Cement Energy and Environment

Proceedings of the Policy Roundtable on "Promoting use of Spent Pot Liners in Cement Co-processing" on 22nd September, 2015 at BHABHA Chamber, SCOPE Convention Centre, New Delhi 1. A Round Table on "Promoting use of Spent Pot Liners in Cement Co-processing" was organised under the Knowledge Exchange Platform (KEP), which is a joint initiative of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and Institute for Industrial Productivity (liP) on 22nd September, 2015 at SCOPE New Delhi. KEP is aimed at transfer of best practices within and across different in industry sectors covered under the Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme. In line with this objective, KEP has initiated a 'Knowledge Series' on key policy and thematic issues and this round table was structured around the concept of 'Circular Economy'. 2. The production process of Aluminum involves conversion of Alumina to Aluminium through an electrolytic process that takes place in a pot. These pots are steel containers lined with refractory brick with an inner lining of carbon . The carbon liner is usually up to 15 inches thick and serves as the cathode in the electrolysis process that transforms aluminum ions from the molten bath to molten aluminum. Spent Pot Liner (SPL) is a by-product that is generated during this conversion. Depending on the life of the pot, SPL is chipped off from the pot for disposal and relining. SPL is considered hazardous because of the presence of cyanide, soluble fluoride and volatile compounds. The most commonly adopted practice of its disposal is through secured land fill, which is not seen as an acceptable option for the future. Other than its toxic contents, SPL has certain characteristics, which if properly harnessed can not only provide useful energy source but also help in mitigating carbon dioxide emissions in other industries like Cement. In cement industry it can act as an alternate fuel, while the Sodium content of SPL can act as a flux and fluorine can act as a mineraliser for cement manufacture. 3. However, despite these useful properties of SPL, it is not being widely used in cement manufacture or other industries due to: a). Lack of availability of appropriate technologies to de-toxify SPL; b). Facilitation by Regulatory agencies to promote the use of de-toxified SPL and it's transport; and c). Lack of coordination and linkage between the Aluminium and Cement industry. To resolve these issues and come out with a viable way forward, KEP organised the round table on Promoting use of Spent Pot Liners in Cement Co– processing, by bringing together all the important stakeholders on a common platform for identification of the existing barriers and challenges and working out an effective strategy to deal with them. The roundtable was supported by Vedanta Ltd. , which helped KEP in organizing the event. 4. The Roundtable was attended by more than 50 participants with representation from key opinion leaders of Aluminium and Cement Sectors, Industry Association (Cement Manufactures' Association (CMA) and Jawaharlal Aluminium Design and Development Research Centre (JNARDDC), Technology Supplier (Regain, Australia), Regulators (Central Pollution Control Board), BEE and liP. The agenda of the roundtable is at Annexure -1 and the list of the participants is at Annexure-2 . Participants at the Roundtable on Use of SPL in Cement Co-processing