NORTH AMERICA United States In October 1999, Antilles Cement Corp. received a delivery through BMH Americas of a mobile BMH Siwertell cement ship unloader. The unit is in operation in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

At Arizona Portland Cement, now owned by California Portland Cement, a Sepol high-efficiency separator for a cement grinding plant was put into operation in January 1999 at its Rillito, Ariz. facility. Krupp Polysius was the supplier.

Blue Circle awarded a contract to Humboldt Wedag, the U.S. subsidiary of KHD Humboldt Wedag AG, to expand Blue Circle's existing cement plant in Calera, Ala. Humboldt Wedag will provide process and general arrangement engineering, both main and auxiliary equipment supply, erection advisory, and commissioning services. The new pyro line will increase capacity to 4,800 tpd. The main equipment scope of supply includes a six-stage preheater equipped with a Pyrotop and Low NOx precalciner; a 4.8-meter-diam Yen 58-meter-long, two-station rotary kiln and a Pyrojet burner. A Gebr. Pfeiffer vertical roller mill will be supplied for raw grinding, and another vertical roller mill will be used for coal and pet coke milling. The upgrade is part of an overall project designed to increase the plant's capacity to 1.4 million tpy at a cost of US$230 million. The expanded facility is expected to take about two years and come on line in early 2002.

Blue Circle also placed an order for an IKN pendulum cooler to retrofit the Fuller cooler at its Ravena, N.Y. kiln #1. Production capacity should be increased about 22% from 2,600 to 3,180 tpd. A full set of new grates with pendulum-suspending system and hydraulic drive will be preassembled and put into the existing cooler housing to secure a short kiln shut down. The existing cooler housing, hoppers, clinker crushing and discharging systems will be reused.

In addition, Blue Circle placed an order for a pendulum cooler for the #5 kiln at its Roberta plant in Calera, Ala. The cooler will handle 4,355 tpd of clinker from the KHD kiln. The order includes the cooler with one set of cooling fans, PHD system for hoppers drainage, roller crusher, and electric control system.

In May 1999, Calaveras Cement Co., a subsidiary of Heildelberger Cement Group, ordered cement handling equipment for its Stockton, Calif. distribution terminal. The order included a BMH Siwertell traveling ship unloader, a BMH Nordstroms shore-based horizontal screw conveyor and pneumatic pump system, and a power distribution screw system within the terminal. The unloader, to be mounted on existing rails, will be supplied with a side-tilting system and a clean-up unit. The downstream horizontal screw conveyor will have a specially designed cover belt with automatic belt-lifting arrangement for continuous, enclosed material feeding during operation along the screw conveyor length on the jetty. BMH Marine was the supplier.

At Dakotah Cement's Rapid City, S.D. plant, a Polab AMT laboratory automation system started on-line operation at the end of 1999. Krupp Polysius was the supplier.

In December 1999, commissioning of the 2,100-tpd production line of Florida Rock Industries started. Krupp Polysius supplied a roller mill for grinding 175 tph of raw material; the kiln line, consisting of two-support kiln, cyclone preheater with Prepol calcining system, and reciprocating grate cooler; a tube mill for grinding at 125 tph; a Polab CNA on-line analyzer; a Polcid NT process control system; and conveying, storage, and flow-regulating systems.

Hanson Permanente Cement placed an order with IKN for a roller crusher for its Permanente plant which will replace the existing hammer crusher and handle 4,990 tpd of hot clinker cooled by a G-cooler. Water cooling jackets for connection to water supply are included in the equipment.

