Modernisation of the Beremend plant

The cement plant operated by our Duna Dráva Cement Ltd. (DDC) subsidiary in the southern Hungarian city of Beremend has over 200 employees, making it one of the major employers in the region. Modernisation of the plant was completed in summer 2009 after about two years of work. The upgrades promote environmental protection and offer competitive advantages, thus benefiting residents of the region. The plant is now fully equipped to face the future, which means it can safeguard jobs there over the long term. Investment has focused mainly on increasing capacity and efficiency.

Among other things, a new kiln line with a capacity of some 3,450 tonnes of cement per day has now replaced two older kilns that utilised a larger amount of energy to burn much less cement clinker. New storage areas and dosage facilities allow more waste materials to be used as alternative fuels without any loss of quality, thus conserving natural resources. The facility also reduced CO2 emissions per tonne of clinker by 3% to 768 kg between 2009 and 2010. This means the plant has almost reached the benchmark target of 766 kg CO2 per tonne of clinker that is required by Phase III of the EU Emissions Trading System, which will begin in 2013. Moreover, Beremend is also making a visible contribution to the EU’s goal of reducing the amount of municipal waste held in landfills. When the cement plant operates at full capacity, it can utilise the high-calorific-value municipal waste of around one million people.