Egypt's third biggest cement producer, Arabian Cement Company (ACC), has completed its latest addition to the alternative fuel processing machinery at its plant in the Suez governorate, the company announced Sunday. The added equipment, called "Hot Disc", allows ACC's plant to rely completely on coal and alternative fuel to run its operations, the company noted in the statement. ACC currently has a designed fuel mix of 70% coal and 30% alternative fuels. The alternative fuel that will be used will be a mixture of agricultural wastes, municipal sludge, and RDF. Use of alternative fuel is expected to result in reducing emissions by approximately 60,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year on average. Arabian Cement has sought to utilise alternative energy to increase its capacity to 100%. The company is currently running at approximately 80% of its capacity, while around 70% of the energy it uses is coal-based. In the meantime, 10% of its energy is reliant on alternative energy, such as waste and biomass. Last year, Arabian Cement held the first initial public offering (IPO) after the 25 January Revolution in 2011, with the company aiming to raise $100m by listing on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. Following the government's approval in April last year to use coal as a source of energy in the industrial sector, Arabian Cement took steps to commence testing coal in thermal power generation. Arabian Cement recorded an 11% increase in revenues of EGP 585m during the first quarter of 2015, compared to the same quarter last year. This, however, this did not lessen the significant drop in the company's net profits, which plummeted by 52% to reach EGP 56m. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled EGP 184m, 19% lower than the EGP 227m recorded during the corresponding quarter last year.
