VICEM Puts Premium on Governance, Energy Conservation and Performance

To boost up productivity, increase product quality, lower costs, and enhance competitiveness, VICEM always guides member companies to conduct research, propose initiatives, renovate techniques, and apply scientific and technical advances to production. With drastic policies plus timely encouragements, VICEM has effectuated a lot of initiatives such as cost-effective high-quality clinker production or grinding additive production.

 

Remarkably, the corporation installed frequency converters for clinker cooling fan motors in Tam Diep Cement Company. After installing frequency converters onto six fan motors, the company saves more than VND1 billion a year and 0.902 kWh per tonne of clinker, reduces costs for maintenance and replacement input regulating valves, improves fan heat-discharging mechanisms to prolong lifespan of motors. This project has been applied throughout VICEM’s companies.

 

To satisfy increasingly stringent requirements for product quality and reduce production costs, maintenance costs and energy [electricity and heat] consumption, VICEM’s all member companies studied to upgrade production lines to boost kiln output by 10 percent.

 

Grasping global cement industry development trends, in 2002, VICEM directed Bim Son Cement Company to renovate technologies and scale up output in the second production lines from 1,750 tonnes of clinker a day [wet furnaces] to 3,500 tonnes [dry furnace.] The corporation also guided Ha Tien Cement 2 to shift from fuel combustion to coal burning. Currently, Bim Son Cement and Ha Tien Cement 2 are replacing reverter furnaces with dry reverter furnaces for cement production. These facilities are expected for operation by 2016.

 

Cement production is always tied to coal and electric energy consumption. In manufacturing, kilns will emit a large amount of gas and dust at high temperature (about 300 degrees Celsius), mainly from preheating (PH) towers and clinker cooling registers. This process causes environmental pollution and wastes energy, thus reducing production efficiency.

 

According to calculations, a tonne of cement produced requires more than 100 kWh of electricity. Given current cement production output, if all dry cement reverter furnaces are installed heat-collecting power generators, the cement industry can save up to 200 MW, reduce 20 percent of electricity needed and ease environmental pollution.

 

Mr Le Van Chung, Chairman of the Board of Members, VICEM, said: In the past 10 years, Vietnam's cement has the lowest prices in the ASEAN region, hovering at US$50 or less per tonne, compared with US$65 - 75. The cement industry is always aware of the importance of price and supply to inflation controlling and macroeconomic stability. Since 2008, the cement price rose by 13 percent - 15 percent while coal prices have more than doubled and electricity and petroleum prices have also gone up. Worse, the electricity and coal sectors only guarantee to supply 70 percent of the demand, leading to the shortage of 30 percent of cement for domestic market. Moreover, power outage forces the corporation to pause clinker kilns, resulting in production breaks and operating losses. To solve rising input prices, VICEM has directed its member units to cut costs and conserve energy.

 

Apart from efforts to use energies economically and effectively, VICEM has invested VND819 billion into an environment-friendly unbaked bricks in Dong Hoi Industrial Park, Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province. The corporation will continue to bring into practice business advantages and asserts its position as a leading cement producer in Vietnam.