Development of the cement industry and the Cement Division in the past decade

The Cement Division is one of the biggest divisions of the Scientific Society of the Silicate Industry. The life of the division is closely connected to the developments in the cement industry. In the last 10 years the cement industry has become consolidated in Hungary. The production and the cement consumption got balanced even if due to a reasonable proportion of import. The owner structure of the Hungarian cement industry is based on international cement companies, which allows a continuous development of Hungarian cement plants. Consequently, the technical level of Hungarian cement plants meets the BAT standards and the international trends you can also find in the Hungarian cement industry. The main drive of technical improvements in the cement industry is the reduction of CO2 emission and the usage of alternative fuels. The total CO2 emission of a cement plant can be reduced by the reduction of specific energy (heat and power) consumption while at the same time specific CO2 emission can be further reduced by increased usage of cement additives by which clinker content of cement can be decreased. The pursuit of lower energy consumption resulted in the spread of precalciner technology and effective cooler systems. A further advantage of the precalciner technology is that this system is more adequate to increased usage of the alternative fuels. The decrease of clinker content has triggered an increasing need for cement additives, such as fly ash and granulated blast furnace slag, therefore these by-products have become two of the most important raw materials of cement production instead of being a waste to be deposited. As a new cement composition can be ground optimally in different ways. The modern cement grinding systems has became more and more competitive compared to the proven ball mills. The same development can be observed in the Hungarian cement industry. The modernised kiln line in DDC Plant Beremend is under commissioning and there are further kiln line modernisations and even more construction of new cement plants under preparation (Nyergesjfalu-Holcim, Kiralyegyhaza-Strabag) so as to reduce energy consumption (3,7 GJ/t clinker) and increase alternative fuel usage potential. The finish grinding mills are updated so the specific power consumption of Hungarian cement plants (100-106 kWh/t) is comparable to that of German cement producers.