirement of the process. This has led to the World Record of specific heat consumption of only 600 kCal/kg clinker (Fig 5).
ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND TRENDS
The Indian Cement Industry has a lot of potential to use alternate fuel in the manufacture of cement with benefit in terms of conservation of natural resources and prevention of environmental hazards including mitigation of greenhouse gas emission, all of which serves the goal of sustainable growth and development in India. Today, many cement plants are exploring to collect all the municipal waste of the area, process it and use it as an alternate fuel. Keeping in view all these, long time back KHD has rolled down equipment to use alternate fuels of varying degree. One such example is the combustion chamber.
KHD Combustion chamber is especially designed to burn the material, which is lumpy and coarse in nature as well as difficult to ignite. An optimised flow pattern of the gas-meal-fuel suspension within the vessel is necessary to accomplish that without creating excessive calciner dimensions. The Calciner design is based on the requirements of Creation of subsequent zones with dedicated functions for a controlled process of NOx reduction, staged combustion and mixing zone for a reliable final oxidisation on CO-remains.
KHD Pyrorotor® is a unique rotary combustion reactor that sustainably co-processes waste materials. Within the range of modular solutions from KHD for co-processing of alternative fuels in the clinker production process, the Pyrorotor® covers the demands for highest TSR rates of least pre-processed AF. Due to the high temperature process and longer residence time, it is suitable for nearly all types of coarse solid fuels. Tertiary air is used as combustion air for burning of fuels. (Fig 6).
Emissions are released from cement kilns, coming from the physical and chemical reactions of the raw materials and from the combustion of fuels. There is a system consisting of equipment to draw, condition and analyse the flue gas sample and provide a permanent record of emissions and process parameters continuously on a real time basis and is called “Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS)”. It is of vital importance to install the CEMS system as the source can be controlled after measuring the emissions. However, some of the cement manufacturers in India have not installed the CEMS in their cement plants. It must be a collaborative effort of cement manufacturers, suppliers, consultants and Government to achieve the objective of emission control. KHD is trying to ensure that all the plants equipped with KHD technology get CEMS implemented to protect the environment.
with RP: COMFLEX
An example equipment from KHD for reducing the emissions at source is the Low NOx burner (Pyro-Jet® Burner). The most imperative features of the burner are the Low NOx emissions, low primary air, and flame (stable and uniform) characteristics. The flame of the PYRO-JET® burner has both an internal recirculation zone and a long external one which results in considerable NOx reduction.
Pyroclon®-R Low NOx AF is the special design calciner, which attains retention time that is desired for complete burnout of the fuel. Another prominent solution from KHD for reducing the NOX emissions is the PYROREDOX® system where the NOx coming from the kiln gets further reduced and formation of Fuel NOx is suppressed.
TRENDS IN GRINDING TECHNOLOGY
The buzz word for grinding systems remains from decades is Electrical Energy Consumption. This is because nearly 65 per cent of the energy consumed in cement plants is attributable to grinding systems. Roller Presses are the solution for grinding circuits. Comflex Grinding system from KHD (Fig 6) consumes less energy compared to other process circuits and is a proven fact for raw material and slag grinding. In case of clinker grinding application also, less specific power is established with roller press in finish mode operations as compared to other technologies available at present. Some of the operating results, which are shared in the next section depict the energy efficiency of a roller press.
Dust Free Circuits: Today most of the plants face the problem of fugitive emissions as well as point source dust spillage. It is well known that the KHD COMFLEX grinding circuits are dust free circuits with no belt conveyors in the grinding and separation group. Also, due the compact arrangement the system has less vibration and hence less noise level. Air chutes avoid mechanical conveying in the grinding circuit and can take feed of more than 1000 tons per hour and accept even coarse and moist fresh feed. The air chute consists of an inlet- and outlet section, each with air lock, the standard sections, the air supply, and venting. From its dimensions the housing is similar to an air slide. Wear protection plates are used instead of cloth for low maintenance operation. Simple air-slide fans are used to introduce ambient air or hot air, if moist materials are conveyed.
Water consumption in cement plants is a necessity, which plays a role as process water, recirculation water and potable water. In the context of the grinding systems vertical raw mills require additional water for bed stabilisation and water sprays into cement mills for temperature control by evaporative cooling. This is not the case in a roller press as water requirement is very insignificant, max 1 m3/hr in comparison to VRM Requirement of 8-10m3/hr. When a cement plant is located in a desert environment the process has to be specifically designed to have low water consumption. Hence, KHD Roller Presses come in picture as the best water conserving machines.
