El Salvador's sole cement producer, privately owned Cementos de El Salvador (CESSA), awarded F.L.Smidth a US$13.5 million turnkey contract recently. FLS will convert the CESSA's production line near the town of Metapan close to the Guatemalan border from an oil-fired to a petcoke-fuelled facility. The switch-over will take place in the spring of 2003 after a short production shutdown.

The contract comprises all machinery and engineering, electrical project design, the control system (from FLS Automation), erection, and commissioning services. The conversion entails installation of an ATOX coal mill, a baghouse filter, a feeding system (by Pfister), and a Duoflex burner.