The calling card of the city of Novorossiysk is the caustic dust from the cement factories operating here. The environmental damage caused to the environment by the country's cement industry is obvious, and only the modernization of outdated equipment at the vast majority of cement plants can significantly reduce it. But it is possible to radically change the economics and ecology of cement production only by introducing the “dry” method of its production.
It is difficult to imagine cost-effective and highly reliable residential and industrial construction without the use of inexpensive and high-quality cements, which make it possible to produce from them mortars and concretes with various physical-mechanical and chemical-mineralogical properties.
“Cement is the bread of construction” - and this is indisputable. The only worrying thing is that a rather narrow circle of construction industry specialists is more or less aware of the kitchen, or rather the “bakery”, where the “bread of construction” is prepared.
The Russian cement industry consists of 55 factories, 49 of which have a full technological cycle, that is, each of them has a raw material base: quarries where clay, limestone and so on are mined. Only once, in 1989, in Russian Federation On this material and technical basis, a record level of cement production was achieved - 89 million tons, which the country consumed.
In 1992-1993, cement production “sank to the bottom” - amounted to only 27 million tons. However, it was at that time that Western companies began investing in the cement industry. In 1992, such world leaders as Lafarge, Dyckerhoff, Holcim appeared on the domestic market. In 2014, the cement industry supplied 59.4 million tons of its products to the construction market.
The shortage and increase in product prices aroused interest among potential investors from various regions of Russia. In the press and on television, the topic of building new cement plants is constantly raised; how serious these intentions are, time will tell, but the lack of qualified workers, the collapse of cement engineering and basic bureaucracy indicate that cement production will still not be accessible to many.
The problems of the cement industry, especially the tasks of its modernization, in accordance with generally accepted environmental requirements for energy and resource conservation, have become overgrown with a dusty “smog” of myths, rumors and speculation, which are successfully replicated in the media.
To dispel them in a small publication is simply impossible. The purpose of the article is to acquaint as many interested readers as possible with some of the secrets of the “baking art” of cement production.
About the concept of “cement”
In a strictly encyclopedic concept " Cement"(Latin caementum - “crushed stone, broken stone”) is an artificial inorganic binder, which is one of the main building materials.
When interacting with water, aqueous solutions salts and other liquids forms a plastic mass, which hardens and turns into a stone-like body. Mainly used for making concrete and mortars.
Cement is a hydraulic binder and has the ability to gain strength even in humid conditions, which is fundamentally different from some other mineral binders (gypsum, airborne lime), which harden only in air.
Cement for mortars is a low-clinker composite cement intended for masonry and plaster mortars, made by joint grinding of Portland cement clinker, active mineral additives and fillers.
The Romans, who are considered the discoverers of cement, mixed certain materials with lime to obtain some of its astringent properties: pozzolans (deposits of the volcanic ash of Vesuvius); crushed or crushed bricks and hardened deposits of volcanic ash from the Eifel region.
In the Middle Ages, it was accidentally discovered that the products of firing limestone contaminated with clay were not inferior to Roman pozzolanic mixtures in water resistance and even surpassed them.
After this came a century-long period of intense experimentation. At the same time, the main attention was paid to the development of special deposits of limestone and clay, to the optimal ratio of these components and the addition of new ones. Only after 1844 did they come to the conclusion that in addition to the exact ratio of the components of the raw mixture, it was first of all necessary heat firing (about +1450° C, 1700 K) to achieve a strong connection of lime with oxides.
Portland cement is obtained by heating limestone and clay or other materials of similar gross composition and sufficient activity to a temperature of +1450...+1480 °C. Partial melting of the components occurs and clinker granules are formed.
To obtain cement, clinker is ground together with approximately 5% gypsum stone. The gypsum stone controls the rate of setting; it can be partially replaced by other forms of calcium sulfate. Some specifications allow the addition of other materials during grinding.
The outstanding chemist Alexey Romanovich Shulyachenko is considered the father of the Russian cement industry. The Antonov shaft kiln is widely used for firing and clinker production.
In the vast majority of cases, cement refers to Portland cement and cements based on Portland cement clinker. At the end of the twentieth century, there were about 30 varieties of cement.
Cement grades are determined mainly by the compressive strength of halves of prism samples measuring 40×40×160 mm, made from a 1:3 cement solution with quartz sand.
Grades are expressed in numbers M100 - M600 (usually in increments of 100 or 50), indicating compressive strength of 100 - 600 kg/cm² (10 - 60 MPa), respectively.
Due to its strength, cement with a grade above 600 is called “military” or “fortification” and its price is an order of magnitude higher than grade 500. It is used for the construction of military facilities, such as bunkers, missile silos, etc.
Also, cement is currently divided into classes based on strength. The main difference between classes and brands is that strength is not derived as an average indicator, but requires at least 95% assurance (i.e., 95 samples out of 100 must correspond to the declared class). The class is expressed in numbers 30 - 60, which indicate compressive strength (in MPa).
Historical excursion into the cement industry
Industrial cement production in Russia has a history of almost two centuries. However, the first official mention of it dates back to the 17th century. In a letter to the then commandant of Moscow, Prince Gagarin, Peter I gave instructions to send several barrels of lime. Mysterious, because then the word “Lime” was crossed out and corrected to “Cement”. Experts in building materials science claim that, in this case, we were talking about one of the varieties of cement produced in those distant times, namely novel-cement.
Officially, the first cement plant in Russia was built and put into operation in 1839, and it produced Portland cement. Literally half a hundred years later, Russia entered the European market, and occupied one of the leading places in this sector, until the outbreak of the First World War.
The tragic events in the country, revolution and civil war, left no stone unturned in the cement industry. The strategic gray product had to be purchased for timber, grain and currency. This was not at all included in the “huge plans” of the great architect Comrade Stalin.
Everything was thrown into the restoration of the cement industry, including literature. In 1929, Fyodor Gladkov wrote a novel with the odious title “Cement.” The leader of the people liked him so much that he regularly quoted him. He especially liked the thesis - “Cement is the bread of construction”; this expression became the motto of the building materials industry.
During the period of the "great Stalin's construction projects“Cement was one of the most important materials, because concrete was used in huge quantities. And concrete and cement are inseparable, like ice and water.
During the first five-year plans, all cement factories were reconstructed, and in parallel with the restoration of existing production facilities, new ones were erected. Of course, industrialization and the rapid pace of construction of new factories only contributed to the rapid reproduction of cement.
The Great Patriotic War again stopped the development of the cement industry, because most of factories were located in the occupied territories, and some of them were completely destroyed. Only in 1948 was cement production fully restored and returned to its previous level.
And already in 1962, the USSR ranks first in the world in terms of cement production. And this is logical - after all, it was then that the era of large-panel housing construction undividedly came into its own. And the production of reinforced concrete panels is completely tied to cement.
In 1989, 89 cement factories were fully operational in the USSR, producing more than 140 million tons of cement. The development of industry did not stand still; scientific research centers represented cement science in many cities of the country. More than three dozen machine-building plants worked for the needs of the cement industry, and educational institutions produced hundreds of new specialists in this field.
Cement production in post-perestroika Russia
During the period of collapse Soviet Union The Russian construction market is again experiencing a crisis. A sharp decline in the construction of new facilities led to a decline in cement production. Only by 2000, with the normalization of the situation in the country, Russian cement factories resumed work.
During the period from 2000 to 2015, cement production increased by 50% compared to the nineties. Although in 2002 the country entered the top ten world leaders in cement consumption, Russia's share in world production was no more than two percent.
The bulk of cement is produced using the outdated “wet” method. And since the standard operating life of cement plants is no more than 30 years, many of them become unusable and stop production. Meanwhile, the demand for concrete and cement is growing.
Today Russia is on the verge of an acute shortage of cement. In principle, in some regions of Russia, a shortage of cement began to be felt as early as 2006. According to experts, problems with cement transportation may arise in the near future.