On any grinding surface lowest wear rates are achieved, if the ground material itself provides the wear protection. This is reached by profiling the surface in a way that it is partly covered with ground material. KHD’s patented STUD-Lining (Fig 8), consists of extremely wear resistant carbide cylinders inserted in the roller surface. More than 70 per cent of the roller surface is covered with ground material, acting as autogenous wear protection. Wear rate of rollers/table in VRM is higher than Roller Press and this can be well attributed to the stud surfaces as offered by KHD.
Moreover, KHD is under near offering of high chrome surfaces, which will be more in terms of availability and reliability due to extended wear life.
With the trend of more low clinker to cement ratio this one and foremost step for reduced carbon print, is already in place in the cement industry. Today, India is one of the cement industries, which is moving very fast toward this aspect of green cover. PSC, PPC, Composite cements are the up going curves. Cement Industry is well versed with the utilisation and manufacturing of Blended Cement. KHD is one of the key suppliers for providing energy efficient technologies, viz a roller press grinding for the production of blended cement. It is estimated that decreasing the clinker ratio in production of cement contributes nearly 37 per cent CO2 reduction targeted. By promoting PPC and PSC cement in India, more than 85 per cent cement is produced as blended cement / composite cement (which has come into existence during the last 3-5 years). PPC allows 35 per cent fly-ash usage at present, whereas PSC allows 55 per cent to 65 per cent granulated slag in clinker. Increase of Pozzolona (fly-ash) usage in PPC up to 45 per cent can reduce the carbon footprint further, which has a permissible limit up to 55 per cent in some European countries.
MODERNISATION AND UPGRADATION TRENDS
Apart from building new production lines to increase the capacity, there is a rising trend for upgradation and modernisation of existing set-ups. Utilisation of existing kilns to its maximum potential is an art. This concept not only enhances clinker production but also significantly contributes in improving the overall operational efficiency. The reduced thermal and electrical energy demands will aid in reducing the carbon footprint of existing plants.
To cater market demands in this area, KHD, offers extensive modernisation solutions, which includes PH cyclones modification, optimised dip tubes, suitable riser ducts, high efficiency top cyclones, new generation clinker cooler, cooler plates, state-of-art Low NOx-AF calciner solutions etc. in Pyro section and latest generation separators, milling parts etc. in grinding section. KHD’s experience in this area is unparalleled and hence established as one of the leading technological solution providers to modernise existing cement plants.
In the last few years, KHD has implemented new technologies to modernise the number of existing plants with the prime objective of achieving enhanced productivity, improved energy efficiency and reduced emissions. The results from these plants are quite satisfactory and paved the way for more such projects from various customers globally.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE TRENDS
Best operating practices, efficient and reliable equipment and plant availability are the parameters, which define the efficiency of a cement plant. The detailed designing of the equipment play a critical role in the reliability of the equipment e.g. the cylindrical roller bearing for the rollers due its shape and radial load carrying capacity doesn’t suffer skewing in the roller bearing housing and are easy for sealing and safer, too. Similarly, upside equipment like rod sizer, metal detector, magnetic separators are some of the equipment, which are protecting and ensuring the long operating hours and smooth operation flow of the major equipment. The robust kiln shell and tires, low wear and tear of coolers calls up for very less maintenance over years. This leads to nearly full time availability of the system throughout the year. Also, machinery suppliers such as KHD take over annual maintenance contracts of the plant to improve the reliability of machines thus enhancing overall productivity.
DIGITISATION AND AUTOMATION TRENDS
The path forward for the industry is clear: embrace digitisation and sustainability. Putting these two trends at the core of planning for the future will help cement players catch up to those in other heavy industries and achieve considerable productivity gains. In an industry where regaining lost revenues can take years, it is crucial to kick off now to both recover from the impact of pandemic and make cement players more resilient to future disruptions.
