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Process Control Solutions for the Future

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From the increased use of modern techniques of control to advanced software solutions, technology is accelerating cement processes in myriad ways. ICR looks at the economic impact of AI and automation on the cement sector.

The history of cement production dates back to 12,000 years ago. The earliest archaeological discovery of a consolidated whitewashed floor made from burned limestone and clay is found in modern-day Turkey. Around 800 BC, the Phoenicians had the knowledge that a mixture of burnt lime and volcanic ash, today called ‘pozzolana’, could be used to produce hydraulic lime, which was not only stronger than anything previously used, but also hardened under water. The Romans perfected it later with their process called, ‘opus caementicium,’ a type of concrete made of lime with aggregates of sand and crushed rock. No wonder the Colosseum and Pantheon in Rome, and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, all stand perfectly fine today.
But modern production of cement is million times bigger in scale and must be controlled to derive the benefits of cost, throughput and quality, sometimes several objective functions must be optimised to give the overall gain in terms of profit maximisation. The technology itself progressed in leaps and bounds to make allowance for both throughput increase and cost while the quality improved from one milestone to the next. The first cement standard for Portland cement was approved in Germany in 1878, defining the first test methods and minimum properties, with many other countries following suit. 
Cement production and applications surged globally at the turn of the century. Since the 1900s, rotary kilns have replaced the original vertical shaft kilns, as they use radiative heat transfer, more efficient at higher temperatures. achieving a uniform clinkering temperature and producing stronger cement. Gypsum is now also added to the resulting mixture to control setting and ball mills are used to grind clinkers.
Other developments in the last century include calcium aluminate cements for better sulphate resistance, the blending of Rosendale (a natural hydraulic cement produced in New York) and Portland cements to make a durable and fast-setting cement in the USA, and the increased usage of cementitious materials to store nuclear waste. New technologies and innovations are constantly emerging to improve the sustainability, strength and applications of cement and concrete. Some advanced products incorporate fibres and special aggregates to create roof tiles and countertops, for example, whilst offsite manufacture is also gaining prominence with the rise of digitalisation and AI, which could reduce waste and improve efficiency and on-site working conditions. Cements and concretes are also being developed, which can absorb CO2 over their lifetimes, reducing the carbon footprint of the building material.
The focus of the current times is manifold – on the one hand cement process and technology experts have the job cut out to create sustainable solutions and on the other, the process control techniques have improved to embrace new digitisation techniques to better improve the following processes:

  • Quarrying and preparation
  • Close circuit blending systems that create the ideally suited raw mix
  • Clinker kilning
  • Cement grinding

The systems of the cement production control these operations to produce maximal quantity of the cement with prescribed quality and minimal cost. The quality also depends on many variables. The appropriate rate of the basic components determining the setting time, strength, heat of hydration, expansion, etc. is the most important. The free lime content (FLC) also influences the quality similarly to the size distribution and the relative surface area. A great many open and closed loop controls can be found in the cement production, however, the proper control of the operations-triplet proportioning-burning-grinding can ensure to reach the overall control aim, the other controls are auxiliary ones. The synthesis of this would aim at thermal efficiency parameters with use of different fuel mixes, alternate fuels included and the raw mix must be so blended such that a range of objective functions can be met that include Lumping, Burnability, High Heat of Hydration, Fast Setting, One Day, 3 Day, 7 Day, 28 Day Strength, etc.
The burnability parameters include lime saturation factor, silica ratio, af ratio, content of coarse quartz, content of coarse calcite, while the compositional parameters like content of C3S, MgO, C3A and presence of alkali. Silica ratio and other aspects could together influence the attainment of the quality objectives like fast setting or efficiency objectives like high heat of hydration. This is where control systems step in to play a decisive role to make adjustments in a number of parameters, while the production process remains continuous. Achieving stability of the process, where coal feed, kiln feed, raw mix, all have a myriad of parameters to be weighed against the objectives of productivity, efficiency and quality.

