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Loesche Symposium 2014

Published by , Editor - Hydrocarbon Engineering
World Cement,


This year’s Loesche Symposium was held on 25 – 26 September 2014 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Düsseldorf, Germany. Over 350 guests from 55 countries took part in the two-day conference with accompanying exhibition, each followed by an evening event. Participants were invited to attend 24 lectures over the course of the Symposium.


350 delegates attended the Loesche Symposium 2014.

Day one

Following a warm welcome by Loesche’s CEO, Dr Thomas Loesche at the beginning of the first day, Dr Daniel Strohmeyer, Director of Process Technology, updated the delegates about the latest developments in Loesche grinding technology. Strohmeyer explained how product development in the company is primarily driven by product requirements, environmental considerations and resource limits of cement production, and outlined the trends towards larger mill sizes, such as Loesche’s LM 70.4+4 and 70.5, and the need for improved performance, which is delivered by its new LDC classifier. The first LM 70.4+4 mill was sold to the Holcim Group in 2013. Erection of the mill, which will be driven by a COPE gearbox is scheduled for the end of 2015.


Peter Boiger from Renk explains the advantages of the COPE-drive.

Peter Boiger of Renk AG followed with an interesting presentation on the COPE drive (Compact Planetary Electric). He highlighted the equipment’s higher availability and lower total cost of ownership (TCO). The programme continued with Professor Horst-Michael Ludwig of Bauhaus University, Weimar, and Dr Holger Wulfert, Loesche, who introduced one of the company’s latest research results and explained the process of producing high quality binder from steelmaking slags.

Dr Gerald Wimmer of Siemens VAI, Austria, explained the innovative approach for LD (Linz-Donauwitz) slag valorisation to reduce clinker factors in the cement-making process. The company’s technology will enable the use of LD slag in the production of cement, effectively reducing the clinker factor and thus bring down specific CO2 emissions, he explained. Moreover, the effective use of LD slag will reduce the slag’s negative impact on the environment as landfill or other disposal options will be no longer required to the same extent.

Loesche’s grinding technology also enjoyed support from the industry as reflected by a series of presentations from leading cement producers. Alexander Flacher, Head of Holcim Group Support, took visitors through the history of VRMs used in clinker grinding by the Swiss cement producer. The company operates, at present, 33 VRMs, of which 17 were supplied by Loesche.


Loesche mills in Saudia Arabia.

Following the lunch break, Dr Dirk Spenner, MD of Spenner Zement, discussed the operating experience of the first VRM for GBFS grinding at the cement plant in Duisburg. Mr. Bashar Sweidan then gave a presentation on behalf of Southern Province Cement Co., Saudi Arabia. The company was the first in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to install a VRM for cement grinding, which was delivered by Loesche. Sweidan informed the audience about the satisfaction of the company and their plans for further investments in new cement lines with Loesche mills. In addition, Radwan Mouakat of National Cement Co., UAE, explained the cost savings obtained due to the company’s fuel conversion project from HFO to pulverised coal. This presentation was followed by Onur Ataky from Sintek, who reflected on the change of preferences that sees VRMs take the centre-stage rather than the traditional ball mill.

After the afternoon coffee break, Loesche’s André Baetz and Dr Holger Wulfert, as well as Dr Andreas Jungmann of Cala, presented their paper “Dry selective communition and sorting of concrete rubble – the end of downcycling of crushed concrete, by usage of Loesche mill”. Dr Jungmann and Dr Wulfert stayed on the stage for their next presentation together with Carsten Gerold, also from Loesche, and Dr Schiffers, Cala, about the production of high value metal products and construction materials from steel slag and waste material by using selective comminution and dry sorting. The final paper of the day was given by Matthias Mersmann of aixergee, who highlighted process optimisation in the cement industry.

Day two

The second day’s programme commenced with Dr Daniel Camarasa, who gave the audience a general outlook of the cement industry in Africa. Pieter Jacobs followed with “15 years of successful operation of a LOESCHE VRM type LM 50.4 in a hard rock application in Phalaborwa”. Olivier Thomas and Pierre Wlodarzyk of Loesche introduced the company’s new ‘Operation and Maintenance’ business line, which sees the equipment supplier provide a multi-level maintenance and repair service through the entire lifecycle of a cement producer’s installed grinding mills, ensuring smooth operation and maximum uptime. A view from India was offered by M Srinivasan of Madras Cement and V S Narang of My Home Industries after the coffee break. They advised the audience on their operating experiences with Loesche mills in their companies’ applications.

ZKG’s Dr Hubert Baier provided a general view on future alternative fuel trends, effectively introducing a series of papers offered by A TEC specialists, which were given in the afternoon session after the lunch break. A TEC has extended Loesche’s product portfolio in recent years by several specific products in the area of plant optimisation and alternative fuel use. The company’s new chain mill was introduced by Johannes Uttinger. Müllner explained that the mill was already driven by 70% with alternative fuels from waste, two weeks after commissioning. The burner especially designed for this purpose by A TEC GRECO promises even higher substitution rates in the future, as explained by Joel Maia, A TEC GRECO, in his presentation.

Dr. Stefan Kern followed by presenting A TEC’s “State of the Art” Technology “NOX reduction below 200 mg/Nm3“. The complete removal of waste materials was explained jointly by Johannes Müllner, ?A TEC, and Ernst-Michael Sipple, Holcim Emerging Europe, with their report of the first operation experience in the industrial plant in Rohožník. Each year they are able to sell 4000 t of industrial minerals produced from 20 000 t of bypass dust. Finally, Friedrich Willitsch from A TEC and Holger Reinhold from Scheuch explained ways to reduce mercury emissions in the cement industry with a new system, which will be commissioned by the end of this year.

The two-day lecture programme was followed by tours of the Spenner Zement plant in Duisburg and Leube’s Gartenau plant in Salzburg on the 27 September, and the Wietersdorf plant in Carinthia on 28 September.


Adapted from press release by Rosalie Starling

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/12112014/loesche-symposium-2014-841/

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