Indeed, the cement plant of the future will operate in a drastically different way than today’s plants. It will achieve considerably lower operating costs and higher asset value through higher energy efficiency, yield, and throughput. More targeted and effective maintenance lengthens the lifetime of equipment. Each plant’s environmental footprint is minimised, securing its licence to operate across locations and jurisdictions. The plant meets customer demand by dynamically adjusting production and logistics according to real-time customer data. Excited, engaged employees focus on value-added activities, and all non-value-added tasks are automated. Real-time information is available for managers remotely at all levels to make better decisions. Digital twins simulate and optimise the overall impact of external variability in operations ranging from complex processes such as burning to more structured activities such as maintenance.
Fewer workers are required to be on-site continuously, and interactive online dashboards allow managers to remotely collaborate, solve problems, and quickly make informed decisions with the rest of the team. Maintenance engineers are alerted of faults in equipment or of opportunities for maintenance immediately, and they receive step-by-step instructions on how to repair with the aid of augmented reality. This will cater to one of the main concerns of safety of individuals avoiding frequent proximity of accidental areas and occupational hazards.
CONCLUSION
Today there are identified levers, which are shaping the industry to reach the highest point of the curve of sustainability vs time period. Cement manufacturers are taking a big leap for achieving the goals as established by various associations and global bodies. Although the trend is more towards the decarbonisation of the industry, capacity utilisations, productivity enhancements and controlled emissions are big watchers. The Indian cement industry has been working on the issue of its GHG emissions and has brought down the CO2 emission factor considerably. However, it has to work more to achieve the goals of Cement and Concrete Roadmap 2050 for the Net Zero Concrete. The leading cement and concrete companies in India have accepted the goal to achieve Net Zero Concrete by 2050 and committed to fully contribute to building the sustainable world of tomorrow. However, the industry needs to work more on newer technologies like Renewable Energy, Novel Cements, Carbon Capture and Storage/Utilisation. Cement technology suppliers are doing their work and are in the process of rolling out these technologies with the main plants. KHD has done advanced work in this field and has solutions like LC cement. As part of the Made in India concept KHD is also promoting more manufacturing in Indian workshops with improved quality, which can aim at improved reliability of the equipment. All these steps are keen steps to make the Indian cement industry cherish and flourish achieving the roadmaps of carbon reduction, increased capacity to meet the demands and go in liasoning of government plans.
Authors: A K Dembla, Sandeep Zutshi and Deepti Varshney
Fuller Technologies (erstwhile FLSmidth Cement) presents a case study of Shree Cement’s Nawalgarh Plant.
Shree Cement achieved a new milestone and broke a world record in December 2023 when it started its new Nawalgarh plant in Rajasthan. The plant boasts both India’s largest OK® Mill and the world’s largest pyro line, which is rated at 11,500 tpd but achieving at more than 13 500 tpd. It put Shree Cement on track to exceed their target of 80 million tpa cement capacity in India by 2028. Shree Cement chose to partner with Fuller Technologies (then FLSmidth Cement) for the project, since the two groups share such similar values and Fuller offers a portfolio of solutions geared towards reducing the cement industry’s environmental impact.
Cement plays a vital role in India’s development, supporting the country’s ambitions for long-term economic growth. As urbanisation accelerates, infrastructure projects like Smart Cities, Bharat Mala, and metro rail developments are driving steady demand for cement. With per capita consumption increasing however historically lower than global averages, India’s evolving urban landscape and infrastructure needs are expected to significantly boost cement demand in the years ahead.
Shree Cement is well positioned to support India’s growth and is playing a pivotal role in the country’s expansive infrastructure development. The Nawalgarh plant will supply the wider region of north India with cement and clinker, feeding 3/4 grinding plants in the area.
The new Nawalgarh plant
With easy access to a rich supply of raw materials, Nawalgarh was an obvious choice for Shree Cement’s newest cement plant. With abundant reserves of limestone, the region also boasts strategic access to cement markets in northern India.
Though water scarcity is an issue in the region, the plant was committed to using modern, water-efficient technologies, ensuring minimal water consumption and waste. For example, the OK Mill™ can be operated without water, making it an optimal solution in regions where conserving water is particularly important.
Satish Maheshwari, Chief Manufacturing Officer, Shree Cement, says, “We have significantly invested in alternative fuels – including hazardous waste, municipal solid waste (RDF) and biomass – to reduce fossil fuel reliance. Our new state-of-the-art solid waste feeding system for MSW is operational at one site and is being replicated at others, enhancing alternative fuel use and improving thermal substitution in kilns.” The plant also follows Shree Cement’s principal of reducing clinker content in blended cements, which aims to reduce the carbon footprint of Shree Cement products.