About the scientific and technological process of cement production
As noted earlier, the scientific and technological level of cement manufacturing processes in a wide range practical implementation preserved at the level of the twentieth century.
Due to the widespread use of tube kilns with highly turbulent air flows, which have a high ability to “capture” and transport particles of the charge and sintered clinker, there is an excessive load on the flue gas purification filters.
All this leads to an increase in the cost of filters, their large size and low degree of purification (up to 95 - 97%), which in large-scale cement production makes it environmentally hazardous, since tens and even hundreds of kilograms of highly dispersed dust are emitted per day.
Homogenization (complete assimilation) of the clinker mixture, due to the use of initial minerals with sizes exceeding 3-5 mm, does not exceed 75 - 80%, which leads to unreacted components, and this in turn sharply worsens the physicomechanical and chemical-mineralogical properties of cements .
Man-made waste is practically not used (with the exception of granulated slag) - instead, significant funds are required for the extraction of quality raw materials (quarrying of limestone, marl, clay).
Energy consumption for clinker sintering at most cement plants is at the level of 800 - 1,200 or more kcal/kg of clinker, although according to calorimetric calculations 2-3 times less is sufficient.
Energy consumption for grinding clinker is 35 - 50 kW/h per ton of cement with a low grinding thickness, although there are processes and equipment with energy consumption an order of magnitude lower and better grinding quality - up to 15,000-25,000 cm2/g.
The use of predominantly expensive coolants as energy carriers: natural gas, petroleum products or conditioned coal, significantly increases the cost of cement production and, ultimately, significantly increases the cost of housing, industrial buildings and structures.
On a radical change in the composition of equipment at cement plants
An analysis of these shortcomings has shown that to eliminate them, traditional methods of upgrading equipment or adding new mechanisms are not applicable - a radical change in the composition of cement plant equipment with other useful properties and parameters is necessary.
Firstly, to reduce the amount of dust emissions and transform cement production into an environmentally friendly one, one should abandon bag filters and electric precipitators (which “pass” up to 3-5% of dust in emissions) and switch to filters with an order of magnitude better cleaning quality - for example, water filters (scrubbers) with a degree of dust removal from exhaust gases of up to 99.7%.
Secondly, to improve the quality of grinding, fundamentally new grinding equipment (for example, centrifugal impact mills) should be used, which makes it possible to achieve a guaranteed and specified size of crushed cement particles, which only manage to go into solution when preparing concrete.
Thirdly, for operational control to determine the content of clinker components in the feedstock, it is necessary to use analyzers that operate in real time and are compatible with the complex’s process control system - for example, X-ray diffraction analyzers.
Fourthly, changes should be made to the technological process of preparing the charge: the initial components must not only be accurately dosed, but also the highest possible degree of homogenization of the charge must be achieved with preliminary fine grinding of the components.
Fifthly, it is necessary to use equipment to significantly reduce energy costs for clinker sintering and/or use “secondary heat” - to involve in the technological process the energy contained in the exhaust gases and sintered clinker, which is dissipated into the environment in existing cement plants.
Sixthly, full automation of cement plants is necessary - this will significantly reduce labor costs in production costs and be able to quickly change over to the production of cements with different physical, mechanical and chemical-mineralogical properties in connection with changing market needs or raw materials.
Seventh, complete autonomy of cement production and independence from energy communications can be achieved by generating electricity to drive mechanisms and gas for sintering clinker from solid fossil fuels, for example, hard or brown coal, oil shale.
This solution will also allow:
Significantly reduce the cost of purchasing energy resources, since the cost of electricity and gas obtained from these fossil fuels is significantly lower than what is offered by the monopolists - Gazprom and electricity suppliers;
Avoid paying “for connection” to electricity and gas supply networks, which is currently a practical obstacle to the development of new industries;
Do not waste time and money on designing networks and laying networks, as well as their “coordination” in many instances.
Simplicity is more expensive than theft
As you know, the production of cement occurs in two stages - the production of clinker (a burnt mixture of limestone and clay), which is 70% of the cost of the final product, and its grinding together with gypsum and active mineral additives.
The main thing is to obtain a raw material mixture of constant composition. It is prepared in two main ways - “wet” and “dry”. With the “wet” method, fine grinding of the raw material mixture is carried out in an aqueous environment to obtain a charge in the form of an aqueous suspension - sludge with a moisture content of 30–50%. In the “dry” method, the raw material mixture is prepared in the form of a finely ground dry powder, therefore, during the grinding process or before it begins, the raw materials are dried.
The first method is simpler, which is why it formed the basis of the Soviet cement industry. The second requires more complex and capricious equipment. However, it allows for higher productivity of the furnace unit and the construction of more powerful furnaces.
“The future, of course, belongs to dry production cement plants. Fuel consumption, and the most expensive gas, at Russian cement plants operating using the “wet” method is twice as high as the world average. To meet the requirements of environmental legislation, constant investment in the reconstruction of production facilities is required. At the same time, the cost of cement produced using old technologies is several times higher than the cost of production from “dry” production, whose emissions into the atmosphere are several times lower.”, - speaks CEO"Baselcement" Vyacheslav Shmatov.
Prospects for the “triumph” of the dry method of cement production
For the Russian construction complex, the fundamental importance of the cement industry is not a virtual concept, because it is practically visible, commercially significant and materially tradable. The external and internal circumstances of our country have so developed that cement plants, in terms of technological and technical solutions, remain on the periphery of technical progress.
In June of this year, the volume of cement production in Russia amounted to 4.7 million tons per month, which despite crisis phenomena, slightly higher than in the same period in 2013. The volume of cement production using the “dry” method has also increased.
The further development of this most interesting method of cement production in Russia from an economic and environmental point of view will depend on three circumstances.
First- what position the state will take. Over the past few months, there has been a persistent rumor circulating in the market that from January 1, 2016, only those plants that produce it using the “dry” method will be able to supply cement to the largest federal and regional construction projects.
Second circumstance - the development of competition in the market. “We can expect that we will gradually come to a state of affairs where consumers simply will not buy products from companies that maliciously violate environmental legislation. And they will have no choice: either they will go bankrupt or they will rebuild their work. It is clear that this will take years, but this is the global trend,”- says leading expert of Finam Management Dmitry Baranov.
Third circumstance - equipment.
The domestic industry does not produce equipment for the “dry” method of cement production at all. Therefore, since the 1980s, Nevyansk Cement Plant has been using the technologies of Japanese companies Onoda and Kawasaki, Verkhnebakansky Cement Plant is equipped with the Danish company FLSmidth, and Mordovcement uses General Electric filters.
Therefore, it is now necessary or urgent to create production of such equipment in Russia, which is still possible for certain items or to completely eliminate import duties on it.
“The Ministry of Natural Resources has prepared a number of bills to change the regulation of environmental impact through the introduction of the best available technologies based on the latest achievements of science and technology. An important condition for their successful implementation should be economic incentives. Enterprises that actively invest in modernization, energy saving, and environmentally friendly technologies have the right to count on preferences. For example, the costs of environmental protection measures should be taken into account when determining fees for negative impact on the environment. Enterprises that have embarked on the path of modernization need preferential lending and tax breaks,”- say the Eurocement Group.
Conclusion
It is obvious that a reasonable combination of punitive and rewarding methods used by the state should push cement producers to build new “dry” plants and gradually phase out “wet” plants. Perhaps in three to five years this process will take an irreversible form in Russia.
Text: Vladimir Ivanov, Sergey Sannikov
Representatives of the Chinese cement corporation, located in a building with the sign “Anhui Conch” in the historical center of Ulyanovsk, slowly, with green tea, talk about their plans to build a new cement plant in the Ulyanovsk region. General Director of Konch Cement Volga LLC Li Chunfeng says that the company expects to produce up to two million tons of cement per year, and the cost will be much lower than at Russian factories. “We want to help the Russian market, bring our technologies, take your cement production to a new level,” explains Chunfeng of Conch’s desire to work in Russia. According to the Chinese, they can easily reduce market prices for cement by 10–20%, and this in a stagnating market, and if it grows, then by 50%.
