Special reports

Kingfisher Industrial Ltd explains how protection from abrasive solid recovered fuels can increase production uptime and enhance life expectancy.

MPA The Concrete Centre explains how, because of concrete’s inherent material properties, it can be used to minimise fire risk for the lowest initial cost while requiring the least in terms of ongoing maintenance.

In the second part of this article, Dr Adrian Vaida, Independent Sustainability Researcher, considers sustainability in the cement industry, and what still needs to be done.

Dr Adrian Vaida, Independent Sustainability Researcher, considers the financial factors impacting sustainability and asks how the cement industry can strengthen the relationship between sustainability and business value.

The International Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers has given its suggestions as the EU targets greater energy efficiency in energy intensive industries.

Edward George, Head of Soft Commodity Research at Ecobank, reports on the tremendous growth of the cement industry in Middle Africa (abridged).

Robin Harpe, Cemcon International, Inc., USA, talks through some of the key steps for designing a succession plan to ensure that an organisation has access to the talent required for continued success.

As reported earlier this month, Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EFPL) has developed a new low-carbon cement. The following is a report from EPFL with further details.

Hector T. B. Medeiros, Sergio E.A. Filho, Clara E. Mata, and Mikaella B. Oliveira, 3M, discuss the use of glass microspheres (or bubbles) in the cementing and completions process.

In the second part of this abridged article, T. Abbas, Cinar Ltd, UK, looks at future trends for coal, clean coal initiatives, and how these will affect the cement sector.

T. Abbas, Cinar Ltd, UK, discusses the changing role that coal plays within the cement industry.

Balan Velan, Scorpio Engineering Pvt. Ltd, India, outlines methods for effective and low cost cement distribution in India.

After discussing how the cement industry can attract potential employees to careers in the industry, Robin Harpe looks at how companies can ensure that they retain this talent in the long-term.

Part 2 of the article from Antti Heikkilä, Gasmet Technologies explains how continuous mercury monitoring provides operators with an opportunity to improve environmental performance and demonstrate compliance.

Antti Heikkilä from Gasmet Technologies highlights the challenges faced by mercury monitoring in cement kilns and explains how a new continuous mercury monitoring system addresses these issues.