Dr Clark understands that the accepted ways of classifying different types of coal have led to complications when plant personnel have been required to estimate the specific thermal energy consumption of cement kilns.

Cement manufacturing is a capital-intensive industry where control of costs is paramount. To recover the capital investment required to establish a cement plant the final product must generate as high a profit margin as possible. As cement is a relatively low-priced product costs must be rigorously controlled to maximise this margin.

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