The world’s biggest pyro line
The project kicked off with the issuance of the Letter of Intent (LOI) on 15th September 2021 for the Raw Mill. As per the LOI, equipment was expected to be delivered within 8-13 months from the contract’s effective date. The first lot of the raw mill arrived on-site in May 2022, with the major consignment – the Grinding Table – delivered in February 2023. Civil work for the Raw Mill and its building began in May 2022 and was completed by January 2023. Fabrication was wrapped up by June 2023 and erection commenced in January 2023, concluding by September 2023. The final commissioning was successfully completed on 14th December 2023, marking the operational start of the mill.
The world’s largest clinker cooler
The Cross-Bar® Cooler at Nawalgarh is the largest in the world, with a grate area of 325 m2 and a throughput guaranteed at 11 500 tpd, though it has been running at around 13 500 tpd since commissioning. Offering both high throughput and highly stable operation, the cooler also contributes to Shree Cement’s sustainability goals thanks to its hot air recirculation, which generates about 8 MW through the waste heat recovery system.
“With a Cross-Bar Cooler, the bigger you go, the greater your efficiency gains,” says Gowrishankar Ramachandran, Senior Product Specialist, Fuller Technologies. “We were not concerned about the size of the project – we knew we could achieve the performance guarantees with ease. Start-up was paced to get the full pyro system up and running smoothly, starting at 5000 tpd and quickly ramping up to full capacity and then beyond. The combination of features ensures smooth operation whatever’s going on in the kiln and preheater, meaning the cooler is unphased by the introduction of new alternative fuels or variations in throughput.”
Featuring patented ABC Inlet technology, which ensures no build-up in the cooler, Shree Cement also benefit from the cooler’s Heavy Duty Roller Breaker (HRB) and Mechanical Flow Regulators (MFRs) to improve reliability and uptime.
• The ABC™ Inlet uses a patented in-grate design that pushes compressed air up through the grates, blasting agglomerations. Pressure sensors detect when build-up is starting to occur and the automated blast control system reacts accordingly, increasing blast frequency to disperse the clinker and prevent further buildup.
• The HRB can handle clinker boulders up to 1.5 m without blockages. It features a series of transport and crushing rollers that allow right-sized materials to pass through and crush larger materials down to a pre-set size. Its low speed contributes to a long wear life of 3-5 years, while the rollout design enables easy maintenance.
• MFRs control airflow across the whole clinker bed – irrespective of clinker bed height, particle size, distribution or temperature. This optimises heat recuperation and air distribution, reducing both fuel costs and the number of cooling
fans required.
This cooler is a ventless system, with hot air being recirculated back into the cooler instead of bringing in ambient air. This improves the WHR temperature and boosts the power generated through the system. With waste heat recovery from the preheater in addition to the cooler, the total power generated is around 15-18 MW.
Though the operation has the potential for high dust pickup, the cooler casings were enlarged so that dust pickup is less than 4 m/s. This reduces dust to the tertiary air duct and helps reduce the environmental impact of the cooler operation, as well as the wear and safety issues that come with dust settling on equipment and on the local environment.
The cooler is part of the world’s largest pyro system, with a guaranteed capacity of 11 500 tpd (with an achieved production of 13 695 tpd),
that includes:
• Four string pre-heater:
o Cyclone stage I: 7784 mm, Top (HR+)
o Cyclone stage II: 7984 mm
o Cyclone stage III-VI: 8180 mm with Low Nox Calciner
• Dia 6.0m x 88m long & 3 support kiln with forged tyres
• JETFLEX® 2.0 kiln burner (type standard
and plus)
• 2 x 750 tph PFISTER® FRW Rotor Weighfeeder 5.22/13 for Kiln feed and 6 x PFISTER® Smart Linear Feeder
The Fuller® Low NOx Calciner prevents the build-up of raw meal on the calciner walls and maintains a hot core for excellent combustion and NOx reduction. With a design based on extensive research, field tests and CFD modelling, the Low NOx calciner is capable of burning almost any fuel type, giving Shree Cement full flexibility to switch between coal, petcoke and alternative fuels. The calciner has the added advantage of reducing NOx while also minimising the need for ammonia injection, creating a cleaner, greener, more cost-effective process.