Holnam Texas LP, operated by Holnam Inc., issued a US$52 million contract for work on its Midlothian, Texas facility. Humboldt Wedag provided process and general plant arrangement engineering, equipment supply, erection supervision, and commissioning services. The equipment installation and plant construction was completed by Watkins Engineers & Constructors. Equipment supplied included a four-stage preheater with Pyro-Top Low NOx precalciner equipped with a Pyro-Rapid 4.4-meter-diam Yen 54-meter-long, two-station kiln and Pyro-Jet burner. A Gebr. Pfeiffer 2,250-hp vertical roller mill was provided for raw milling. A KHD Humboldt Wedag 5-meter-diam Yen 15.4-meter-long supported shell; 8,000-hp ball mill with central drive equipped with a high-efficiency separator was supplied for finish grinding. The plant was scheduled for start up in January 2000.

Holnam is currently expanding its Portland plant in Florence, Colo. The main components of the new 5,400-mtpd plant include a 450-mtph roller mill for grinding raw material; a five-stage cyclone preheater with Prepol calciner system; and a 5.2-meter-diam Yen 78-meter-long rotary kiln. Cement grinding at a 220-mtph throughput and a finished product fineness of 3,800 Blaine will be performed by a combination system comprising a Polycom high-pressure grinding roll and a 5-meter-diam Yen 15.75-meter-long ball mill. The order also includes a cement cooler and a roller mill for grinding 41-mtph of coal. Krupp Polysius is the supplier.

In addition, Holnam awarded a contract for a pendulum cooler for the new 5,400-tpd clinker production line at its Portland plant in Florence, Colo. The contract comprises an IKN cooler with pendulum-suspended structure and hydraulic drive; a set of high-efficiency cooling fans; a heavy-type roller crusher at the end of the cooler, a heat shield suspended at the neutral position of the cooler to split the recuperated hot air and vent air; and electric and control systems.

Illinois Cement Co. in LaSalle, Ill. issued a US$5.8 million portion of contract to Humboldt Wedag for equipment including a 4.2-meter-diam Yen 11.5-meter-long supported shell; a 4,000-hp ball mill equipped with a high-efficiency separator; and two 3-meter-diam product cyclones. Supply also included bucket elevators, airslides, pumps, a compressor, a baghouse, and fans. Finish milling equipment installation and plant construction was completed by Watkins Engineers & Constructors. Start up took place in May 1999.

In October 1999, Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals ordered a ship unloader to be installed at the port of Charleston in Southern California. The 800-tph unloader, which will be used for cement and clinker arriving in ships as large as 60,000 dwt, will be rail-mounted, equipped with a clean-up head, and supplied with a side-tilting system. Also included in the contract is a traveling belt loader. Commissioning will take place in January 2001. BMH Marine received the order.

Kosmos Cement Co., operated by Southdown Inc. awarded a $15 million contract to expand and modernize its Louisville, Ky. plant. Kosmos is a joint venture owned 75% by Southdown and 25% by Lone Star. The project will increase the plant's capacity by 700,000 tpy to about 1.6 million tpy. Humboldt Wedag will supply a four-stage preheater with Low NOx calciner and Pyrotop mixing chamber for CO reduction. The kiln will be equipped with a Pyrojet burner and a Pyrostep clinker cooler. The company also will supply a complete indirect coal-firing system along with other auxiliary equipment and dust collectors. The new preheater tower for stages I, II, and III will be constructed adjacent to the existing preheater. The existing support tower will house the new preheater stage IV and the Low NOx calciner. Equipment deliveries began in July 1999 with plant start up in mid-2000.

A 2,600-mtpd plant was ordered by Lafarge to expand production capacity at the company's Sugar Creek plant in Independence, Mo. The scope of supply includes a roller mill with a raw material throughput of about 175 mtph; a blending silo with 12-meter diam and 3,000-mt storage capacity; and the kiln plant, consisting of a five-stage cyclone preheater with Prepol calcining system, a 4.2-meter-diam Yen 50-meter-long two-support kiln, and a reciprocating grate cooler. Cement grinding will be performed by a two-compartment, 4.2-meter-diam Yen 12.75-meter-long separator mill with about 73-tph throughput at a fineness of 3,800 cm[superscipt]2/g. The plant commissioning is scheduled for autumn 2000 with Krupp Polysius supplying the order.