Ulyanovsk project "Ankhoy Konch" in recent months became notorious at the federal level due to active speeches local population against the construction of a cement plant. Perhaps protests against cement production have not yet reached this level, although, in principle, they are a common phenomenon. Activists have already collected five thousand signatures against the construction of the plant (the population in the area of the future construction is small), a tent camp with starving people operated for several months, and the last initiative - to hold a rally - failed: it was not sanctioned.
The interest of regional authorities in cement production is understandable. Any governor dreams of building a large cement plant in his region, market participants say. We are talking about investments from 350 million to 500 million dollars - which means that in two or three years high property tax deductions will go to the regional budget. Therefore, regions periodically announce such projects, including with the participation of Chinese investors. But most often they end in nothing. More recently, for example, the government Chelyabinsk region and the Chinese corporation China CAMC Engineering created working group for the implementation of a number of projects, one of which is the construction of a cement plant in Bakal.
At first, Ankhoy Conch also intended to build a plant in the Chelyabinsk region. According to the Deputy General Director of the Ulyanovsk Region Development Corporation (URDC) Oleg Barabanov, the region learned about this from the media and immediately invited the Chinese, offering their deposit of cement raw materials (chalk and clay) Soldatskaya Tashla in the Terengul region, which was last exhibited at auction in 2007. Then about ten companies took part in it - it was a moment of growth in the construction market before the Olympics in Sochi. The auction was won by the SOK group, which managed to prepare pre-project documentation for the development of the field, and Gazprom built a gas distribution station specifically for the plant. But the 2008 crisis did not allow the project to be implemented.
Last year, an investment agreement on the construction of a cement plant was signed between the governor of the Ulyanovsk region and the deputy chairman of the board of shareholders of Ankhoy Conch during a status meeting of the Volga Region Regional Cooperation Council federal district Russian Federation and the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River of China. The head of the region, Sergei Morozov, has repeatedly said that the region has a lot in common with China - for example, he said in an interview with Rossiya Segodnya that, based on certain political connections (Ulyanovsk is Lenin’s birthplace), the Ulyanovsk region and China have general projects in economics.
As part of the implementation of the investment agreement, Konch Cement Volga LLC was created in 2016, which included the Chinese and KRUO with a 25% share. “This is perhaps the first project in history when the state receives twenty-five percent of the business,” notes Oleg Barabanov, “and at the same time invests almost nothing. But we have an obligation to contribute the land.”
According to the head of the regional government, Alexander Smekalin, the blocking package allows the region to have two members on the board of directors and influence fundamental decisions, including those related to stopping the operation of an enterprise in case of non-compliance, for example, with environmental requirements.
Does the region need cement production? Here they believe that the existing reserves of cement raw materials cannot be neglected. After all, in the Ulyanovsk region there are almost no mineral resources - only a few hard-to-recover oil reserves, quartz sands, chalk and clay. “Our problem has always been that the budget depends on the work of enterprises,” says Barabanov. “That’s why the governor is attracting production companies. There are already about forty foreign companies operating in the region. For example, “Ephesus” generates tax revenues of two billion rubles a year, “Mars” - 700 million. This includes employment for residents. After all, people here without work can degrade.”
He shows a potential 12-hectare site for the construction of a plant: “You see, nothing grows here. Only self-seeding, rare Christmas trees.” The site is located ten kilometers from nearby houses (initially it was planned to choose a place five kilometers away), and according to the law, the sanitary zone is 500 meters. But for the protesters this is no longer very important. “We are still against the dirt and dust that the plant will bring with it,” says Natalya Rodionova, head of the local “liberation” movement “For a Favorable Environment.”
“We built the first wind farm in Russia in the Ulyanovsk region,” says Oleg Barabanov. - So the residents protested: they said the blades were rotating, the birds were dying there. But there are blades the size of a five-story building, and not a single bird was harmed. But the settlement budget received 750 thousand rubles per month from the company that built the wind farm. And their entire budget is three million-something. Now they are thinking about where to spend this money.” From the plant, in which the Chinese can invest up to 30 billion rubles, they expect annual tax revenues of a billion rubles to budgets of all levels.
With opponents of the cement plant local authorities It will obviously be more difficult than with bird defenders. There are clearly more people who fear the deterioration of the environmental situation. What can the project bring to our cement industry?
Who's the odd one out here?
The Chinese company Anhui Conch is one of the world leaders in cement production, it has 300 factories, mainly in South-East Asia. “Europe has already been built, why go there?” - this is how the company explains it. It's true, as they say Russian experts, in China, almost half of the cement factories are idle - construction in the country is not growing as quickly as planned. So they planned expansion. “Chinese companies have been supplying equipment for cement factories to our market for a long time,” says one industry participant. - But now we're talking about that a Chinese player is trying to come to us, and this is already very serious. Our market is simply ridiculous: we produce approximately 55 million tons of cement, almost four times less than the Konch company alone. The Chinese have freedom of action in our market: they can dump, working at a loss and covering it through sales in other markets, and with an increase in demand for cement, they can build new plants or take a large share of the market for equipment for cement production.
True, now the Russian market is only on the eve of growth, which the Chinese themselves admit. According to their estimates, infrastructure construction in Russia has decreased by 10% over the past five years. But they believe in the future.
Russian cement workers estimate a decline in demand for cement in the country by 30% over the past three years - since 2014, when, according to market leader Eurocement Group, cement consumption in Russia reached a historical maximum of 71 million tons. The cement market is shrinking, notes Alexander Kozlov, leading analyst at IndexBox Russia, due to a reduction in both the volume of construction by private developers and government funding under federal programs for the construction of social facilities and transport infrastructure.
Even without the market contraction, Russia already had excess cement production capacity, and now the situation is getting worse. We have “declared” capacities of more than 100 million tons. And the volume of cement consumption last year was 56 million tons (according to Eurocement Group). “The cement “canopy” without taking into account the pressure from imports from the countries of the Customs Union - Kazakhstan, Belarus - is almost 50 million tons. That’s 25 “extra” cement plants with an average capacity of two million tons per year!” - comments Vladimir Guz, managing director of the investment and consulting company SM PRO.
If we consider separately the Volga Federal District, where the Chinese are planning to enter, then experts call it the most “surplus”, with a surplus of cement of more than 20 million tons. According to SM PRO, since 2010, five plants with a total capacity of 11 million tons of cement per year have been built here. To install another plant means to cause an investment cement disaster.
Of course, there are other opinions. Some analysts note that there is a certain feasibility of opening a new plant in the region. Despite the fact that there are Eurocement Group factories in the region, focused on the Samara and Saratov regions, the new enterprise can find a market in Bashkiria, Tatarstan, Chuvashia, and the Nizhny Novgorod region, where a large volume of new housing is being introduced. This will reduce logistics costs for consumers, believes Alexander Kozlov from IndexBox Russia.
The Chinese project can also be regarded as federal. Anhui Conch promises to transport its cement throughout the country - fortunately, the cost, according to the Chinese, will be quite low. It is clear that they are also interested in the Central Federal District. The construction market of Moscow, the Moscow region and surrounding areas is growing due to the construction of infrastructure (metro, bridges, roads, etc.). This is the only point of growth today, except for the South of Russia, notes commercial director of LafargeHolcim Russia (the fourth cement producer in the country) Maxim Goncharov. According to him, there are strong regional imbalances in our market: for example, in the Central region there is a shortage of modern local cement production capacities of 4.5 million tons. Cement is brought from the south or from the Volga (on average, this is plus a thousand rubles per ton), but logistics costs reach 30% of its price.