The JETFLEX burner was chosen for its high degree of fuel flexibility, further aiding Shree’s green ambitions. The burner can burn a mix of coal, petcoke, oil, natural gas and alternative fuels while maintaining an optimal flame shape. The flame formation is controlled by separate systems for axial and swirl air, ensuring fast ignition and stable flame formation with a shorter and more intense flame. That reduces volatility in the kiln and gives the Nawalgarh plant greater efficiency throughout the pyroprocess.
India’s biggest OK Mill
The OK Mill 66.6 selected as the raw mill for this plant is the largest OK raw mill in the country with a guaranteed capacity of 1070 tph, though it has been running at 1080 tph since commissioning. The OK Mill was selected for its proven history of efficiency, low water usage and ease of maintenance. The rollers can be swung out for repair or hard-facing so that operation can continue with the remaining rollers, enabling continuous productivity. The OK-R-66-6 VRM for this plant includes a RARM-1300 separator, known for the simplicity of its design, which reduces wear and maintenance, lowers differential pressure and reduces mill fan power (and thus operational costs) while still providing efficient separation.
This is not the only OK Mill at the Nawalgarh plant. An OK 66-6 finish mill with ROKSH-1100 classifier is employed for cement grinding at 360 tph. In addition, the plant has an ATOX® 32.5 coal mill with RAKM-32.5 classifier for coal grinding, guaranteed at 46 tph but running at 56 tph.
Energy efficiency and saving
“Energy conservation remains a top priority for us, driving innovations from shop-floor experiments to major capital investments,” explains Maheshwari. “These efforts have reduced carbon emissions and production costs. Over 55 per cent of our energy needs across the company are met through green energy sources, including solar and wind power alongside our Waste Heat Recovery Systems. Combined, these systems produce in excess of 520 MW. We consistently exceed PAT Cycle targets and have been honoured as ‘Best Performer’ for the highest number of energy-saving certificates in both PAT Cycle I and II by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.”
A digital native
Shree Cement is an advocate of the benefits and necessity of digitalisation to improve cement plant performance and efficiency. A few years ago, the company rolled out ECS/PlantDataManagement across 16 plants and 24 lines in a huge digital upgrade to drive efficiency and increase productivity. The new Nawalgarh plant won’t require a digital transformation, however, because it has been built as a digital native.
It is equipped with ECS/PlantDataManagement, which delivers all plant and process data in accessible and practical forms to plant managers and operators, maintenance teams, analysts, and decision-makers, giving them the insights necessary to optimise production lines, minimise equipment downtime, improve productivity and reduce environmental impact. ECS/PlantDataManagement includes important tools like UptimeGo, the downtime analysis solution, and SiteConnect, the mobile app that allows plant operators and managers to view real-time plant data anytime, anywhere from a mobile device.
The plant is also utilising advanced automation solutions across the plant, including in the laboratory where Fuller is enabling clinker substitution while ensuring optimal cement quality. QCX/RoboLab® is a high-tech robotics solution for automated sample preparation, analysis, and automated quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) procedures. This advanced automation system ensures fast, accurate, and safe analysis with as few operators as possible. It receives and co-ordinates samples from the QCX®/AutoSampling system and can take on challenging laboratory tasks to ensure optimal quality control in the face of variations in alternative fuels and changes to the cement mix. Again, this was a choice Shree Cement made to ensure the plant has the flexibility to deliver lower carbon cements without compromising on final product quality.
Conclusion
In December 2024, Shree Cement celebrated the first anniversary of the Nawalgarh plant. The plant’s rapid rise as a leading player in cement production aligns with the global position of this impressive company, whose strategic initiatives in alternative fuels, emissions reduction and water management have earned industry-wide recognition, including the acclaimed position of ‘industry mover’ in the construction materials category of the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2025.
Shree Cement’s focus on blended cement production successfully lowered natural resource consumption and CO2 emissions by 7.2 million tonnes in FY23-24, with 73.52 per cent of total production comprising blended cement with an average clinker-to-cement ratio of 64.66 per cent.
“Partnering with a solutions provider like Fuller enables us to turn our sustainability ambitions into reality,” says Maheshwari. “Together we are shaping the future of our industry and our region, and we are very proud of the contributions we are making towards a more sustainable cement industry and greater economic prosperity.”
