Fuel consumption is a key topic in the cement industry given the numerous issues involved, including costs, availability and environmental concerns. Every cement plant must have a well-planned fuel programme to ensure reliable cement production or else risk revenue loss. Here, Sussan Pasuki, Senior Alternative Fuels Manager for HeidelbergCement, outlines HeidelbergCement’s alternative fuels strategy in view of the results of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris and its upcoming acquisition of Italcementi.
Overview
Commuters driving to work by car each day have to admit that they are quite relaxed, since petroleum prices have been very low for months now. None of them will probably think about buying a new e-car, a hybrid or even switching their car for a bicycle. Keeping this in mind and looking at cement production, one of the most energy consuming industries in the world, voices are heard saying that we should reduce the ‘hard to handle and trouble-causing’ alternative fuels due to low coal, pet coke, gas and oil prices.
However, looking at the results of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (or COP21) in Paris, which has concluded new goals in connection with stopping global warming, cement producers and other industrial production sites will not be able to go the easy way. The reason for the outcome and the broad approval of the tough and ambitious global climate treaty during the conference is clear: Climate change is getting more and more visible and does not only impact on a minority of people living far away from Europe. Non-government organisations (NGOs) and other relevant opinion leaders are taking action. At this point we come to Pope Francis, who recently published the encyclical “Laudato si,” which deals with climate change and other environmental topics. His paper, demanding an about-turn away from fossil fuels to the direction of renewable energies, was very much appreciated by people like Ban Ki-moon, the Dalai Lama, Kofi Annan and even the president of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, among others.
Today, the first pension funds, insurance companies and banks have started to draw back invested money from fossil fuel projects and this tendency will continue. Already during the G7 summit in Germany in June 2015, a declaration was signed that included the goal to stop using coal, oil and gas by the middle of this century. All these actions and goals will put pressure on fossil fuel users, while the voices raised to push CO2 prices higher again are louder than ever. As a consequence, even if fossil fuel prices remain low in the short term, which could still be subject to change at any moment, CO2 costs will put pressure on overall clinker and cement production costs. It’s just a question of time.
Options for CO2 emissions reductions
What options do cement producers have to reduce their CO2 footprint? Developing low energy clinker and/or cement could be a solution, as could new production methods without using fossil fuels at all. Or even Carbon Capture and Storage/Utilisation projects. HeidelbergCement Group is working on all of these developments in parallel. Nevertheless, while these innovative solutions will take time to make a significant impact, there are already four proven ways of dealing with the challenge right now:
- Process optimisation, including energy reduction in clinker and cement production;
- Reuse of waste heat;
- Increased use of cementitious materials to substitute clinker in cement;
- Increased alternative fuels and raw materials use.
HC operations supported by experts of HeidelbergCement’s Technology Centers are working on all four topics. During intense plant audits, weak points leading to losses of electrical or thermal energy are detected and analysed and the outcome is turned into action plans. Follow-up surveys ensure the implementation of optimisation measures. Meanwhile, HeidelbergCement has implemented its second European waste heat generator at its cement plant in Fieni, Romania. The company has also committed to decrease the clinker content in its cement to 70% and increase the use of alternative fuels to 30% by 2020.
Questions have been raised recently on whether the merger with Italcementi will affect this ambitious target, since the alternative fuel ratio of the Italian cement producer was 10.8% in 2014. Of course, new targets have to be set under the influence of the massive growth of HeidelbergCement. However, a lot of experience in starting-up, running, optimising and increasing alternative fuel consumption has been gathered over the past 30 years in both companies. These invaluable experiences will play a noticeable role in the success of future alternative fuels projects in the expanding HeidelbergCement family. Also, since alternative fuel usage is a complex topic, training, education and proper know-how transfer has a high priority in the group.
Waste markets
One key question for new projects is the availability and market of alternative fuels; waste markets are a matter of change. The energy mix portfolio of the plants is changing with the rise and fall of environmental challenges, regulations, transport and shipping costs, competition and many other factors, as waste streams might end or change direction. For example, oil sludge from the cleaning of old oil lagoons is no longer available in the middle of Europe and has been replaced mainly by refuse-derived fuel (RDF), but today the same efforts to remediate the environment are taken in Eastern Europe and Asia. Working together with international and local NGOs, universities and European funding organisations ensure a tailored regional approach in these cases.
Looking at alternative fuels and their properties, one has to admit that co-processing is a science in itself. The biggest portion of waste fuels in the group’s portfolio is taken by RDF and the overall quality of these alternative fuels has been decreasing for years. Heat value, water content, chlorine and other factors are challenging, even more so when the thermal substitution rate exceeds 50%. Trying to find a balance between handling costs and savings by fossil fuel substitution is key. Several projects are ongoing to either increase the quality of the wastes or to implement the technology to be able to use them as they are:
- Drying RDF;
- Improving the burnability by cutting/milling RDF;
- Special installations to increase the residence time of coarser RDF;
- Oxygen injection;
- Online monitoring of moisture and heat value.
These projects are settled for both cement plants in embryonic waste markets which are just starting up the use of alternative fuels and for well-equipped cement plants in mature waste markets, pushing their kilns from 75% to more than 80% fossil fuel replacement. Summarising the results of HeidelbergCement’s efforts, the group successfully replaced over 2Mt of high quality coal in 2014.
Outlook
Reaching HeidelbergCement’s ambitious environmental targets is a matter of long term strategy and development, since some projects need years to show the first fruitful outcome. This is especially true for projects in developing countries. Being ahead with knowledge on technical, commercial and political developments ensures and strengthens the position of HeidelbergCement in alternative fuels today and ensures the company will be prepared for a future without fossil fuels, in line with the COP21 outcome.