Lehigh Portland Cement Co., a member of the Heidelberger Zement Group, commissioned Krupp Polysius to install a 5,500p-mtpd kiln plant at its Union Bridge, Md. facility. The new plant comprises a one-string, five-stage cyclone preheater with Prepol precalciner system. The 5.2-meter-diam Yen 70-meter-long rotary kiln is driven via a self-aligning drive pinion.

Roanoke Cement in Virginia ordered two dynamic classifiers Type LSKS to be used with the company's existing Raymond coal mills. These classifiers will increase capacity more than 10%. Both commissioning and the modifications were scheduled to take place in February 2000, and there will only be a scheduled shut down of eight days. Roanoke also ordered a new hydraulic spring system for its raw material mills. The hydraulic spring system includes counter-pressure technology, which is said to increase the availability of the raw material mill. The system will be installed in the early part of April 2000. Loesche America is the supplier.

In September 1999, St. Lawrence Cement commissioned Krupp Polysius to install a granulated blast furnace slag-grinding system in its new granulated blast furnace grinding facility currently under construction in Camden, N.J. The roller mill will produce 90 tph of ground blast furnace slag.S outhdown awarded a contract for a new kiln system as part of the upgrading of its Victorville, Calif. operation. The project will increase the plant's overall production capacity by more than 70% to 2.6 million tpy. Equipment deliveries began in December 1999, and the plant is expected to start up in the early part of 2001. Fuller is the supplier.

Southdown's Fairborn plant in Xenia, Ohio, has placed an order for the installation of a new table for the company's raw material mill LM 28.2. The total shut down time for all repair work and the installation of the table will be 15 days sometime in the near future. Loesche America is the supplier.

Southdown's Chicago terminal recently began a US$7.3 million modernization. The project involves the addition of two, 175-ft-high, reinforced concrete silos as well as the installation of dust collectors and mechanical and electrical systems. Work began in November 1999 and is scheduled for June 2000 completion. Graycor is in charge of the upgrade.

Canada Ciment Quebec ordered a new classifier LSKS for its raw material mill LM 30.4. This order includes modifications to the existing raw material process ducts, which will optimize the operation of both the mill and the plant. There will be an increase in capacity of more than 10%. Commissioning is scheduled for March 2000. Loesche America is the supplier.

CENTRAL AMERICA Mexico At Cementos y Concretos Nacionales S.A. de C.V., commissioning of a roller mill with a rated capacity of 85 mtph (or 80 mtph pozzolanic cement) started in December 1999. Krupp Polysius was the supplier.

CARIBBEAN Dominican Republic Cementos Colon awarded a contract for the engineering design and supply of a 450,000-mtpy grinding plant. A clinker import receiving terminal was constructed at the port of Haina. Clinker is transported by truck to the Najoyo, San Cristobal clinker grinding plant. The plant includes covered material storage; handling, transporting, dust collection, and feeding equipment; a 3.8-meter-diam Yen 11-meter-long ball mill with a 2,200-kW drive. It produces 60-mtph of Type I cement at 3,200 cm2/g. Cement is stored in a 5,000-ton silo equipped for both bag and bulk loading. The plant was fully operational in the first quarter of 1999. Humboldt Wedag was the supplier.

SOUTH AMERICA Brazil Camargo Correa Cimentos S.A. awarded a contract to design the modifications of the main burning systems for coal and petroleum coke firing in its 2,700-mtpd kilns in Apiai. C. Greco will design the burning system for coal and petroleum coke firing in the SLC precalciner of the FLS kiln.

C. Greco also designed a natural gas lance for two lime kilns (600 and 1,000 mtpd), located at Sao Jose da Lapa and operated by Cia. Cimento Portland Itau.

At Cementos Maua S.A., a new 1,250-mtpd cement clinker production plant was put into production in February 1999. Krupp Polysius supplied a cyclone preheater, a rotary kiln, and a reciprocating grate cooler.