The AI to Z of Technology
Artificial intelligence (AI) today provides valuable decision support and control techniques in these uncertain environments. Two common techniques used in this field are artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic. Fuzzy logic is especially useful for processes that are difficult to control by conventional or discrete methods due to the lack of knowledge of quantitative relations between the inputs and outputs. Controls based on fuzzy logic employ a close-to-human language to describe the input-output relationships of the controlled process. The controller converts an expert knowledge-based control strategy into an automatic control strategy imposed on the process. Most control environments have steadily moved towards adoption of AI and fuzzy logic techniques as dynamic environments are impossible to model with any other tools and techniques unless we want to avoid the inter-play and friction of some of the control parameters.
Use of modern techniques of control have shown productivity gains (t/h) of 3 per cent and energy gains (Kcal/t) of 5 per cent compared to expert operators using controls. In cement milling, the productivity increased by 3.1 per cent and the energy savings were 2.9 per cent. In clinkerisation, there were increases from 1 to 3 per cent in the daily production, reductions from 2 to 4 per cent in energy consumption, reductions from 12 to 16 per cent in the variability of clinker quality requirements, and reduction of up to 10 per cent in the variability of the lifetime of the liner. In other clinker kilns, there were from 4 to 5 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, from 80 to 90 per cent decrease in variability and increase from 7 to 8 per cent in productivity.
Now the focus in controls have shifted to use of algorithms and software that would step in to make allowance on the selection of specific objective functions like quantity over efficiency or efficiency over quality or vice versa, as the optimisation objectives could vary. The forward progress also shows far greater focus on use of alternate fuels that actually changes the dynamics by a considerable extent. For CO2 abatement measures and carbon sequestration processes, the use of controls are moving to the next level of automation as more complexity is getting introduced. Electronics and electrical systems are now inseparable from the field of software and algorithms that embrace AI to create the right blend of self-controls and automation that limits human interventions as the complexities of the dynamic environment makes it impossible for humans to interact any more.
Software solutions together with drone systems and automation allow the process to be self-serving in delivering multi-objectives within the framework of optimisation; the caution however is that the final decision on the choices must include proper testing (in a test environment) before selection of the type of the AI based system as the number of options are on the increase and competing systems all vouch for the similar end-results.
Software progress should not be limited to cement production systems alone, but cement distribution and logistics as well. With tracking and tracing systems in place it is easy to match planning with execution where one can make a simulation of movements of cement deliveries across the demands of micro, mini and regional markets to arrive at the best overall distribution to attain the goals of sales and profitability; this need not be based on rule of thumb which has nothing to do with the realities on the ground where the situation is far too dynamic throughout the day. Merging planning algorithms with track and trace systems has everything ready to be used, only the lack of intent seems ominous for some. The leaders however have progressed considerably in this regard.

