LOESCHE recently received an order from the cement manufacturer Seven Circle Bangladesh Ltd. (SCBL), part of the holding company Shun Shing Group (SSGIL) / Hong Kong, for a vertical roller mill for its new grinding plant in Gazipur, near the capital Dhaka.

With four main and four support rollers, the mill will be used for grinding clinker/slag and will have a throughput capacity of 400 t/h. This makes it the largest LOESCHE cement mill in the emerging Bangladeshi market.

A mill of the same type has already been successfully installed at DG Khan Cement in Pakistan and with a grinding table diameter of 7.2m, it is the world’s largest cement mill. This mill has now successfully been put into operation and in the first 30 operating hours had already ground an average of 400t/h of Ordinary Portland Cement at a fineness of 3,950 Blaine.

The cement mill for SCBL is equipped with the compact COPE drive (Compact Planetary Electric Drive) and has a drive power of 9.2MW. The COPE drive concept was specially developed by LOESCHE together with Renk for powerful vertical roller mills with drive power of above approx. 8.0MW. Up to eight drive units drive the mill’s grinding table via a planetary stage. The drive units can each be engaged or disengaged.

The drive units are also individually replaceable, which makes the COPE drive very easy to maintain. Furthermore, the mill can still be operated in the event of a breakdown of one or more drive units until damaged components can be replaced. This redundant drive design results in much higher plant availability.

At the same time as the order for the new grinding plant in Gazipur, LOESCHE also received an order for a further mill for end customer Shun Shing Cement Mills Ltd. (SSCML), also part of the Shun Shing Group. An LM 53.3+3 CS will be used, with three main and three support rollers and a drive power of 4,650kW. The mill will grind clinker and slag at a capacity of 180t/h in a newly-built grinding plant belonging to SSCML in Shikalbaha near Chittagong.

The scope of delivery for both mills includes the complete mill including the static mill components. Both mills will continue to be equipped with PRONAMIC® wear parts, developed by LOESCHE, for the main rollers, support rollers and the grinding table.

It is anticipated that commissioning of both grinding plants will take place in autumn 2019.

Not least, the global market leadership of LOESCHE in the cement grinding technology sector also played a decisive contributing role in the conclusion of the order. Other contributing factors were the excellent reputation of LOESCHE Mills Shanghai (LMS), who were also involved, in Bangladesh and the fact that LOESCHE has successfully collaborated with contractual partner China National Heavy Machinery Corporation (CHMC) for many years. Since 2010, LOESCHE has very successfully completed several grinding plant projects with CHMC in Bangladesh and other countries. Currently, LOESCHE is the only company with operative vertical cement mills in Bangladesh.

Both SCBL and SSCML produce around 4.4 million tonnes of quality cement per year with their production facilities there under the locally respected brand ‘Seven Rings Cement’. Additionally, the business areas of the parent company Shun Shing Group also extend to the trade and transportation of raw materials and industrial chemicals for construction.