Ideally, Goncharov believes, we now need to invest in factories in regions close to Moscow. LafargeHolcim is moving in this direction: the company operates factories in the Moscow, Kaluga and Saratov regions and quarries in Tula region. “The Volga market as a whole is mature, and it is not in better condition, says Maxim Goncharov. “To invest there now means not to understand the cement industry at all.”
However, the Chinese did not come to the Central Federal District for nothing. According to the general director of Asia Cement LLC (a plant in the Penza region) Ainura Kypchakbaeva, there is nowhere to build there - densely populated areas, few accessible raw materials. By the way, Asia Cement began operating in 2014, and now the utilization rate of the furnaces here, according to Kypchakbaeva, is 99.98%, that is, new plants, in principle, can operate at full capacity if they organize sales correctly. The plant sells three hundred thousand tons in the Volga region, 1.8 million tons in the Central region.
Exporting cement is not an option. This is more of a local product due to expensive logistics. Russian cement exports are declining: last year they fell by 41% compared to 2015, to one million tons. There are many reasons: rising costs, underdeveloped export infrastructure, high import duties in Europe and fierce competition in the global cement market.
And, by and large, there is nowhere to take it, says Maxim Goncharov. China is not discussed, on the other hand - Belarus, which itself supplies us with clinker (under an agreement with the Eurocement Group), Poland and Romania, where there are five or six factories each, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan - everywhere they have excess capacity. A specialized product is more or less in demand in other markets - for example, well cement, used in concreting oil and gas wells. Our enterprises supply it, in particular, to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. But we are talking about a small segment of approximately 300 thousand tons, as is the case with other niche cements.
The cement is drying
According to Alto Consulting Group analysts, our cement is not very competitive on the world market due to its high cost. The reason is a slight lag compared to other countries in the transition of the cement industry to new, more economical and less energy-intensive technologies for dry mixture preparation. Here the Chinese saw a “gap” in our market: according to their calculations, 70% of our factories operate using outdated wet technologies, which means they will fall out of service (it is not always economically feasible to modernize such factories).
The peculiarity of the wet method is that the raw materials are mixed with water when preparing the mixture. To remove it, the oven works like a drying unit, and this uses a lot of energy. When a cement mixture is prepared using the dry method, the raw materials are first dried and then crushed and mixed. The dry method is more economical. It reduces the cost of fuel and energy resources, and therefore the cost - by at least 40%.
In the same Ulyanovsk region, one of the two plants of the Eurocement Group - Ulyanovskcement - operates using wet technology. There is only one furnace operating there, 15% of the capacity is used. And so far the company is in no hurry to modernize it. “The decision to modernize Ulyanovskcement will be made based on the market situation. Given the increase in excess cement capacity in the region, the enterprise modernization project will be unprofitable,” comments Yaroslav Stoupa, vice president for production and technical development of Eurocement Group.
According to the regional administration, the plant is not doing well with the environment. As Alexander Smekalin said, at the urgent request of the regional government, the owner of the plant installed filters - not as desired, but still capturing a certain proportion of fractions, and the situation improved: “Hot heads are proposing to close the plant, but we are conducting a dialogue with the investor, trying to preserve jobs, because Novoulyanovsk is a single-industry town. Now the plant employs 350 people, although previously there were a thousand jobs.”
Not everything is going smoothly with the second Eurocement Group plant in the region. The Sengileevsky plant, although a modern enterprise with new equipment, has been operating in commissioning mode since 2014 with a load of approximately 60%. The company says that work to put the plant into operation is in its final stages. According to Alexander Smekalin, the plant’s management has been unable to establish the technology for two years.
It is clear that the regional authorities have some reason to say that they need a new cement plant. It is unknown whether this is related to the possible arrival of Ankhoy Conch, but the region recently canceled a tax incentive for cement industry enterprises for the next year.
In general, in Russia the process of technology substitution has been quite intensive until recently, and already half of the annual volume of 55 million tons of cement is produced in the country using dry and semi-dry technologies. The construction of new facilities was accompanied by the closure of old factories. Eurocement Group closed several factories with “wet” kilns last year. The group's production volume fell from 26 million tons in 2014 to 16 million tons in 2016.
According to Eurocement Group estimates, more than 45 million tons of new “dry” capacities have been built in the country over the past ten years. The volume of investments in the industry exceeded $15 billion. In general, it is still a question of whether we have a shortage of “dry” plants. According to Maxim Goncharov, existing “wet” plants produce very little; they can only be profitable by operating in remote regions, where cement can be sold at a high price due to its almost monopoly position.
But, unfortunately, the process of modernization of the Russian cement industry has stopped due to the economic downturn, investments have almost stopped, especially since the current price level (at least from the point of view of cement producers) does not allow enterprises to leave the “red zone”, then have revenue to cover the repayment of interest on loans.
The administration of the Ulyanovsk region has its own view on the price level. “Today on the market, despite a certain decline in consumption, the price of cement is one of the highest in the Russian Federation in history. Why don't existing players reduce it? - asks Alexander Smekalin. - And when the recession in the economy ends, which, according to the forecasts of the Ministry of Economic Development, will last no more than two to three years, on the basis of which we will grow, taking into account the implementation of large infrastructure projects, such as “One Belt - One Road”? Are we going to increase the price of cement even more?”
Meanwhile, according to SM PRO analysts, cement prices have not reached the maximum of 2008 and are lagging behind by an average of 15%. Low prices are the result of strategic miscalculations in the creation of new production facilities over the past twenty years, they say. Moreover, much of the blame here lies with Russian banks, which financed investment projects without taking into account market aspects. And this is not only a Russian problem: for example, the Kazakh market is in the same situation.
And if there is no difference...
The Chinese, by declaring that they will be able to reduce prices, show poor awareness of the real situation on the market, industry officials say. They do not know how much the growth of Russian Railways tariffs and the constant increase in the cost of renting cars, the growth of tariffs of natural monopolies, the Platon system and other factors affect the business of cement workers.
How can the Chinese still get a head start? They have some trump cards. According to Li Chunfeng, the big plus is that Anhui Conch has free money - they will not take out loans from banks, while most Russian new enterprises are heavily leveraged.
And if we talk about technology, then there are hardly any significant differences in productivity, efficiency and environmental components between “dry” plants built by the Chinese or Russian companies. “Chinese cement production technologies are a high-quality copy of European ones,” says Vladimir Guz. - All new cement enterprises built in Russia over the past two decades were equipped with either European or Chinese equipment. They are in no way inferior to modern Chinese factories.”
It's no secret that the Chinese are not developers of technological solutions for the cement industry. There are only three or four companies in the world that create comprehensive solutions for cement production, including KHD (Germany), FLSmidth (Denmark), Gebr. Pfeiffer and Christian Pfeiffer (Germany). The technologies of these European companies are widely represented in our market. By the way, according to cement workers, today the difference in cost between European and Chinese equipment is not so great.
“The technologies are identical, their gas or coal will be Russian, at the same prices as for other plants,” comments Vladimir Guz. - The only resource for reducing costs is low wages compared to Russian ones. This is possible if all employees are from North Korea. The maximum reduction effect is up to five percent.”
The argument that the Chinese will be able to stand out in the market also looks controversial high quality cement and replace imports. By the way, imports of cement into Russia are insignificant, and recently they have decreased due to a general decline in consumption, devaluation and the introduction of mandatory certification of cement in the country. And we haven’t heard of a shortage of high-quality cement on the market.
This year, Ankhoy Conch will prepare a project (there are no design estimates yet), and next year an auction for the development of the field should take place. The leading investor in the region, Eurocement Group, does not plan to participate in it.
