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Indonesian cement producer recognised for coal and biomass projects

New cement warehouse

Indonesia’s Varia Usaha has opened a new cement warehouse in Blora Regency, Central Java. The new site has a capacity of 1.44 million tpa of cement. The expansion follows rising sales of PT Semen Indonesia (Pesero) Tbk’s cement products through its subsidiary PT Varia Enterprises. Varia Usaha has also strengthened its transport fleet in response to the increasing demand, now operating 1100 trucks within its fleet.

“Varia Usaha’s development efforts will further strengthen the penetration of the distribution of products from Semen Indonesia. This also optimises the value-added chain of Semen Indonesia Group's business, from production to distribution of cement,” said President Director of Varia Usaha, Sunardi Prionomurti.

ASEAN awards

Semen Indonesia was recently recognised in the ASEAN Energy Management Awards and the ASEAN Coal Awards 2013.

In the Energy Management Awards, the Indonesian cement manufacturer won within the “Special Submission of Energy Management in Industries” category for its project to use biomass as an alternative fuel. The project commenced in 2009 and around 61 356 t of biomass has been utilised as a fuel source. The project has also added to the development of the local economy, as the biomass is sourced from around the plant in Tuban, Lamongan, Bojonegoro and Rembang.

“The utilisation of our biomass has a dual purpose, namely to maintain environmental sustainability as well as operational cost efficiencies, which in turn could raise the level of profitability of the company,” said President Director of Semen Indonesia, Dwi Soetjipto.

In the ASEAN Coal Awards, the company was awarded the prize in the “Best Practices – Use and Clean Coal Technology in Industries” category, for its attempts to replace high calorie coal with low calorie coal.

Source: www.worldcement.com