Asia & Pacific Rim

The demand outlook for FY15 appears more favourable in India, while Pakistani exports to Afghanistan fell by around 9% in July – December of FY14.

The Australian cement company has bought the Penrice limestone quarry located near to its Angaston plant.

Loesche’s LM 63.3+3 mill attained a new record product rate of 255 tph of blastfurnace slag meal after only a short period of operation in Taiyuan, northern China.

Siam Cement (Lampang) and three Siam City Cement plants have achieved Green Industry Level 5: Green Network status, marking them as actively achieving and promoting environmentally friendly practices.

According to Guangdong’s Development and Reform Commission, the Chinese province will make further capacity reductions in the iron, steel and cement sectors by 2017.

SCG continues to increase its presence in the ASEAN market with plans to construct a new 1.8 million tpa cement plant in Mawlamyine, Myanmar.

Cement boycotts continue in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, while expansion and consolidation is on the cards in North India.

In its June quarter results, the Aditya Birla-owned company achieved significantly higher net sales despite reduced net profit.

Capstone Turbine Corporation has received an order from Indonesia for a Capstone C800 system to power a cement plant in Balikpapan.

According to local reports, there are an estimated 1.07 billion t of limestone deposits in Nepal.

The board of Pakistan’s Lucky Cement is recommending shareholders approve a US$200 million investment in a coal-fired power plant in Karachi.

A report on the progress of the US-China Climate Change Working Group shows progress in the existing five initiatives and plans for further cooperation.

New Zealand First has issued a press release, detailing its concerns over the standard of imported cement.

France’s Vicat Group has purchased Sagar Cements’ stake in Vicat Sagar Cement Company, which operates a 3 million tpa plant in North Karnataka.

In the second part of this article, K. N. Rao, Environment and Energy Conservation, and R. Nand Kumar, ACC Limited, take a look at the steam Rankine cycle, organic Rankine cycle and the Kalina process.