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Babai 17.10.2017 18:18:04 |
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It seems to me that all this talk about the need to drive the Chinese out of the market and not allow them to build new factories in our country stems from a misunderstanding of the essence of the issue. Why do Terengul residents go on strikes and go on hunger strikes? Why do those who look at this from the outside egg them on, throwing slogans like “drive these Chinese from Russian soil”? In my opinion, chauvinism prevails over common sense here. Let's try to figure out why the "Chinese" are bad or good. QUALITY. China is the world leader in the cement industry, the cement production figures in this country are staggering, and, as correctly written in this article, Anhui Conch alone produces more than all the factories in the Russian Federation. It turns out that these “Chinese” have hundreds of times more experience than our cement workers. Moreover, this concerns both the direct construction of factories and the production of equipment. For reference: in the Russian Federation there are new factories built without the involvement of Chinese specialists and NO equipment. As for the quality of cement, believe me, it will be of high quality. New equipment, a new market and an experienced owner will always produce a quality product. PRICES. Anhui Conch knows what he's talking about when he claims he will lower prices by 20%. This is not a naked show off. This is a sound calculation. The Chinese see that even in our dilapidated factories, the owners manage to make billions, constantly crying about low profitability. Ankhoy will indeed lower prices without any problems and at the same time will earn more than many of our would-be owners. SALARY. It is unlikely that they will be more or less than the regional average, but the Chinese will force you to work and will not tolerate carelessness. RESULT. If they are still allowed to build a plant, then with a 99% probability we will have a modern production facility that produces a high-quality product that is sold at a price below the market. Who needs to be afraid of this? Us? Ordinary consumers? That's the thing, no. But our billionaires (I won’t name names here, this is every first owner of a Russian cement plant) need to be afraid of them. Decide with whom? And forget about this damn chauvinism. |
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Guest 17.10.2017 22:46:20 |
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But in fact this question will run into the Terengul hard worker, who, after the (hypothetical) arrival of the Chinese, will be faced with the question of what to do? And there will be two answers to it: go drink and complain about life, or go study and make your way forward. His choice will determine where we end up: above or below.
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Guest 18.10.2017 10:24:43 |
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I visited a Chinese factory in the Shymkent area in 2012, the condition was quite poor, the finished product shipment shop was terrible. Conversations about salaries and prices finished products- nonsense. The Chinese will have to do this all on average for the market. |
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Guest 18.10.2017 12:39:15 |
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Just in case, Heidelbergcement Rus, or more precisely Tulacement LLC p. Novogurovsky, has 85-90% Chinese equipment installed. Although everyone thinks it’s German :), the raw materials are local, the employees are the same. |
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Guest 18.10.2017 19:45:23 |
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Babai. Yes, that's right. There are few, almost none left among the Ivanovo, Pokrovsk, Terengul, etc. male workers. And with such an encouraged policy of Chinese and not only “expansion” and hopelessness, there will be fewer Sengileev, Ulyanovsk, Katav-Ivanovo, Nevyansk, Belgorod and other men. This happened already in the 90s, only then there was an internal redistribution and it was called lawlessness. In general, every owner of a province or country must protect his producer and his market and create conditions, first of all, for competition between them. And as for where we are: above or below - we have been climbing up from below for a long time since the 90s, achieved something and now we are being turned back. IMHO. And in my opinion you are not Babai yet, but Malay. |
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1 Introduction 3
1.1 Current state cement industry 3 1.2 Prospects for the development of the cement industry 4
2 General part 8
2.1 Clinker production methods 8
2.2 Justification for choosing a dry rotary kiln 10
clinker production
3 Technological part 12
3.1 Fuel characteristics 12
3.2 Technological and thermal regime of a rotary kiln 12
with cyclone heat exchangers
3. 3 Design and principle of operation of a rotary kiln 15
with cyclone heat exchangers
3.4 Measures to save heat and fuel 17
4 Calculation part 19
4.1 Calculation of fuel combustion 20
4.2 Calculation of air, gas and dust flows 24
4.3 Heat balance of rotary kiln 30
4.4 Calculation of combustion air and amount of exhaust gases 34
4.5 Temperature of gases at the outlet of cyclone heat exchangers, 40
dust chamber and rotary kiln
4.6 Structural calculation of a rotary kiln 51
5 Environmental protection and labor protection 55
5.1 Environmental protection measures 55
5.2 Safety rules when servicing the kiln 57 5.3 Rules for the technical operation of the rotary kiln 58
6 Literature 61
1
Introduction
Current state of the cement industry
The volume of cement production in the first quarter of 2012 increased by 15% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 9.609 million tons, SMPRO calculated. The market has not yet reached pre-crisis levels - in 2007-2008, in the first quarter, the volume of cement produced exceeded 11 million tons. According to the calculations of the President of Lafarge Cement, Alex de Valuhoff, production in 2012 will increase by 10% compared to the results of 2011 (56.2 million tons). “The market simply continues to gradually recover due to the construction of new houses and infrastructure construction,” notes SMPRO Marketing Director Evgeniy Vysotsky. Last year set a record for the volume of housing commissioned since 2007: 63.2 million square meters were delivered. m.
The price of cement in the first quarter usually does not increase: in March, a ton without VAT and delivery cost the same as in December 2011 - 2.8 thousand rubles. Evgeny Vysotsky says that manufacturers cannot raise prices in winter, despite rising energy tariffs, since in cold weather the demand for cement decreases and production volume remains high. “In the season, which lasts from the end of April to September, prices win back this period,” explains Mr. Vysotsky. Last year during this period prices increased by 20%, in 2012 the dynamics will be comparable, the expert adds.
Cement producers have a more conservative forecast. Siberian Cement expects that cement prices will rise by 12-15% this year. summer period. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sukholozhskcement Maxim Sotnikov believes that in the coming years the annual price increase will reach 10%. With this forecast, it turns out that cement prices will reach pre-crisis levels no earlier than 2019. In 2007, one ton including delivery cost about $178, or 4,548 thousand rubles.
Imports remain the factor limiting price increases on the domestic market, says Vyacheslav Shmatov, General Director of Baselcement. According to SMPRO, the volume of import supplies in the first quarter of 2012 doubled compared to the same period last year and amounted to 340 thousand tons. Mr. Shmatov reminds that as long as there is no sharp rise in prices, it is not profitable for importers to transport cement to Russia, where prices are lower than in Europe. For comparison: the cost of a ton in Germany is? 80 (above 3 thousand rubles).
The main risk for Russian producers this season remains the transport problem. Renting carriages has risen in price by 10-15%, and there are not enough of them, says Maxim Sotnikov. However, the volume of transportation by rail is gradually decreasing in favor of road delivery: according to SMPRO, in 2010 the railway accounted for 65% of deliveries, in 2011 - 60%.
1.2 Prospects for the development of the cement industry
The cement industry in Russia is a basic branch of the construction complex, on which the state and development of the country's economy, solving problems of reproductive processes, special issues of housing construction, healthcare facilities, education, etc. depend. The main directions of development of the Russian cement industry are:
Technical re-equipment and reconstruction of factories in order to update fixed assets, bringing the share of the dry method of cement production to 80-85%;
Development and implementation of highly efficient energy-saving technologies, meeting the requirements of the construction complex in the range and construction and technical properties of cement;
- ensuring wide involvement of production waste from related industries into economic circulation;
Training and advanced training of production specialists and scientific personnel in the cement industry;
Reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere and improving working conditions;
Preparation of cement enterprises for the transition to the use of coal and fuel-containing industrial waste as process fuel;
Re-equipment of the country’s machine-building base and organization of mass production of new generation cement equipment;
Improving the location of cement production in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, in particular, through the construction of regional cement grinding plants (RCPU) for firing the existing infrastructure of construction industry enterprises of those constituent entities of the Russian Federation that do not have
cement enterprises, as well as the construction of terminals combining the storage of reserves of cement clinker and other components of the cement mixture, grinding and shipment of cement to consumers by water and other modes of transport.
Today, the cement industry is the most promising area of industrial development. That is why, on the issue of the prospects for the development of the cement industry, many leading marketers and senior managers of companies involved in this industry prepare abstracts and reports. Quite recently, an international conference was held in Russia on the prospects for the development of the cement industry, in which abstracts and reports were exchanged on both the Russian and world markets regarding the prospects for the use of cement, environmental problems and improving production technologies. This conference was attended by representatives of the journal Cement Lime Gypsum (ZKG International),
who is the leader technical magazine in the international arena, entirely covering the cement industry and its related industries. The emphasis was placed on developments to streamline production, reduce energy consumption, improve quality and protect the environment.
