THE Taiheiyo Group in Japan continues to pour in more investments at its cement manufacturing facility in San Fernando, Cebu.
It fused an additional investment for a new baghouse filter to replace its electrostatic precipitator (EP) at the plant of Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc. (TCPI) that dramatically reduced its emissions to almost zero.
“It has been a year since we operated with the baghouse and we are pleased to announce now that our emissions have run only far below 10 milligrams per normal cubic meter,” declared Chiyuki Sugawara, TCPI senior vice president for operations and plant manager.
He said TCPI used to emit an average of 121 milligrams per normal cubic meter in the previous year, when it still operated with the EP since it acquired the plant in 1998 from the former Grand Cement Manufacturing Corp.
The government regulatory limit is 150 milligrams per normal cubic meter.
“Further reducing emissions at the plant is our commitment to operate with deep regard to our environment and the health of our employees and our immediate communities,” said Kazuhiko Ichizawa, TCPI president and CEO, who was then senior vice president for operations when he pursued the project.
He said replacing the EP with a baghouse also significantly reduced TCPI’s use of power that often fluctuated, affecting the efficiency of the EP that applies high- voltage electrostatic charge to collect suspended particles on charged plates and bring these back into the system.
TCPI installed the baghouse during an annual shutdown in June last year and commissioned it as the plant resumed operations a month after, according to Dwight P. Avila, TCPI environment and safety department section head.
He said the EP used to consume a significant amount of electricity that led to high operating costs. He also noted that the mechanical components of the EP are more prone to failure that results in higher maintenance costs.
By contrast, Avila said the baghouse has fewer moving parts and has since proven to operate with the least cost, limited to the consumption of compressed air and fan horsepower. “Filter efficiency has since been 99.9 percent,” he said.
He attributed it to the 2018 Gawad Tugas that TCPI received for responsible mining in the mineral processing category from the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources and the Mines Geosciences Bureau in the region.
The baghouse follows a string of investments Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (TCC) of Japan infused in TCPI. These include the plant’s eighth finish mill, a new clinker shed, a 4,000-ton cement silo, two additional packers, and upgrading of pre-cement grinding system, and the expansion of its port facilities.
TCPI produces 2.4 million tons of cement in a year that meets about five percent of the country’s demand.
It translates to some five million bags every month of Grand Portland, Grand Pozzolan, Grand Premium and Grand Masonry cement for Cebu and the country. (PR)