Cia de Cimentos do Brasil ordered two cement grinding plants in February 1999. One was a 95-mtph, two-compartment separator mill for the company's Cajati plant; the other was a 105-mtph, two-compartment separator mill for its Nova Santa Rita facility. Krupp Polysius was the supplier.

Cimento Planalto S.A. hired C. Greco to design the burning system for coal and petroleum coke firing in its 2,500-mtpd kiln in Sobradinho.

At Soeicom S.A., commissioning of a new grinding plant started in April 1999. Krupp Polysius was the supplier.

Votorantim, the largest cement maker in Brazil, commissioned a Krupp Polysius member company in Sao Paulo with the supply and installation of 21 Sepol high-efficiency separators. The work was completed in January 1999.

Votorantim also ordered modifications of its Fuller cooler in 1999. Two sets of clinker inlet distribution systems were purchased from IKN for the Itau de Minas kiln #3 and Tocantins kiln #3. An additional inlet distribution system will be installed at the company's Itambe plant kiln #1.

Columbia The new clinker production line, semi-finish grinding system, and coal pulverizing system operated by Cementos Diamante de Ibague S.A. began performance tests in late 1998, and the production line operated above process-related warranties through 1999. It has a daily clinker capacity of 3,500 mt. Recently, Cementos Diamante was purchased by Cemex. The new clinker burning section was designed with a five-stage cyclone preheater with Pyroclon calciner; two-pier Pyrorapid 4.6-meter-diam Yen 54-meter-long rotary kiln; a Pyrostep clinker cooler with stepped grate, air-distribution system, and dust-collection unit. The semi-finish grinding system for clinker consists of a roller press, two ball mills, two separators, a V-separator, and a dust-collection unit. For coal grinding, a vertical roller mill from Gebr. Pfeiffer was installed.

Peru In October 1997, Cemento Andino S.A. placed an order with KHD Humboldt Wedag AG for the supply of plant and equipment for the intended capacity increase of the existing clinker production line 2 at its Condorcocha plant. The engineering of the project was done by the consulting group ARPL Tecnologia S.A. The original production capacity of 450 mtpd was raised to 1,450 mtpd. A 2,400- Yen 2,400-mm impact hammer mill was installed to increase the production rate of the existing 3.8-meter-diam Yen 7.5-meter-long tube mill, as were core components for uprating and adaptation of the 3.6-meter-diam Yen 50-meter-long rotary kiln. A preheater string with secondary firing system, a tertiary air duct, and a grate cooler also were installed. Start up of the modified plant took place during the second half of 1999.

Cementos Lima S.A. purchased three high-pressure grinding rolls, three disagglomerators, and three separators in September 1999. Two of the grinding rolls perform the raw material finish grinding with a throughput of 310 mtph each. The other unit produces cement in conjunction with an existing tube mill. The output of this combination grinding system is 226 mtph. Krupp Polysius was the supplier.

Lima's Cementos Yura S.A., a subsidiary of Grupo Gloria, placed an order for a clinker vertical roller grinding mill from Loesche GmbH. The LM 56.2+2 will be constructed at the company's plant in Arequipa, Peru, located about 1,000 km southeast of Lima. The mill will be integrated in a grinding plant for mix cement 15% to 35% pozzolana and 65% to 85% clinker and gypsum, with a capacity of 180 mtph, or 1.4 million mtpy. The mill has a table diameter of 5,600 mm and will be equipped with a high-efficiency classifier. A 4,000-kW motor will be installed as the mill drive. The delivery time for the equipment is eight to 10 months, and the commissioning of the plant is scheduled for February 2001.

Venezuela Corporation de Cementos Andino purchased an IKN clinker inlet distribution system for the modification of its Polysius cooler in production line #1 at the company's Trujillo plant. The modification is expected to increase clinker capacity 36%.