-Procyon Mukherjee

Concrete

India Sets Up First Carbon Capture Testbeds for Cement Industry

Five CCU testbeds launched to decarbonise cement production

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The Department of Science and Technology (DST) recently unveiled a pioneering national initiative: five Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) testbeds in the cement sector, forming a first-of-its-kind research and innovation cluster to combat industrial carbon emissions.
This is a significant step towards India’s Climate Action for fostering National Determined Contributions (NDCs) targets and to achieve net zero decarbonisation pathways for Industry Transition., towards the Government’s goal to achieve a carbon-neutral economy by 2070.
Carbon Capture Utilisation (CCU) holds significant importance in hard-to-abate sectors like Cement, Steel, Power, Oil &Natural Gas, Chemicals & Fertilizers in reducing emissions by capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and converting it to value add products such as synthetic fuels, Urea, Soda, Ash, chemicals, food grade CO2 or concrete aggregates. CCU provides a feasible pathway for these tough to decarbonise industries to lower their carbon footprint and move towards achieving Net Zero Goals while continuing their operations efficiently. DST has taken major strides in fostering R&D in the CCUS domain.
Concrete is vital for India’s economy and the Cement industry being one of the main hard-to-abate sectors, is committed to align with the national decarbonisation commitments. New technologies to decarbonise emission intensity of the cement sector would play a key role in achieving of national net zero targets.
Recognizing the critical need for decarbonising the Cement sector, the Energy and Sustainable Technology (CEST) Division of Department launched a unique call for mobilising Academia-Industry Consortia proposals for deployment of Carbon Capture Utilisation (CCU) in Cement Sector. This Special call envisaged to develop and deploy innovative CCU Test bed in Cement Sector with thrust on Developing CO2 capture + CO2 Utilisation integrated unit in an Industrial set up through an innovative Public Private Partnership (PPP) funding model.
As a unique initiative and one of its first kind in India, DST has approved setting up of five CCU testbeds for translational R&D, to be set up in Academia-Industry collaboration under this significant initiative of DST in PPP mode, engaging with premier research laboratories as knowledge partners and top Cement companies as the industry partner.
On the occasion of National Technology Day celebrations, on May 11, 2025 the 5 CCU Cement Test beds were announced and grants had been handed over to the Test bed teams by the Chief Guest, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology; Earth Sciences and Minister of State for PMO, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh in the presence of Secretary DST Prof. Abhay Karandikar.
The five testbeds are not just academic experiments — they are collaborative industrial pilot projects bringing together India’s top research institutions and leading cement manufacturers under a unique Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Each testbed addresses a different facet of CCU, from cutting-edge catalysis to vacuum-based gas separation.
The outcomes of this innovative initiative will not only showcase the pathways of decarbonisation towards Net zero goals through CCU route in cement sector, but should also be a critical confidence building measure for potential stakeholders to uptake the deployed CCU technology for further scale up and commercialisation.
It is envisioned that through continuous research and innovation under these test beds in developing innovative catalysts, materials, electrolyser technology, reactors, and electronics, the cost of Green Cement via the deployed CCU technology in Cement Sector may considerably be made more sustainable.
Secretary DBT Dr Rajesh Gokhale, Dr Ajai Choudhary, Co-Founder HCL, Dr. Rajesh Pathak, Secretary, TDB, Dr Anita Gupta Head CEST, DST and Dr Neelima Alam, Associate Head, DST were also present at the programme organized at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi.

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Concrete

JK Lakshmi Adopts EVs to Cut Emissions in Logistics

Electric vehicles deployed between JK Puram and Kalol units

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JK Lakshmi Cement, a key player in the Indian cement industry, has announced the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) in its logistics operations. This move, made in partnership with SwitchLabs Automobiles, will see EVs transporting goods between the JK Puram Plant in Sirohi, Rajasthan, and the Kalol Grinding Unit in Gujarat.
The announcement follows a successful pilot project that showcased measurable reductions in carbon emissions while maintaining efficiency. Building on this, the company is scaling up EV integration to enhance sustainability across its supply chain.
“Sustainability is integral to our vision at JK Lakshmi Cement. Our collaboration with SwitchLabs Automobiles reflects our continued focus on driving innovation in our logistics operations while taking responsibility for our environmental footprint. This initiative positions us as a leader in transforming the cement sector’s logistics landscape,” said Arun Shukla, President & Director, JK Lakshmi Cement.
This deployment marks a significant step in aligning with India’s push for greener transport infrastructure. By embracing clean mobility, JK Lakshmi Cement is setting an example for the industry, demonstrating that environmental responsibility can go hand in hand with operational efficiency.
The company continues to embed sustainability into its operations as part of a broader goal to reduce its carbon footprint. This initiative adds to its vision of building a more sustainable and eco-friendly future.
JK Lakshmi Cement, part of the 135-year-old JK Organisation, began operations in 1982 and has grown to become a recognised name in Indian cement. With a presence across Northern, Western, and Eastern India, the company has a cement capacity of 16.5 MTPA, with a target to reach 30 MT by 2030. Its product range includes ready-mix concrete, gypsum plaster, wall putty, and autoclaved aerated fly ash blocks.

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Concrete

Holcim UK drives sustainable construction

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Holcim UK has released a report titled ‘Making Sustainable Construction a Reality,’ outlining its five-fold commitment to a greener future. The company aims to focus on decarbonisation, circular economy principles, smarter building methods, community engagement, and integrating nature. Based on a survey of 2,000 people, only 41 per cent felt urban spaces in the UK are sustainably built. A significant majority (82 per cent) advocated for more green spaces, 69 per cent called for government leadership in sustainability, and 54 per cent saw businesses as key players. Additionally, 80 per cent of respondents stressed the need for greater transparency from companies regarding their environmental practices.

Image source:holcim

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