Egmont Ottermann won the best presentation award at the 2014 Global CemFuels Conference for his talk on using social networking to share knowledge about alternative fuels implementation in the cement industry. As Ottermann explains, he created the 'AFR, Emissions and Pyro-Processing in Cement' group on LinkedIn, a professional social media network, to effectively share information. Following his presentation Global Cement spoke to Ottermann, the Group Energy Manager for South Africa's PPC.
Global Cement (GC): Can you tell us about your LinkedIn Group, 'AFR, Emissions and Pyro-processing in Cement?'
Egmont Ottermann (EO): It started off when I joined PPC in 2007. I moved from a large multinational cement company where I had all the help I wanted to a localised Southern African cement company where suddenly I was the expert. Or rather I was seen as the expert and I couldn't rely on anybody else to get the information I needed.
I realised that social media could act as a resource for some of the information I needed. I got the idea from a gold mining company CEO who said that he had found social media to be of great use. He didn't have the sufficient knowledge to exploit a mine because it was technically difficult. He wanted all the best experts in the world to give him his answer but he couldn't afford it. He wrote out a US$50,000 prize to the expert that came out with an answer and he gave his resource data to the whole world and he got a fantastic answer. I got onto LinkedIn, formed a group, asked a question and I saw that it would start working.
We started the group in 2009. What then happened is that I brought on some of the colleagues and friends I had from my previous role and I asked them to provide expert advice to the people who had questions. That was a very important success factor because questions would be answered. Then the group slowly grew.
The benefit that alternative fuel processing got out of it was that a large proportion of the group's members are from South-East Asia, the Middle East, India, China and Africa, where alternative fuels and co-processing is just starting out. They are tapping information from European experts that they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. There are a lot of process questions, a lot of basic stuff. What happens with NOx? When do I start a chlorine bypass? How do I manage volatile cycles? How do I increase the alternative fuel substitution? How do I burn waste oil? How do I burn tar? How do I evaluate this stuff? Because they don't know it. The group grew strongly from there.
GC: Why use LinkedIn?
OE: LinkedIn is a professional network and it isn't Facebook. You have to register. LinkedIn allows you to control the size of the group and to control who joins the group.
We decided right in the beginning to have some strict rules. The rule we set is that if you promote yourself you are out. If you want to sell your equipment you get kicked out. However, if you are from a supplier and you are giving advice, the group sees that you know what you're talking about and they might call. It's a subtle way for equipment providers and consultants to advertise their work by giving free advice.
GC: What has been the toughest question posed by a member?
EO: There have been some very tough questions. One of these related to cytotoxic waste. There were some questions around, 'What are the limits to pyrolysis?' We couldn't answer that question. We couldn't answer a question on 'How do I get to 100% alternative fuels without impacting the kiln processes.' However, 99% of the questions are rudimentary. A group like this helps answer these simple questions that people don't always know the answer for.
GC: Do you make any money from the group?
OE: No, I do it just for 'fun.' I do it because I'm passionate about what cement kiln co-processing can do for waste management challenges, especially in the developing world. I feel that the knowledge of people who have 15 to 20 years experience or more should be shared. I don't believe that experience in alternative fuels should be kept secret, but shared for the common good of the global cement industry and for the good of the environment.
GC: How do you feel your group is useful to its members?
OE: As company staff turnover increases, people don't work for the same company for 15 years any more. I worked for Holcim for 15 years before I joined PPC. I was a bursar, I started working, I learnt my stuff there and then I left.
The younger guys these days will be a process engineer for maybe three years. If they are good they become a manager. They have no chance of learning what they have to learn in order to effectively manage the implementation of alternative fuels.
GC: Is there a risk that members of group might post private information about company processes and procedures?
EO: Possibly. But that's their issue. I'm not going to share our company's confidential data or information with everybody. I am going to share what we have achieved. I am going to share what mistakes we have made. I want other people in cement companies to do exactly the same. I want them to share the experiences they have.
GC: If you'd been in the position of junior members of your group 20 years ago what would you have done?
EO: I would have hired a consultant, may not have done the project or I would have made lots of mistakes, lost lots of money, made some enemies in the process and gotten the environmental groups on my back. Now we can share information that we have and do it safely. The goal of this was to benefit the environment, was to benefit the contribution we can make towards safe waste processing.
GC: Thank you for your time.
EO: You are welcome.
Group | Type | Members |
AFR, Emissions and Pyro-Processing in Cement | Closed | 5186 |
Cement, Concrete & Construction | Open | 12,335 |
Cement Industry Experts | Open | 11,382 |
Cement Technology | Closed | 5173 |
Global Cement | Open | 5402 |
Lafarge Group | Closed | 8735 |
Portland Cement Association | Open | 10,485 |
Above - Prominent cement industry LinkedIn groups. Number of members accurate as at 1 July 2014.
Example Questions from the AFR, Emissions and Pyro-Processing in Cement' LinkedIn group
Chlorine bypass
EO: We had answers form Kazakhstan, Germany, the UK, the US and Switzerland on when kilns need a chlorine bypass. There was a detailed discussion on the effects of chlorine and volatile elements, on how sulphur, chlorine and alkalis balance each other out and how the influence of carbon monoxide and oxygen can affect it - That's a whole volatile elements seminar on its own. At the end we figured out what the chlorine bypass limit was. Each kiln has a different limit!
High ash coal
EO: We had a scenario where one of our kilns would run of out good quality coal from a close-by source. The alternative was a coal with 30% ash. So I threw the question out to the group: 'How am I going to burn this?'
From the theory point of view it was relatively simple but the gap between theory and practice can be wide. One member said, 'I've been burning coal with 42% ash for 20 years and this is how I did it'. He gave us the whole spiel.
There were some questions back and forth where we asked him how he implemented it and what the impact on his quarry lifetime was. All of the answers came up.