Saurashtra Cement Limited (formerly Gujarat Sidhee Cements)

Saurashtra Cement Limited (formerly Gujarat Sidhee Cements) has a state-of-the-art dry process energy efficient plant with centralized computer control systems. The plant is operating at over 100% capacity utilization consistently for last 5 years.

Energy is one of the major elements in the manufacturing cost of cement. Power and Fuel cost constitutes about Rs 186 crores on a turnover of approximately Rs 495 crores (over 37%). The electrical energy consumption of GSCL for manufacturing is around 12 crores kilowatt-hour in the last 3 years and the average variable cost of power for GSCL is approximately Rs 6 per kwh.

It is in the inherent nature of the pyro processing process to loose some of the heat energy by way of the hot gases. The heat balance of a kiln plant reveals that preheater waste gases and cooler exhaust gases account for more than 35% of the heat loss. Part of the hot gases are used for drying of raw material etc. However a major pattern of the flue gases are not utilized effectively and this leads to immense loss of heat energy.

To combat that, GSCL intends to have a state-of-the-art, efficient Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) Power Plant wherein untapped thermal energy is utilized to the maximum possible extent from the cement process lines. The process for installation of the WHR power plant has begun on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis.

The land required for the proposed WHR power plant is approximately 0.8 Hectare and the Plant shall have the following:

Power house buildings / Steam Turbine Generator building
Pre Heater and Air Quenching Cooler Boilers and Auxiliaries
Air-cooled condenser (ACC) and Auxiliary for conservation of water
Auxiliary Cooling Tower and cooling water system
Water treatment plant and distribution system

The implementation period for setting up the Waste Heat Recovery Power Plant is estimated to be around 20 months and expected to be fully operational by early 2018.

The estimated Capital investment for the project is Rs. 65 Crores. It is estimated that the power from WHR Power Plant will generate approx. 3.1 Crore kwh per annum (net of self-consumption by the auxiliaries) at a variable cost of about Rs 0.75 per kwh including Electricity Duty. The power generated from the WHR power plant will replace the high cost power being purchased presently. This will translate into net saving of Rs 17 crores per annum considering average cost of power from alternate sources at Rs 6 per kwh.

Other major advantages of the installation of WHR Power Plant in addition to reduction in the operation cost are:

Generation of Green power & conservation of energy
Reduction in CO2 Emission and Global warming
No raw material / fuel required.
Reduction in the power cost thereby increase in profitability from Cement Plant

Considering that the energy costs are likely to increase in future, the viability of the Waste Heat Recovery Power Plant would further improve with passage of time.