Alhandra Manufacturing Plant
The first cement plant to be built from scratch in Portugal was the Tejo plant (1890-1894), now known as the Cimpor Alhandra plant. This plant, which is more than a century old, is located 25km north of Lisbon in the village of Alhandra, on the right bank of the River Tagus. It benefits from good road, rail, and sea links.
Panoramic view of the Alhandra manufacturing plant
Production Capacity of Facilities
Currently operating with two kilns, the Alhandra manufacturing plant has a production capacity of 2.4 million tonnes of cement clinker and 2.8 million tonnes/year of cement.
Products
The primary operations conducted at the AMP include manufacturing and shipping the following types of cement, which are produced by grinding various combinations of cement clinker, gypsum (which controls the set time) and other constituents:
- Portland Cement EN 197-1 – CEM I 52,5 R;
- Portland Cement EN 197-1 – CEM I 42,5 R;
- Portland-limestone cement EN 197-1 – CEM II/A-L 42,5 R;;
- Portland-limestone cement EN 197-1 – CEM II/B-L 32,5 N;
- Portland-composite cement EN 197-1 – CEM II/B-M (V-L) 42,5 R;
History
A patent was granted to the Tejo Cement Company by means of the charter of the 24th April 1894, which produced 6 thousand tonnes of cement per year at the time, using a Hoffmann horizontal kiln. This measure sought to ensure all market needs were met, thus securing Portugal's independence in the cement sector.
The Tejo Cement Company's first rotary kilns were part of a manufacturing plan initiated in 1926, but that was only implemented later, in the thirties. The first rotary kiln began operations in 1931, closely followed by a second kiln three years later. Both were wet-process kilns.
During the Second World War, international circumstances forced Portugal to begin manufacturing iron, a task taken on by the Tejo Cement Company, taking the company into a new manufacturing age. The third kiln became operational in 1940, employing the Basset method to manufacture cement clinker and pig iron. Iron production continued until 1945, with furnaces 4 and 5 becoming operational in 1950 and 1959, respectively. The latter, which had a production capacity of over half a million tonnes a year, was the largest kiln in the world at the time.
The entry into operation of furnace 6 in 1977 marked the start of dry process manufacturing at the plant. This change in manufacturing processes was completed with the modification of kiln 5 to a dry process kiln, leading to kiln number 7 starting up in 1985.
Timeline
Museu CIMPOR
The CIMPOR Museum located in the Alhandra plant comprises two separate poles: the first located in the old Hoffmann kiln building, which dates back to 1894, and the second in the old laboratory building, which was built in 1932. An old pulp mill can be seen outside and on the museum trail.
This museum, which was inaugurated in March 2011, aims to provide a record of the history, industry, and heritage of the former "Tejo" artificial Portland cement plant founded by António Teófilo Araújo Rato from the late nineteenth century to the present day. It highlights the plant's identity and retains a memory of its history, safeguarding and preserving part of the industrial heritage it has gathered over the years. It is a benchmark of CIMPOR's cultural policy as a means with which to serve the cement industry, company stakeholders, and society as a whole.
Visits to the CIMPOR Museum can be booked at:
Centro de Produção de Alhandra - CIMPOR
Praceta Teófilo Araújo Rato
2600 - 540 Alhandra
Tel.: +351 219 408 500