During the conference, a positive trend in the increase in production capacity in the Russian cement industry was noted. A special place is occupied by the Eurocement Group holding, which includes dozens of cement production plants, including the well-known Zhigulevsky Construction Materials plant. Zhigulevsky cement is the main product produced by Zhigulevsky Construction Materials OJSC in the territory of Samara region. Zhigulevsky cement mainly supplies the industry National economy in the Middle Volga and is famous for its high quality at an affordable price. In addition, JSC Zhigulevskie Stroimaterialy is known for sand-cement pipes made from high-quality sand - cement - tiles and equipment. Thanks to high-quality sand and cement using professional equipment, sand and cement pipes of Zhigulevskie Construction Materials OJSC have conquered the entire Russian market in this industry.
The conference participants noted the Holcim plant as a “white cement plant”, which is the largest producer of this building material. The products of the “white cement plant” have a high coefficient of light reflection, which allows the use of these building materials to obtain any shade in the production of colored concrete, artificial stone and bricks, colored dry mixtures and grouts, as well as cement paint, while possessing high frost resistance.
At the conference, the merits of the Nakal company, specializing in the production of mine cementation furnaces, were noted. The mine carburizing furnaces of this company are distinguished by their high quality, ease of operation and maintenance, and safety. In addition, shaft cementation furnaces are distinguished by their compliance with modern
energy saving requirements.
Also, at the conference it was noted that transportation of cement by cars is the most in a rational way transportation. Transportation of cement by vehicles is the use of cement trucks for bulk transportation of cement. Transportation of cement in a cement truck in hermetically sealed containers ensures its safety during loading and unloading, transportation, as well as protecting the environment from harmful substances entering the atmosphere.
During the conference, Special attention was paid to laboratory equipment for testing cement. Laboratory equipment for testing cement includes: machines for testing cement for compression and bending, a shaking table, a tank for testing cement by boiling and a PV-300 device for determining the thickness of cement paste. This laboratory equipment for testing cement can be purchased at a modular cement production plant. The plant for the production of modular cement is also part of the Eurocement Group holding.
Summing up the results of the conference, it was noted that currently there is a process of increasing investment activity, the cement industry is transitioning to energy-saving technologies (dry production method), new cement production capacities are being built and commissioned. But in addition to the prospects, some factors and risks were noted that significantly complicate the development of the Russian cement industry. These include, first of all, the lack of clear information about the regions' needs for cement products, which are necessary when planning the construction of new plants. In this regard, one of the primary tasks is to prevent imbalances in the supply of cement to Russian regions.
Especially for the Perspectives portal
Vladimir Kondratyev
Kondratiev Vladimir Borisovich – head of the Center for Industrial and Investment Research at IMEMO RAS, professor, doctor of economic sciences.
The next article in a series of materials on the state of individual sectors of the economy in Russia and the world is dedicated to the cement industry. Although this industry is less often the focus of attention than, for example, energy, metallurgy, mechanical engineering or agribusiness, its economic importance more than it might seem to non-professionals. Cement and concrete are the most consumed resource on earth after water. And the pace of development of the cement industry is 1.5-2 times higher than the growth rate of world GDP.
Cement, together with concrete, is the second most consumed resource on earth after water: its annual consumption on our planet is about 1 ton per person. Cement is produced in 156 countries around the world. However, 70% of the world's cement production is concentrated in only 10 countries, where 70% of the world's population lives. The cement industry is key to economic development as it produces the main type of building materials for residential, industrial and infrastructure construction. The pace of its development is 1.5-2 times higher than the growth rate of world GDP.
Cement is one of the basic building materials, which is called the “bread of construction”. Being the main binding component, cement is widely used in the production of concrete, reinforced concrete, mortars, as well as in asbestos-cement, oil production and other industries. It is in demand for the construction of new industrial facilities, reconstruction and construction of buildings and structures, including hydraulic facilities, and individual construction. Unique properties cement makes it possible to produce special structures based on it, such as railway sleepers, building blocks, panels and tiles, and many other products.
The cement industry is one of the leading sectors in the production of building materials. Issued different kinds cement: Portland cement, slag Portland cement, pozzolanic Portland cement, special cements (decorative, cement, aluminous, sulfate-resistant, cement for hydraulic structures, quick-hardening cement, etc.).
Over the past few years, both cement production and consumption have increased significantly specific gravity developing countries. Their share in global cement consumption reached 90% by 2010. This was facilitated by favorable demographics, the growing urbanization of the population, and the ever-increasing demand for housing and infrastructure. The first place belongs to China: in 2012, according to estimates, this country will account for almost 60% of global cement consumption (in 1990 it consumed only 18%) (Fig. 1, 2).
Rice. 1. Structure of demand for cement by region of the world in 1990, %
1 – India; 2 – North America; 3 – China; 4 – Western Europe; 5 – other countries.
CalculatedBy:
Rice. 2. Structure of demand for cement by region in 2012 
1 – North America; 2 – Western Europe; 3 – India; 4 – other countries; 5 – China.
CalculatedBy: Cementing growth. Ernst & Young, 2011.
Over the past 20 years, there has been a significant transformation in the cement industry itself. It has become truly global. Several multinational corporations have entered this market. The seven largest global cement corporations accounted for approximately 30% of global cement production in 2010. These companies actively relocated their facilities and built new plants in developing countries, where the highest rates of demand for construction materials were observed (Table 1).
Table 1. Share of developing countries in the total capacity of the world's leading cement companies, %
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Companies |
2001. |
2010. |
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Heidelberg cement | ||
Source:Davyresearch, RBSresearch, corporate statistics data.
Thus, over the period from 2001 to 2010, the share of emerging markets in the total cement capacity of the Swiss company Holcim increased from 53 to 67%, and the French Lafarge - from 59 to 71%.
Over 3 billion tons of cement are produced annually in the world. At the same time, over the past 11 years, cement production has increased year by year. From 2000 to 2011, production volumes more than doubled, from 1.6 billion tons to 3.6 billion tons (Table 2).
Table 2. Dynamics of world cement production and growth rates in 2000-2011.
CalculatedBy: US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summary, January 2012.
The highest production growth rates (108 – 110% compared to the previous year) were observed in 2003 – 2007 in conditions of a construction boom - more than 80% of cement is consumed in construction. In 2008, due to the onset of the global economic crisis, the growth rate of cement production decreased to 102.5%. However, already in 2009, over 3 billion tons of cement were produced in the world, which is 7.7% higher than the previous year. In 2010, production volume reached 3.3 billion tons (+7.8%), and in 2011 – 3.6 billion tons.
More than half of this volume in 2010 came from enterprises in Asian countries. First of all, these are China (53%) and India (6%). The contribution of Western European countries is about 9%, the USA – 2.7%, Brazil – 1.7% (Fig. 3). The share of CIS countries does not exceed 2.5% of world production (including Russia - 1.4%).
Rice. 3. Country structure of world cement production in 2010, % 
1 – China, 2 – Western Europe, 3 – India, 4 – USA, 5 – Brazil, 6 – Russia, 7 – other manufacturers.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2011.
It is noteworthy that China alone now produces more cement than all other countries in the world combined. In five years, from 2005 to 2010, production in this country almost doubled. Cement production grew at a high rate in Brazil, Turkey and Vietnam. IN Western Europe and in Russia this production has stagnated. As a result, in 2010, compared to 2005, Brazil moved in the list of world cement producers from 13th to 5th place, Turkey - from 10th to 4th, and Vietnam - from 17th to 9th. e (Table 3).
