Gypsum industry news

Australia: USG-Boral’s earnings have fallen due to a poor construction market in South Korea. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 6% year-on-year to US$170m in the financial year to 30 June 2019 from US$181m in the previous year. Its revenue grew by 2% to US$1.08bn from US$1.06bn. The joint venture said that, excluding South Korea, earnings were ‘steady’ as lower earnings from Indonesia, China and the Philippines were offset by increased contributions from Thailand, Vietnam and India, as well as a continued strong contribution from Australia.

The company also announced that Boral has entered into an agreement with Germany’s Knauf to form an expanded 50:50 plasterboard joint venture in Asia and for Boral to return to 100% ownership of USG Boral Australia & New Zealand. Completion of the deal is subject to regulatory approval. It follows the acquisition of USG by Germany’s Knauf in early 2019.

India: Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHE) has been awarded two flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) system orders at a value of for just under US$350m two thermal power plants. The orders involve supply and installation of FGD systems for 13 coal based units at the 2600MW Korba STPS Stage I, II & Ill in Chhattisgarh and the 2100MW Ramagundam STPS Stage I & II in Telangana. BHE's scope of work includes design, engineering, civil works, supply, erection and commissioning of wet FGD system along with auxiliaries, including limestone and gypsum handling system and wet stack on a full engineering, procurement and construction basis. The orders follow a contract awarded in July 2019 to supply a FGD system for the Nabinagar Thermal Power Project.

India: Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHE) has been awarded the contract to supply emissions control systems, including a flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) system, at the Nabinagar Thermal Power Project. The project is a 4x250MW coal-fired power station being built by Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company, a joint venture between NTPC and Indian Railways. BHE's scope of work includes design, engineering, civil works, supply, erection and commissioning of wet FGD system along with auxiliaries, including limestone and gypsum handling system and wet stack on a full engineering, procurement and construction basis.

Previously BHE installed a FGD system at Tata Power's Trombay Unit 8 in 2008. Including the latest order, BHE is presently executing FGD systems for 27 units of NTPC and its joint ventures.

India: NTPC says it plans to install flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) units at all of its power stations. The state-owned power producer commissioned the country's first FGD unit at the 500MW unit number 13 (stage V) unit at its 4760MW Vindhyachal power plant in 2017 for a cost of around US$30m, according to the Press Trust of India. 1275t and 1515t of synthetic gypsum from the unit has been supplied to ACC and JP Cement respectively since the unit was started.

"With an aim to embrace sustainable practices to produce power with minimum emissions, NTPC is implementing this technology across its power plants. At present, the adoption of this technology is currently at various stages of implementation for 65.35GW of group capacity in 38 locations, which also includes upcoming projects," the state-owned power producer said.

Earlier in July 2019 GE Power India said it had has won three FGD projects from NTPC at the Simhadri Super Thermal Power Station, the Sipat Super Thermal Power Station and the Aravali Power Company plant, IGSTPP Jhajjar.

India: GE Power India has won three wet flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) projects. A contract worth US$335m covers the supply and installation of FGD systems at two NTPC coal power plants, the Simhadri Super Thermal Power Station and the Sipat Super Thermal Power Station, and one Aravali Power Company plant, IGSTPP Jhajjar.

GE’s scope includes design, engineering, civil work, supply, erection and commissioning of Wet FGD systems along with auxiliaries, including limestone and gypsum handling systems and wet stack on full turnkey basis. In addition, GE’s scope for IGSTPP Jhajjar also includes 10 years of operation and maintenance including the supply of spare parts.

With these three wet FGD projects together, GE will help NTPC to treat 35Mm³/hr of flue gas and will remove up to 0.11Mt/yr of SO₂, which will be converted into gypsum by-product for use in the construction industry.

India: GE Power India has been award a contract by Aravali Power worth US$107m for a flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) system. The contract is for design, engineering, civil work, supply, erection and commissioning of wet FGD systems along with auxiliaries like limestone and gypsum handling systems and wet stack on full turnkey basis.

Aravali Power is a joint venture company between NTPC, Haryana Power Generation Company and Indraprastha Power Generation Company. It operates a coal power station near Jharli, Jhajjar in Haryana with three 500MW units. An additional two 660MW units are planned for a future expansion project.

Australia: USG Boral’s earnings fell in the first half of its financial year due to a slowdown in South Korea. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 16% year-on-year to US$89.3m in the half-year to 31 December 2018 from US$107m in the same period in 2017. Its revenue grew by 2% to US$594m from US$583m. This was attributed to sales volumes growth in Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and India.

Oman: Gypsum exports from Oman rose by 28% year-on-year to 9.47Mt in 2018 from 7.4Mt in 2017. Major destinations of gypsum included Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Japan and Indonesia. The country’s gypsum producers exported 3Mt to Vietnam, 2.9Mt to India and 1.25Mt to Bangladesh in 2018.

India: NTPC has ordered flue-gas desulfurisation (FGD) systems from Japan’s Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems for its Mouda-II and Rihand-II & III coal-fired power plants. This is the first order of a limestone-gypsum FGD system for the Indian market, according to JCN Newswire. The installations are scheduled for completion in 2021 and 2022 respectively. No value for the order has been disclosed.

These projects are ordered through MHPS' Indian subsidiary and included engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) arrangements. The order comprises two 660MW units for the Mouda-II plant, and four 500MW units for the Rihand-II & III plant, for a combined output of 3320MW. The FGD systems will be additional installations to the existing power generating facilities, supporting the design of a spray-type desulfurisation system handled by MHPS' Indian subsidiary.

Germany: Gebr. Pfeiffer says it is planning to use its TRT Triplex dryer to partially calcine gypsum. Testing at the Gebr. Pfeiffer test station has yielded ‘positive’ results and further installations are being considered to explore the concept. The product uses the uniflow principle, where both material and hot gasses flow in the same direction and pass through the dryer tubes from the centre outwards.

The engineering company has received an order for a TRT 5000/8.0 Triplex dryer from Shree Cement in India. The dryer will be used to dry flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) gypsum from a captive coal-power plant for use in cement plants. In the planned dryer plant the moisture of the FGD gypsum will be reduced to a residual moisture of <2%. Artificial gypsum from the dryer will be used at other cement grinding plants in the country. The 50t/hr dryer will be installed at the end of 2018 and is expected to start commercial operation in mid-2019.