Connect with us

Concrete

Remote operations are more effective than onsite ones

Published

on

Shares

Manish Chordia, Regional Sales Manager – Cement, South Asia and Africa, ABB, discusses the correlation between digitalisation and efficiency, as the cement sector works towards reduction in carbon emissions.

Tell us about the impact that technology and digitalisation can create on sustainability of cement manufacturing.
The benefits of digitalisation-driven plant operations within the cement industry span not only provides improvement in the process, asset, plant, and enterprise-wide performance but can have an important positive impact on sustainability values. High levels of digitalisation result in higher efficiency gains, reducing energy consumption, while allowing for higher utilisation of alternative fuels and renewable energy sources. Such high levels of digitalisation are best achieved through a unified, cross-functional, and enterprise-wide approach to digital transformation, as those offered by ABB. This approach offers digital process/ asset and enterprise-level optimisation technologies, as well as effective training of plant personnel to be able to use these technologies, to provide targeted business benefits to cement customers.

What are the key pain points in a cement plant that your systems can address and improve?
The cement industry faces a range of challenges in its day-to-day operations around profitability/cost control, quality versus throughput, emissions and environmental sustainability. The cement industry is constantly looking for ways to reduce the cost of operations while maximising yield, improving quality, and reducing emissions all at the same time. ABB systems and solutions help look at old problems with a fresh perspective. It also helps in solving challenges around accuracy and explains the ability of the techniques, so that the machine’s recommendations can be trusted. Data cleansing, anomaly removal, analysing the correlation of parameters and result interpretation are all key elements here.
For instance, ABB’s system anomaly detection app learns your plant and equipment’s ‘normal’ states and uses adaptive setpoints to detect unusual patterns, anomalous behaviours. By triggering alerts, it reduces the effort to identify and rectify energy consumption deviations. Providing no more hassle of setting manual setpoints or alarms or notification overload. The same way the app can learn from your energy usage, production schedules and other factors to deliver accurate forecasts, it can allow for reduced peak demand charges on electricity bills.

How do your systems help achieve energy efficiency in cement plants, thus reducing their energy consumption?
ABB Ability Expert Optimizer is our advanced process control solution for the cement, mining and minerals industries. It takes data from the plant and then uses various technologies – most notably model predictive control – to build a model of whichever part of the plant is the focus. This model allows for the prediction of what is going to happen in the plant or specific areas of the plant based on the real-time data.
This model – effectively a digital twin of the plant or process – can be used to create setpoints that enable the plant to achieve its goals. Initially, this means stabilising the process but will move on to optimising plant performance according to various metrics, such as achieving higher production, lowering energy consumption, or stabilising product quality, depending on what the plant operator has decided and what the initial pain points of the plant are. When the targets have been set, ABB Ability Expert Optimizer is able to take the necessary actions required to meet them without the intervention of the operator.
In the latest releases of ABB Ability Expert Optimizer, ABB has also added the ability to monitor the operation of the plant remotely to ensure that the targets are being met – and to inform the plant whenever there is any variation. It helps to ensure that ABB Ability Expert Optimizer is not switched off by operators and continues to sustain the benefits realised during commissioning.

Tell us about the role of data in achieving optimisation through the manufacturing processes at the plant.
Data analytics has been there in the cement industry for quite some time. The industry is quite standardised with different product lines. The overall process is extremely complex – there are mines, conveyor belts moving raw materials, stockyards, kilns, grinding and so on. Various customers, especially the big players, have had solutions in place to provide data analytics. Now when you move to the next step of AI, we have solutions relating to assets and asset reliability. We collect various data like device temperatures, loading patterns, ambient temperatures and the happenings inside the cabinets to do AI-based analytics. Based on which, we alert the customer to the probability of failure of a particular part or electronic device. These are already implemented, however, a lot more in asset reliability and process are in the pipeline.
Another proven solution for information management systems, ABB Ability Knowledge Manager provides information consistency across multiple business levels. It can also be used to consolidate and centralise information from
multiple sites into one system, bringing into play a new level of regional and corporate performance indicators and allowing performance comparisons between operations.

What are the best practices that Indian cement manufacturers can adopt to achieve better productivity and efficiency in their operations?
Personally, I feel collaborative operations centre services, which were started a couple of years back, would gain a lot more relevance in the current environment. The customers will prefer to do commissioning remotely with minimal onsite workforce. The troubleshooting being remote, which was always one of our targets. Remote operations are more effective than onsite ones, as all experts are in one place. It saves a lot of time in case of disruptions or even a breakdown.

How have you contributed to the Net Zero mission for the Indian cement industry and how do you plan to do so in the future?
Our system can play a vital role in reaching environmental sustainability targets, and not just around reducing emissions, but also energy optimisation and management. This creates
immediate benefits for operating costs and margins, also enabling new business models for high-tech low-CO2 cements.

Concrete

Star Cement launches ‘Star Smart Building Solutions’

Published

on

By

Shares



Star Cement has launched ‘Star Smart Building Solutions,’ a new initiative aimed at promoting sustainable construction practices, as per a recent news report. This venture introduces a range of eco-friendly products, including tile adhesives, tile cleaners and grouts, designed to enhance durability and reduce environmental impact. The company plans to expand this portfolio with additional value-added products in the near future. By focusing on sustainable materials and innovative building solutions, Star Cement aims to contribute to environmentally responsible construction and meet the evolving needs of modern infrastructure development.

Image source:https://www.starcement.co.in/

Continue Reading

Concrete

Nuvoco Vistas reports record quarterly EBITDA

Published

on

By

Shares



Nuvoco Vistas reported its highest-ever quarterly consolidated EBITDA of Rs.556 crore in Q4 FY25, with annual EBITDA at Rs.1,391 crore. Cement sales reached 19.4 MMT in FY25, with Q4 contributing 5.7 MMT. Revenue rose 4 per cent YoY to Rs.3,042 crore in Q4. Net debt reduced by Rs.390 crore to Rs.3,640 crore. The company received NCLT approval for acquiring Vadraj Cement, targeting 31 MMTPA capacity by FY27. Key marketing initiatives, expanding RMX and MBM businesses, and a focus on sustainability (457 kg CO2/tonne) drove performance. Nuvoco remains focused on premiumisation, operational efficiency, and market expansion.

Image source:nuvoco.com

Continue Reading

Concrete

UltraTech Cement increases capacity by 1.4Mt/yr

Published

on

By

Shares



UltraTech Cement has expanded its production capacity by 1.4 million tonnes per annum (Mt/yr) through a combination of debottlenecking efforts and operational efficiency upgrades across several of its plants. The enhancements include an addition of 0.6Mt/yr in grinding capacity at the Nagpur facility in Maharashtra and a combined 0.8Mt/yr at the Panipat and Jhajjar units in Haryana. With these upgrades, the company’s total domestic grey cement capacity has risen to 184.8Mt/yr, while its global capacity now stands at 190.2Mt/yr.

Continue Reading

Trending News

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER

 

Don't miss out on valuable insights and opportunities to connect with like minded professionals.

 


    This will close in 0 seconds