International Cement Review articles tagged under : Environment
Bringing on the substitutes
As part of its drive to reduce its CO 2 emissions, Votorantim Cimentos is using a range of clinker substitutes to lower its clinker-to-cement ratio. As a result, around 86 per cent of its product portfolio in Brazil has a reduced carbon footprint, lowering its impact on the environment. By Silvia R S S Vieira, Votorantim Cimentos, Brazil. The use of substitute materials such as acidic ...
LC3: a promising alternative
The drive for a sustainable construction industry has triggered the development of a range of building materials that serve as sustainable alternatives to Portland cement. The development of limestone calcined clay c...
Sustainability 2050
Since its inception 20 years ago, the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) has proactively identified, analysed and managed the key issues at stake for the sector. By developing global Key Performance Indicators (K...
Extending quarry life
Although a key part of the cement plant, the quarry has a finite lifetime. Its longevity often depends on which material grades are required and how the faces are worked to quarry such materials. Therefore, a well-de...
Burning used tyres
One way of reducing the fossil fuel requirement in clinker production is through the use of alternative fuels (AFs). Walter Materials handling, part of the ATS Group, looks at one plant that has invested in the burn...
Mercury capture optimisation
Activated carbon injection (ACI) has been an effective approach for reducing mercury emissions in various industries. The US power industry, for example, began implementation of ACI around 2014 with the onset of the ...
Actions not words
Climate change is one of the key issues of our time, but the world is far from achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Like every energy and CO2-intensive sector, the global cement industry is at a crossroad...
Changing world, changing industry
How much influence do modern-day global trends such as climate change, shifting economic power and urbanisation exert on the cement sector? This article looks at several key megatrends and their impact on decisions f...
Waste to wealth
Lafarge Africa’s Ewekoro plant, some 50km north of Lagos, in Ogun state, Nigeria, pioneered the use of alternative fuels in the country. The company charts the milestones and looks at the future challenges in transfo...
Playing its part in Paris
In line with the UN’s Paris Agreement on climate change, HeidelbergCement has published its ‘Sustainability Commitments 2030’, which see the cement producer leading the development of carbon capture, utilisation and ...
Turkey seeks alternatives
The concept of a circular economy is growing in influence and as a result the cement production process has begun to evolve. As a large-scale cement producer, Turkey shows considerable potential for the adoption of t...
RDF production and utilisation in India
The production of refuse-derived fuels (RDFs) from municipal solid waste (MSW) offers one solution to address the growing waste issue in countries with increasing populations such as India. At the same time, these RD...
Tyres: going full circle
Contributing to the circular economy, an innovative tyre-burning initiative at PPC’s De Hoek plant in the Western Cape, South Africa, has successfully demonstrated the viability of burning waste tyres as an alterna...
The restoration revolution
While current environmental legislation expects the extractive industry to restore its abandoned mining areas back to their former use, it often falls short of detailed steps to achieve this goal. In the last few yea...
A zero waste solution
The development of new alternative fuel (AF) processing and handling technology has enabled cement producers to improve their fuel substitution rates while providing municipal and other authorities with a sustainable...
Cooling down refrigerants...in the kiln
The safe disposal of hydrofluorocarbons, present in end-of-service refrigerants, is key in helping to prevent excessive levels of global warming in the future. Cement kilns provide one way of dealing with these harmf...