China's share in global cement production is trending upward. Thus, in 2000 this figure was only 36.4%, in 2006 it exceeded 47%, and in 2010 it reached almost 53%. At the same time, the share of the United States decreased from 5% in 2000 to 4% in 2005 and 2.7% in 2010, and the share of Japan decreased from 3% in 2005 to 1.6% in 2010.
Table 3. Cement production in leading countries of the world, million tons
Source: U.S.Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2011.
The need for cement is largely determined by the growth of industrial production and investment activity in a country or region. The volumes of cement production (consumption) clearly show where time is running rapid construction is China, as well as the countries of Southeast and Central Asia.
In the future (until 2020), global demand for cement is expected to expand: in particular, in the countries of Southeast Asia - by 90%, in South-West Asia - by 70%. Above-average consumption growth is expected in other parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, while in the US demand is forecast to decline by 4–6%.
The annual growth in the volume of China's domestic market, due to the expected high growth rates of the country's economy, is estimated at 8%. This will maintain China's status as the largest and most promising cement market. In EU countries, cement demand growth will be below the global average.
Currently, the world cement market is dominated by a number of large companies: Lafarge (France), Holcim (Switzerland), HeidelbergCement (Germany), Italcementi (Italy), Cemex (Mexico), Anhui Conch Cement (China), Taiheiyo (Japan). They account for over 1/3 of the total world production of cement and 2/3 of its sales (Table 4).
Table 4. Largest cement companies in the world
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Company |
Production, million tons |
Total plant capacity, million tons |
Number of employees, thousand people |
Sales volume, billion dollars |
Number of factories |
Number of countries |
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Holcim (Switzerland) | ||||||||
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Lafarge (France) | ||||||||
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Hiedelberg Cement (Germany) | ||||||||
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Cemex (Mexico) | ||||||||
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Italocementi Group (Italy) | ||||||||
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Buzzi Unicem (Italy) | ||||||||
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Cimpor (Portugal) | ||||||||
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Taiheiyo Cement (Japan) | ||||||||
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Eurocement group (Russia) |
Calculated based on corporate statistics.
Among the leaders in cement production is the Swiss company Holcim, founded back in 1912, which owns 140 cement plants in 70 countries. At the end of 2010, the company's production capacity amounted to 211.5 million tons of cement, production volume - 136.7 million tons, capacity utilization level - 65%. The number of employees in 2010 was more than 80 thousand people. The company has a strong presence in India and other Asian countries, which accounts for 26% of its total capacity.
Another largest transnational cement corporation is the French Lafarge, which owns 160 cement plants in 50 countries. This is one of the oldest companies, it was founded back in 1833. Production capacity at the end of 2010 amounted to 217 million tons of cement, production volume - 135.7 million tons, utilization level - 63%. Lafarge is also active in Asia (28% of all capacity), with an emphasis on China, where more than half of the company's Asian factories are located.
Another leader, the German company Heidelberg Cement, founded in 1874, is characterized by the following indicators: production capacity at the end of 2010 - 116.5 million tons of cement, production volume - 78.7 million tons, capacity utilization level - 68% . A significant part of the capacity (almost 30%) is located in North America.
Thus, the total production of the three largest companies in 2010 amounted to almost 11% of global cement production.
Developing countries in the list of world leaders in the cement industry are represented by only one Mexican company, Cemex, which has existed since 1902. Currently, it is the fourth largest corporation in the world in terms of cement production. In 2010, it produced 74 million tons of cement at 66 plants in 50 countries.
In 2010, the average profitability level among cement producers in developed markets was 18%, while over the past four years this indicator decreased by 5-6 percentage points. On the Russian market, profitability on average is within 10%. The difference in profitability is explained by different production technologies and the level of wear and tear of cement plants (Fig. 4).
Rice. 4. Profitability level of the largest cement producers in 2010, % 
Calculated based on corporate reporting data: Russian cement industry; New wave of demand; TKB Capital, 2011.
In recent years, international trade in cement has been growing significantly. However, the share of export-import operations in total cement production is still insignificant and ranges from 5 to 7%. This means that the production of this building material exists primarily to satisfy internal local needs. Among cement exporting countries, the first place (with a large gap from others) is occupied by China (Table 5), which is not surprising, taking into account the share of this country in world production.
Table 5. Leading cement exporting countries, 2010
Source:UN Comtrade 2010.
It's interesting to note that more than a half The exporting countries presented in the table are not leading cement producers. For example, the USA, Russia and Spain, being key producers, are not among the top ten exporters. This is because many leading manufacturers use this construction material in its growing domestic market. It is also noteworthy that among the 10 key exporting countries, 7 represent the Asian continent. This indicates significant competitive advantages of Asian countries in the production of building materials.
The share of cement exports from total production is: in China - 2.7%, in India - 3%, in Turkey - 8%, in Japan - 14%. Leading cement producers do not always have a surplus of this material for export. And exporting countries with surpluses enjoy competitive advantages associated with lower production costs of the raw materials necessary for cement production.
Statistics show that the largest importer of cement in the world is the USA (Table 6).
Table 6. Leading cement importing countries, 2010
Source:UN Comtrade 2010.
The top five countries, consuming about 55% of all cement imported in the world, are located in Western Europe and North America. An analysis of the country structure of exports and imports allows us to conclude that the leading producers of cement are, as a rule, developing countries, and its consumers are developed countries. The only exception is South Korea, which appears on both lists.
The identified trends are explained, in particular, by strict environmental regulation in developed countries, forcing the transfer of cement production facilities to third world countries, where production costs are lower and environmental requirements are much more lenient.
The Russian cement industry is gradually recovering from the crisis of 2009. The decline in demand was caused by a decrease in construction activity in the country due to the suspension of many infrastructure projects due to the liquidity crisis. In 2010, demand for cement increased by 14% after falling by 27% in 2009. Consumption reached 51.5 million tons (45.2 million tons in 2009). In the near future, we can expect demand to grow by about 8–10% per year due to the implementation of large infrastructure projects, including those associated with the Olympics in Sochi and the APEC summit in the Far East. The state's long-term plans include spending on economic development country in volumes of up to $1 trillion by 2020 and $400 billion of investment in the country's infrastructure by 2015. Nevertheless, the country has an urgent need to modernize and replace about 70% of outdated cement capacities. The increase in capacity may not keep pace with the dynamics of demand for cement, which will lead to an increase in the volume of imports of this building material.
Cement producers in Russia also showed positive dynamics in 2010, showing 13.9% growth (production reached 50.4 million tons). Positive dynamics continued in 2011. According to preliminary estimates, the total volume of cement production in 2012 will be 56.2 million tons. Average annual growth of cement production for the period 2011 – 2015, according to our estimates, will be 8.2% (Table 7).
Table 7. Dynamics of cement production in Russia, million tons
* Forecast.
Source:SMPRO, TKB Capital estimate.
Housing construction and infrastructure remain the main growth factors for the cement industry in Russia. The development of the industry largely depends on the growth rate of housing construction. According to experts, against the backdrop of an extremely low supply of housing, housing construction will actively increase momentum in the medium term.
According to statistics, the peak birth rate in Russia occurred in 1980 – 1987 Now this is an economically active part of the population that needs improved housing conditions. Home purchases continue even despite rising prices, which is confirmed by 2007 trends – 2008 Against this backdrop, the cement industry has good growth prospects in the coming years. For 2005 – 2011 housing commissioning in Russia increased from 42 million to 59 million square meters. m and by 2015, according to forecasts, may increase to 80 million sq. m. Average annual growth rate of housing construction in 2011 – 2015 are estimated at 6.8%.
Increased construction activity has increased the demand for cement and led to an increase in its cost. At current prices for gas and electricity, the profitability level of many cement companies is teetering on the brink of losses. Therefore, it is likely that if current demand continues, companies will be forced to increase prices. According to our estimates, the average price for cement from manufacturers at the end of 2011 increased by 15% – up to 2500 rub. per ton, and in 2012 will increase by another 9% – up to 2700 rub. per ton. For comparison, in 2005 the average price of cement in Russia was 2,000 rubles. per ton.
