CEE Jul-Sep-2012

CMA ACTIVITIES ON THE TECHNICAL FRONT BIS ISSUES: REVISED LIMITS OF S0 3 IN ntE INDIAN STANDARDS FOR OPC Further to the adoption of S0 3 limits from 3 to 3.5% in the BIS 19th Meeting of Cement and Concrete Sectional Committee on 19th & 20th April 2012, and our subsequent requests made to BIS for issuance of a suitable letter to this effect pending printing of the revised limits, CMA has succeeded in receiving a communication from BIS on the revised limits of S0 3 in the Indian Standards for OPC, fixing it at 3.5% and that the said revisions have since been prepared after completing all the formalities and processed for printing. This information has since been circulated to all Member Cement Plants, and also noted by the Members of the CMA Technical Committee in its 54th Meeting held in Mumbai on 5th October 2012. CMA has further been following up the matter with BIS urging them to expedite the printing of the revised standards as approved for their effective use by the Cement plants and in the overall interest of the consumer and the Indian industry. BEE'S PAT SCHEME The 4th Sectoral Expert Committee of BEE followed by the 1st BEE Normalisation Committee meeting for the Cement sector in implementation of the PAT Scheme was held in the office of BEE on 21st August 2012. The various issues discussed in this meeting revolved around the changes in power mix/fuel mix, production with respect to the baseline, drop in capacity utilisation due to external situation, increased fly ash injection, increase/decrease in export of power etc, for arriving at correction factors. In line with the discussions in these meetings, the Normalisation Committee Members worked on the Action Plan, and came out with further refinement after receiving more feedback from the Cement plants, to give a preliminary shape to the normalisation factors being worked out now. INITIATIVES FOR INCREASING THERMAL SUBSTITUTION RATE (TSR) IN INDIAN CEMENT INDUSTRY: liP- CMA PROJECT Further to our reporting in the last issue, and subsequent deliberation in the CMA Technical Committee and with the approval of President-CMA, CMA agreed to undertake the project. Accordingly, the consulting agreement between liP and CMA for the liP-funded project on increasing Thermal Substitution Rate with increased usage of Alternate Fuel and Raw Materials in the Indian Cement Industry, has since been jointly signed with CMA as the Anchor for the project . As a sequel, as decided in the all partners' meeting held on 25th September 2012, an implementable Activity Plan was worked out. As a follow up, three concrete actions have already been taken: • A Regulatory Forum has been formed and firmed up with Mr Hardik Shah, Member Secretary, Gujarat Pollution Control Board as its Chairman. • An Advisory Group has also been formed and firmed up with Mr S.K. Wali, Wholetime Director, J.K. Lakshmi Cement as its Chairman. • A Questionnaire seeking Data Collection from the Member Cement Plants has also been worked out and circulated to the Member Cement Plants of CMA, and data received is being evaluated . CEMENT SUSTAINABLITY INITIATIVES (CSI) PLENaRY MEETING Having become the CSI Communication Partner recently, CMA's Secretary General , Mr. N.A. Viswanathan, and Dr. S.K. Handoo, Advisor (Technical), participated in the 6th Plenary Meeting of CSI, held at Guangzhou and Beijing during 3'd - 6th September 2012. Besides CMA, representatives from a number of our Member Companies Ultra Tech Cement Ltd., Jaiprakash Associates Ltd., Dalmia Cement (B) Ltd. etc. also participated. The formal agreement of CMA becoming a joint partner with CSI was also signed during the Meeting on 5th September 2012 in presence of Chief Executives of a number of leading World Cement Associations from Australia, Brazil , Canada, China, Europe (Cembureau), etc. 46