Cement Energy and Environment

.r not have new em1ss1on standards for pollutants like volatile organic compounds and poly aromatic hydrocarbons, barring benzopyrene. These are some of the more toxic air pollutants emitted by the petrochemical industries. Illustration: Rustam VaniaBefore forwarding to an air pollutants trading scheme, MoEF needs to re-evaluate its priorities. In the backdrop of the current environmental governance regime changes and existing legal mandates, a system such as a Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) would be more suited in enabling better compliance of environmental laws. The US Environment Protection Agency defines TRI as "a publicly available database that contains detailed information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities reported annually by certain covered industry groups and federal facilities." India can also learn from the experience of Europe and North America where environmental justice communities have used TRI data to empower citizens and to hold companies and local governments accountable in managing toxic pollutants. In India, there is a legal mandate for TRI. A Supreme Court order of October 14, 2003, states: "SPCBs should ensure all industries involved in hazardous chemicals and generating hazardous wastes display data outside the main factory gate, on quantity and nature of hazardous chemicals being used in the plant, water and air emissions and solid wastes generated." The Factories Act of 1948 mandates disclosure of information about pollutants in factories to workers; the Chemical Accidents Rules of 1996 direct giving information to public about industrial releases. A TRI system would fill two important gaps: improve knowledge of pollutants and pollutant loads from specific industrial sources, and help restructure the architecture of industry-disclosed information. TRI could complement pieces of legislation like the Right to Information Act to meet the mandates of proactive public disclosure of information. In the long run , this would facilitate an air pollutant trading system if that is found to be necessary. No doubt, compliance with environmental laws has been poor in India but reforms cannot be led by stand-alone schemes. The efforts should get the support of people affected by environmental pollution. Courtesy: Down to Earth August 16- 31, 2011, p53 GEA BISCHOFF HELPS REDUCE EMISSIONS AT GERMAN BEAUTY SPOT At the end of March 2011 a new DeNOx plant was put into operation at the location of German cement manufacturer Sudbayer in Rohrdorf. The new selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system converts NOx and ammonium hydroxide from the kiln exhaust gas into atmospheric nitrogen and water, thus reducing emissions considerably to meet not only current but also future emission regulations in this picturesque part of the German countryside. The DeNOxplant is the first of its kind in operation at a cement plant worldwide. SPZ commissioned the new plant to meet their environmental responsibility, comply with current emission regulations and ensure that they will be able to meet future extensions of regulations. These aims are definitely achieved by the new plant and , using a new waste heat recovery system , power consumption and operational costs are minimized throughout the process. In spring 2010, GEA Bischoff was approached to design as SCR system that would enable the plant to run with a m1n1mum NOx concentration in its flue gas. The company has over 10 years of experience in designing such plants and quickly identified an SCR plant, situated downstream of the kiln bag filter and equipped with a heat recovery system to boost the operating temperature, as the most appropriate solution. A catalytic reduction of the NOx output requi res the operation temperature to be more than 250°C. To achieve this, the kiln exhaust gas is heated up in a recuperative cross flow heat exchanger supplied by Ecoflex, another member of the GEA Group. In a second heat exchanging step , the gas temperature is boosted by a thermal oil loop using back waste heat from the clinker cooler. The NOx content in the exhaust gas can definitely be reduced to below current and even future emission regu lation limits. In a recent interview, Dr. Helmut Leibinger, head of plant and process engineering at SPZ, concluded "GEA Bischoff's technical experience in planning and construction of process plants together with Rohrdorf's pioneering spirit were the basis for the successful introduction of the SCR technology in the cement industry. " Courtesy: World Cement, August 2011, P107. 21