DUSHANBE, April 8, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- One of six rotary kilns at State Unitary Enterprise Tojikcement (Dushanbe cement plant) shifted to coal is expected to be introduced into operation in late May,  Muzaffa hakimov, the deputy director of Tojikcement, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, the project for shifting of one the plant’s rotary kilns from natural gas to coal has been designed in cooperation with Chinese company, Jun Hao.  “The special equipment was delivered from China and the Jun Hao specialists will arrive in Dushanbe soon to complete the installation of the equipment,” Hakimov said, noting that shifting the plant from natural gas to coal will allow halving fuel expenses.

He added that one kiln conversion would come to approximately 7 million somoni (some US$1.6 million) and all plant’s rotary kilns would be shifted to coal gradually, during several years.

Hakimov noted that Tojikcement was currently purchasing coals form the Fon-Yanghnob coalfield in the Ayni district, Sughd province.

The Dushanbe cement plant has four large rotary kilns with capacity of 600 tons cement per year each and two small rotary kilns with capacity of 300 tons each.

Cement kilns are used for the pyroprocessing stage of manufacture of Portland and other types of hydraulic cement, in which calcium carbonate reacts with silica-bearing minerals to form a mixture of calcium silicates.  The cement kilns are the heart of the cement production process: their capacity usually defines the capacity of the cement plant.