Success Story – Espabel – Ghent

Ghent
Belgium

Espabel

Becoming a reference supplier in northern Europe.

The client.

In 2010, the Belgian-Spanish company ESPABEL decided to introduce itself in the northern European continent as a cement producer. As a base for its grinding plant, ESPABEL chose the beautiful and historic city of Ghent.

Situated right on the river Leie, the location offers the company enormous logistical advantages for clinker import as well as being near its key markets of The Netherlands and France.

The turnkey contract for the grinding unit was awarded to CEMENGAL.

The challenge.

After competing with some of the world’s largest engineering companies, CEMENGAL was awarded a major contract that included the engineering, procurement and construction scope on EPC basis to build the state-of-the-art grinding plant.

The scope of supply covered on the contract awarded to CEMENGAL included a complete grinding plant with a production capacity of 140tph, equivalent to 800,000 metric tons on a yearly basis.

In detail this scope included the following workshops:

The workshops.

A 150,000t raw material storage hall.
Raw material transport and handling systems.
A CEMENGAL 4350kW ball mill (φ 4.8m x 18m) with drying chamber.
Two process filters (mill and separator).
A type SD Magotteaux separator.

Six cement silos with individual capacities of approx. 3000 metric tons each.
Bulk loading facilities.
Expeditions: packing, palletising, bag loading and facilities for the storage of finished products.
Control building and electric room.

The solution.

Acting as the project’s EPC contractor, CEMENGAL supplied all mechanical, electrical, structural and civil engineering. As well as supply, the installation of all electrical & mechanical equipment together with the plant’s steel structure was also part of the scope.

The company´s engineers also supervised the civil works, commissioning and training of personnel. The project deadline was 20 months to the first approved cement, in February 2012.

The 150,000t storage unit for clinker and other raw materials was engineered in-house according to the latest engineering practices and based on years of deep experience. CEMENGAL used the X-light system, similar to that used to build Europe’s gothic cathedrals. High ceilings and light structures offer plenty of space and are less concrete intensive.

CEMENGAL delivered a horizontal three-chamber ball mill with shoe-pad bearings with the main characteristics as shown in the table below:

Other key equipment delivered by CEMENGAL includes:

Magotteaux inlet trunion head, with X-lift liners in first chamber and X-class in second.
Slegten intermediate diaphragm wall with Opticontrol design and Optimex for the outlet wall.
Electric ear, complete with microphone and amplifier.
Mill drive: Flender gear box and main motor by ABB.
Expeditions facilities supplied by Haver and Boecker.

Performance
data:

2 units of two-compartment ball mills (D4,6m x L17.0m) fully engineered by CEMENGAL.

Mill power

0 kW

Hourly production

0 tph

Annual production

0 tpy

emissions at the main filter outlets.

0 mgr/Nm3

Project targets & conclusions

CEMENGAL had to implement its know how in health and safety issues that currently delivers not only big players but also for independent cement companies.

Bearing in mind that prevention is better than the cure, CEMENGAL and its partners applied preventive safety principles during the design stage, implementing improvements to equipment to avoid any possible risk. Potential risks were evaluated and actions were taken to eliminate them at source.

In addition to ergonomic principles in building, passage and maintenance design, all essential safety and requirements for machinery were carefully considered, aiming for a zero accident rate.

One of CEMENGAL’s key strengths that helped to reach the success of the project were its staff and project´s personnel, particularly its site engineers. They were crucial in reaching the company’s objectives and solving the day-to-day issues towards the commissioning of the plant.

Finally, the combination of CEMENGAL’s expertise, the state of the art technologic equipment, as well as the strategic location of the grinding facility enabled Espabel to become a reference supplier in northern Europe.