Environmental considerations of selected energy-conserving manufacturing-process options. Volume X. Cement industry report

Technical Report · Wed Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6794596· OSTI ID:6794596

The manufacture of cement in the United States required 0.52 x 10/sup 15/ Btu in 1971. This ranked cement as the eighth most energy-intensive industry at that time. The production of cement in 1972 totaled 84.6 million tons, with portland cement constituting 96% of this amount, and the balance being natural, masonry, and pozzolan cements. Approximately 80% of the total energy required for cement manufacture is fuel, which is required for the high-temperature reaction step of clinker production. The balance is electrical energy primarily used in grinding the raw materials and the finished cement. Presently, coal, oil, and natural gas are all used for cement production. During the past several decades, coal has been declining in use, as it was progressively displaced by oil and natural gas. In the 1970s, this trend has been reversed. Coal is an acceptable fuel for cement manufacture, both technologically and environmentally. Coal can replace all of the oil and gas now being used by the cement industry. Most of the industry's rotary kilns (in which most of the fuel is burned) can be converted to coal firing. Almost all of the fuel's sulfur leaves the cement process chemically bound up as part of the cement product and the waste kiln dust. This study of possible process modifications or the use of alternative fuel forms in the cement industry focused on the unit process of clinker production, since it requires about 80% of the total energy for cement manufacture. The process modifications analyzed in this study were the suspension preheater, flash calciner, and fluidized-bed cement process. The use of coal instead of oil or gas was also considered.

• Research Organization: Little (Arthur D.), Inc., Cambridge, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6794596
• Report Number(s): EPA-600/7-76-034j
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
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CAPITAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CEMENT INDUSTRY
COAL
DEMAND FACTORS
ELECTRIC POWER
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
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FUEL SUBSTITUTION
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
HEATING
IMPLEMENTATION
INDUSTRY
MANUFACTURING
MODIFICATIONS
NATURAL GAS
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM
POWER
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
USA