Spanish cement sector targets waste burn

The Spanish cement industry is aiming to reduce costs and comply with the Kyoto protocol on climate change by adapting some plants to burn refuse instead of coal and petcoke. The measure, supported by the government but apparently still not fully backed by local authorities, should also allow the industry to improve its profitability. The cement industry, which will be allocated a total quota of 28.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, is awaiting the news of how this quota will be shared out among the individual factories in the sector. 

Spanish cement company Cementos Alfa plans to invest a total of Euro 70m euros in one factory, in the autonomous region of Cantabria, between 2005 and 2007 in order to adapt the site to using waste cooking oil as fuel. Waste products amount to only two per cent of fuel in Spain, compared with 30 per cent in France and 50 to 75 per cent in Switzerland.