Reinventing the cement business (Part one of two)

Did you know that the process for making Portland cement is almost 200 years old?

Known as the inventor of modern Portland cement, Joseph Aspdin, an English blacksmith, used the term Portland in his patent because he was comparing the strength of his cement to that of Portland stone which is famous for its strength and quality.

Aspdin’s invention used a mixture of limestone, clay and water, which would be heated at very high temperatures in a kiln and then crushed into fine powder to make a particularly strong cement. He was granted a patent for Portland cement in 1824 which described his invention as an improvement in the modes of producing an artificial stone.

This process is what is being used by many of the world’s biggest cement manufacturers, as well as those in the Philippines, to produce clinker which is pulverized to become cement.

Gilbert Cruz, who was already known for his innovative and breakthrough ideas, then had this idea of making cement in a more environmentally sound manner.

“Many of my formulations are not mine, but come from a dream or a small voice. It is all about God and he just used me. For many years, people were laughing at me when I said we can make cement out of ordinary sand. Nobody would believe me. But if you analyze the chemical composition of cement, it is very close to sand. But if you add water to cement it hardens and if you add water to sand it does not. The difference is, cement is an active molecule while sand is a sleeping molecule. So you have to find a way to awaken this sleeping molecule,” Gilbert said.

And this process of awakening the sleeping molecule is Gilbert’s invention which the company calls the “key process.”

Gilbert noted that what Aspdin didn’t know was that ordinary sand contained calcium oxide and hydroxide which are the same substances used to produce clinker.

Working then as a consultant for Cemex, which is one of the world’s largest companies, he made a proposal for this new way of making cement. Unfortunately, the company’s higher-ups thumbed it down. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

But news about his idea spread like wildfire until it reached businessman Henry Sy Jr., who went to the same church as Gilbert. Big Boy, as he is known in business circles, invited Gilbert sometime in 2014 to lunch together with a NASA rocket scientist and chemist who grilled him about his idea. Gilbert and Big Boy actually went to the same church, the Christ Commission Fellowship.

According to Gilbert, Big Boy wanted to hear about his vision and that is to put up a cement company that is not clinker-based and truly green. “But I didn’t have the financial resources to do it on my own. And he saw my passion and he said he will partner with me.”

That’s how Big Boss Cement Inc. (BBCI), a 100 percent Filipino-owned cement company, started and they partnered as co-owners. Gilbert is company president but is also known as the chief company innovator.

BBCI’s technology does away with the old system of mining raw materials such as limestone, clay, shale and sand and heating them inside a kiln at around 1,500 degrees Celsius, to produce clinker.

BBCI’s patent-pending process makes use of readily available raw materials such as sand, and does not require excessive heat to produce high-quality cement.

“I don’t need a kiln. And using the traditional process, the bulk of the investment is in the kiln which costs around P10 billion to P12 billion. My process on the other hand costs only P1.5 billion to P2 billion. And I don’t have to obtain a license to quarry for limestone,” he explained.

Its manufacturing plant is located in lahar-rich Porac in Pampanga, which according to Cruz, has a sand supply that is 40 meters deep. “But we are not using the lahar yet but instead we are buying sand to help people do business with us. Anyway, sand is cheap,” he told this writer in an interview via Zoom.

BBCI currently has two grinding mills in Porac with a capacity of 2.5 million bags a month. A third mill may be added this September that would be able to produce another one million bags and a fourth one by January next year that would add another 700,000 bags for a total of 4.2 million bags a month.

Gilbert has also put up another company called Petra Cement which is capable of churning out one million bags of cement a month in its plant in Zamboanga, his hometown. Petra focuses on the Western Mindanao market

Plans are also afoot for Big Boss to build a new plant in Batangas with a capacity of 2-3 million bags a month, followed by General Santos City. There were also news reports that the company will also establish cement factories in Negros and Iloilo.

According to news reports, around P7 billion has already been invested in Pampanga and P1.5 billion in Zamboanga.

At present, the Philippine cement industry is dominated by foreign cement companies such as Holcim, Lafarge, and Cemex which accounts for around 70 percent of local supply. Another Filipino company, Eagle Cement, is fast catching up with them. Then about 12 to 15 percent is imported.

Big Boss produces and sells mainly Type 1P cement which is the one sold in hardwares as well as Type P. Type 1P (P referring to the Philippines and is blended cement) accounts for around 80 percent of local industry sales followed by Type 1 (Portland cement). Pure Pozzolan cement is known as Type P.

While its product is only slightly cheaper than the more established brands, Gilbert is proud to say that their brand of blended cement is now doing very well. “In fact, we haven’t had a single complaint or product recall. And our performance speaks for itself. This is probably why even the masons have been recommending our product,” he said. (To be continued)

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