Cement can be transported by any means of transport. Due to the imperfection of roads in Russia, rail transport is mainly used for this, accounting for up to 85% of all cement transportation. The rest is transported by road. According to our estimates, the cost of transporting cement for Last year increased its selling price by an average of 18%. Thus, in May 2010, the cost of a ton of cement from manufacturers was 2,020 rubles, while the market price, taking into account delivery, reached 2,480 rubles. In May 2011, a ton of cement from producers cost 2,340 rubles, and the market price, including delivery, reached 2,830 rubles.
In 2011–2012 The volume of new cement production capacity commissioned in Russia is estimated at 25 million tons. Over the next five years, production capacity may increase by 16%. Despite the crisis of 2008–2009, construction and modernization of cement production continues. Thus, in 2010, two new cement plants with a total production capacity of 3.2 million tons were put into operation, and the capacity of two existing ones was expanded by 3.5 million tons. In addition, by 2015 it is planned to launch another 14 plants with a total capacity of 24.8 million tons. According to our estimates, in the period from 2011 to 2015, production capacity in Russia, taking into account depreciation, will increase by 16%, to 97.3 million tons cement per year. According to market data, the cost of building a cement plant with a capacity of 1 million tons per year is estimated at $300 million. Average term Construction of such a plant takes two years.
The largest cement production facilities are located in the central part of Russia. Proximity to the capital ensures stable demand. In the next two to three years, the Southern Federal District may approach the indicators Central District. Demand for cement from companies located in this region ensures proximity to projects for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Over the past three years, the share of the Southern Federal District in cement production in Russia has increased by 3 percentage points, to 19.5%. Currently, cement plants with a total capacity of 4.5 million tons are being built in the Krasnodar Territory, with a capacity of another 5.6 million tons being planned at the planning stage. If all projects are launched, the total production capacity of the region will be 14.7 million tons (Fig. 5).
Rice. 5. Structure of cement production by regions of Russia in 2010, % 
1 – Far Eastern; 2 – North-West; 3 – Ural; 4 – Northern; 5 – South; 6 – Privolzhsky; 7 – Central.
Calculated according to Rosstat data.
The share of imports in the volume of cement consumption in Russia is estimated at 3.1%. According to our estimates, the existing transport infrastructure allows you to accept up to 10 million tons of imported cement per year. The market demonstrated its capabilities in 2008 – cement imports increased 2.5 times, to 8.4 million tons. The abolition of the 5% import duty and more than doubling of cement prices allowed importing countries to make a profit even taking into account costs for transportation. In October 2008, when the duty was restored, the volume of imported cement dropped sharply (to 1.8–1.9 million tons per year), from which we can conclude that when Russian companies used imported cement, the line between profit and loss was quite thin. Now prices are 40% lower than the peak values of mid-2008, so even if the duty on the import of cement is abolished, importing it into Russia will not be profitable. According to our forecasts, the share of imported cement in total volume consumption in 2011–2015 will average no more than 3.1%.
The absolute leader in cement production in Russia is the Eurocement company. In 2010, it produced 19.4 million tons of cement, occupying 38.5% Russian market. Second place went to Novoroscement: despite its lower production capacity compared to Sibirsky Cement (4.1 million tons versus 5.5 million tons), its favorable location near the construction of Olympic facilities allowed the company to produce and sell 3.8 million tons at 93% capacity utilization (Table 8).
Table 8. The largest cement producers in Russia, 2010
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Company |
Plant capacity, million tons |
Production, million tons |
Market share, % |
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Eurocement group | |||
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Siberian cement | |||
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Mordovcement | |||
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Novoroscement | |||
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Holcim/Alpha cement | |||
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Dyckerhoff AG/Sukholozhskcement | |||
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Serebryakovcement | |||
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Gornozavodskcement | |||
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Iskitimcement | |||
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TBILISI, April 3 - Sputnik. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan began in 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from Azerbaijan SSR. Negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict have been ongoing since 1992 within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a historical region in Transcaucasia. The population (as of January 1, 2013) is 146.6 thousand people, the vast majority are Armenians. The administrative center is the city of Stepanakert.
Background
Armenian and Azerbaijani sources have different points of view on the history of the region. According to Armenian sources, Nagorno-Karabakh (the ancient Armenian name is Artsakh) at the beginning of the first millennium BC. was part of the political and cultural sphere of Assyria and Urartu. It was first mentioned in the cuneiform writing of Sardur II, king of Urartu (763-734 BC). In the early Middle Ages, Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Armenia, according to Armenian sources. After most of this country was captured by Turkey and Persia in the Middle Ages, the Armenian principalities (melikdoms) of Nagorno-Karabakh maintained a semi-independent status. IN XVII-XVIII centuries Artsakh princes (meliks) led the liberation struggle of the Armenians against the Shah's Persia and the Sultan's Turkey.
According to Azerbaijani sources, Karabakh is one of the most ancient historical regions of Azerbaijan. By official version, the appearance of the term “Karabakh” dates back to the 7th century and is interpreted as a combination of the Azerbaijani words “gara” (black) and “bagh” (garden). Among other provinces, Karabakh (Ganja in Azerbaijani terminology) was part of the Safavid state in the 16th century, and later became the independent Karabakh Khanate.
In 1813, according to the Gulistan Peace Treaty, Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Russia.
At the beginning of May 1920, a Soviet authority. On July 7, 1923, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (AO) was formed from the mountainous part of Karabakh (part of the former Elizavetpol province) as part of the Azerbaijan SSR with an administrative center in the village of Khankendy (now Stepanakert).
How the war started
On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of the regional Council of Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug adopted a decision “On a petition to the Supreme Councils of the AzSSR and the Armenian SSR for the transfer of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug from the AzSSR to the Armenian SSR.”
The refusal of the Union and Azerbaijani authorities caused protest demonstrations by Armenians not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, but also in Yerevan.
On September 2, 1991, a joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional and Shahumyan district councils was held in Stepanakert, which adopted a Declaration on the proclamation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within the borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, the Shahumyan region and part of the Khanlar region of the former Azerbaijan SSR.
On December 10, 1991, a few days before the official collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh, in which the overwhelming majority of the population - 99.89% - voted for complete independence from Azerbaijan.
Official Baku recognized this act as illegal and abolished the autonomy of Karabakh that existed during the Soviet years. Following this, an armed conflict began, during which Azerbaijan tried to hold Karabakh, and Armenian troops defended the independence of the region with the support of Yerevan and the Armenian diaspora from other countries.
Victims and losses
The losses of both sides during the Karabakh conflict amounted, according to various sources, to 25 thousand people killed, more than 25 thousand were wounded, hundreds of thousands of civilians fled their places of residence, more than four thousand people were listed as missing.
As a result of the conflict, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and, in whole or in part, seven adjacent regions.
Negotiation
On May 5, 1994, through the mediation of Russia, Kyrgyzstan and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh signed a protocol calling for a ceasefire on the night of May 8-9. This document went down in the history of the Karabakh conflict settlement as the Bishkek Protocol.
The negotiation process to resolve the conflict began in 1991. Since 1992, negotiations have been ongoing on a peaceful resolution of the conflict within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France. The group also includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Türkiye.
Since 1999, regular bilateral and trilateral meetings between the leaders of the two countries have been held. The last meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, within the framework of the negotiation process to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem took place on December 19, 2015 in Bern (Switzerland).
Despite the confidentiality surrounding the negotiation process, it is known that their basis is the so-called updated Madrid principles, transmitted by the OSCE Minsk Group to the parties to the conflict on January 15, 2010. The basic principles for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, called the Madrid Principles, were presented in November 2007 in the capital of Spain.
Azerbaijan insists on maintaining its territorial integrity, Armenia defends the interests of the unrecognized republic, since the NKR is not a party to the negotiations.