Firm makes use of waste heat for power

Gökhan Kurtaran ÇANAKKALE - Hürriyet Daily News

The total production of Sabancı’s two cement companies, Akçansa (above) and Çimsa, exceeded $1 billion at the end of last year, says chief executive Zafer Kurtul.

Turkey’s biggest cement producer Akçansa, a subsidiary of Sabancı Holding, has opened a waste heat recovery plant at a cost of nearly $24 million to generate nearly 30 percent of the total energy demand for the company’s cement plant in the northwestern province of Çanakkale.

Heidelberg, the German partner of the company, is targeting more investment in the Turkish cement market, executives said during a Thursday ceremony at the plant.

“This investment will generate approximately 105 million kilowatt-hours in one year, meeting 30 percent of the cement plant’s needs in Çanakkale,” said Zafer Kurtul, Sabancı Holding’s chief executive, at the opening ceremony of the waste heat recovery plant.

“It will prevent nearly 60,000 tons of carbon emissions each year,” Kurtul said. Noting that the country needs to slash its current account deficit, which is largely due to energy imports, he said: “We should have more such plants.”

Having partnered with Sabancı 15 years ago in the cement sector, Heidelberg, which is the largest cement producer in Germany, is targeting more investments in Turkey, said Heildelberg board chairman Bernd Scheifele, speaking to the Daily News on the sidelines of the meeting. “Turkey and Germany are economically growing in Europe and we are interested in more investments together with Sabancı,” he said