Suez Cement Completes Coal Conversion in Katameya Plant This Month

Preparations for coal usage at Suez Cement’s Katameya plant will be completed within the current month, chairman Omar Mehanna said on Wednesday.

Suez Cement, a subsidiary of Italy-based Italcementi, aims to use coal to generate energy for cement production in its Katameya plant in order to produce 1.6 million tonnes per year.

Suez Cement’s chairman further noted that the investment cost for Katameya plant to operate by using coal is valued at EGP 207 million.

Moreover, Mehanna also said the conversion process would cost around US$10 million for each one million tonnes of cement in addition to further US$8 million to apply the global environmental standards for using coal.

Suez Cement Company seeks to complete the conversion of its all four plants to use coal rather than natural gas by the end of 2015, he added.  The Group’s total production capacity is estimated at 11 million tonnes per year.