YANBU, 2 December — Saudi Arabia was once the bottom of a primeval ocean. But for that simple fact, Yanbu Cement, with the largest cement kiln, simply would not exist. It stands, a sprawling collection of towers and mighty machinery, on the coast some 80 kms north of Yanbu astride the source of its raw material, limestone.
Laid down over millions of years from the shells of ancient sea creatures, the limestone forms one of the major constituents of the cement that the plant produces. Gypsum, the other main ingredient, is in plentiful supply locally. Iron and clay, necessary for the production of the high-quality output, also occur naturally nearby and confirm the wisdom of choosing Yanbu as the location for the plant.
Of necessity, the process of producing cement in commercial quantity requires investment in machinery and technology on a massive scale. The sheer physical size of the plant is overwhelming, though from the main highway and with no perspective to give a sense of scale, it looks little more than a collection of sheds squatting in a dusty haze on the horizon.
That impression is soon dispelled as the distance reduces, the soft focus outlines of the buildings induced by the desert haze harden and transform into a huge complex collection of towers, kilns and grinding machinery generating a roar of industry that is audible several kilometers away. It is almost a scene from a science fiction movie, for the comparatively tiny humans, dwarfed by the huge engines of manufacture, seem out of place and of the wrong size or shape to control the plant which seems to run in spite of them, not because of them. That impression is very soon corrected with a visit to the administration block that contains the control room. Dwarfed by the 120-meter tower that holds the cyclone feeders that supply the rotary kiln with thousands of tons of raw material a day, this elegant and curvaceous Italian-designed building sits gleaming, white concrete and green glass, a splendid example of the freedom that cement and concrete give architects and builders. Inside, there is an atmosphere of quiet concentration and soft murmur of electronics at work.
Yanbu Cement is right at the technological forefront of cement production. The giant machines that produce around 13,000 tons of cement a day are controlled by a small crew of technicians sitting in front of a bank of computers in a humming control room. From here, the entire production process is monitored, from the delivery of raw material by conveyor belt into the plant, through the various stages of production right up to the packing and loading bays. Output is controlled and monitored automatically at every stage. There is even a fire-proof television camera inside the kiln to observe the flame pattern of the burners. It’s a vision from Dante’s inferno, roiling flames at over 1000 degrees C displayed in full color on a monitor above the control desks.
The chief mechanical engineer pointed out the economy of removing non-standard product at the earliest stage possible in the production process. “That way,” he aid, “we never produce cement below the rigorous standards that enabled us to get into the European market. It just never reaches the packing stage, but is recycled or disposed of.” Samples of product arrive in a small laboratory dominated by a disembodied robot arm. It picks up small vials of product with the neurotic fussiness of a maiden aunt and delicately pours and taps them into an array of machinery designed to test them. You can almost hear it “tut-tutting” as it does so.
Outside, in the storage sheds devoid of human life, nothing much seems to happen. That, however, is a deceptive first impression, as there are around 700 staff in all and there is a great deal going on, so smoothly and precise in operation that the lack of frantic action implies lack of action. The majority of the staff is involved in maintenance and support roles; the heavy work is all done by machinery.
Each storage shed, about half a kilometer long, houses thousands of tons of neatly stacked limestone or gypsum, protected from the weather. Here too though, automation is at work, controlled by the computers in the control room. Slowly moving chains of paddles gently lift the material from quietly humming conveyors and deposit it in geometrically precise mountains that all but fill the shed. “That,” said the chief mechanical engineer pointing to one of two small mountain ranges inside the shed, “is three days production!”
Cement is about dust. It’s made from dust which is heated in a massive rotary kiln, some hundred meters long and weighing hundreds of tons and finally bagged as dust. It is therefore inevitable that the place will be dusty. It is, after all, a desert! What is very surprising is the remarkably small amount of dust around the place. Far from being under layers of fine powder after a decade of continuous production, much of the production area has only the slightest film to show for it. Why? I asked the chief mechanical engineer. The answer is more technology.
There are two production plants at Yanbu. The smaller older plant is currently being upgraded to the latest dust control standards. The dust from the venting towers is visible, even with its relatively small production. In the main plant however, which produces four times the volume of cement, the venting towers appear to vent nothing but clean air. Electrostatic precipitators and water convert the dust into a denser powder that is carted away and refills areas of the desert that have already been mined for limestone. A new water mix system is under construction that will soon convert the powder to slurry and reduce the minimal level of dust even further. With no toxic gas or chemical waste from the processes involved in production at all, the plant is about as environmentally friendly as any major industrial concern can get and always has its eye open for future improvements.
The Yanbu Cement complex is an isolated community, self-contained and self-sufficient. A modern housing and recreation complex within the bounds of the plant boasts school, hospital and all the facilities needed to house and support the staff. With its own desalination and electric power plants, the complex is positioned to produce efficiently and continuously cement of the highest quality. With established markets in 75 countries worldwide and the ISO ratings to export to Germany, a notoriously rigorous and difficult market to break into, the company can be proud of its work. As main suppliers of the raw material of which the modern urban infrastructure is made, Yanbu Cement is the practical component of the process of nation building.
