Cement Energy Environment

38 Aware of the need to embrace the challenge of further reducing its CO 2 emissions, the Brazilian cement industry repeated the collaboration with International entities to develop its own Cement Technology Roadmap – Brazil. The Brazilian Cement Industry launched in 2019 its “Cement Technological Roadmap” to demonstrate all actions and activities showing the Carbon Emissions Reduction Potential in the Brazilian Cement Industry by 2050. Brazilian Cement Industry – Sustainability • The Brazilian cement industry has one of the lowest levels of specific CO 2 emissions in the world, thanks to mitigating actions implemented by the sector over recent decades. While cement production increased by 273% between 1990 and 2014 (from 26 million to 71 million tons), total emissions grew by 223% over the period, due to the 18% reduction in emissions intensity (from 700 kg CO 2 /t cement to 564 kg CO 2 /t cement). • In the same period, thermal intensity had a reduction of 17%, the use of alternative fuels increased from 5% to 19% and the use of clinker substitutes increased from 20% to 33%. • The low per capita cement consumption in Brazil (260 kg/person/year) when compared to the worldwide average (553 kg/person/year), and coupled with the high housing deficit, the country’s infrastructure, and the expected population growth, indicates a resumption of production in the medium to long term, increasing between 60% and 120% by 2050 compared to 2014 (in the variants of low and high demand respectively). • Regarding mitigating its CO 2 emissions, the main alternative and the biggest challenge to the sector is to further increase the use of clinker substitutes (Brazil is among the countries that use them the most). By reducing the clinker/cement ratio from 67% in 2014 to 52% in 2050, it would be possible to achieve a cumulative reduction of 290Mt in CO 2 emissions. This would represent 69% of the CO 2 emissions reduction in the sector by 2050. The expected scarcity of both blast furnace slag and fly Key Findings during Roadmap elaboration ash in the long-term would increase pressure on the industry to identify other clinker substitutes, such as increasing the use of limestone filler and calcined clay. • The use of alternative fuels, substituting fossil fuels, such as petroleum coke, represents the second largest carbon emissions mitigation strategy for the sector. The increase in thermal substitution rate from 15% in 2014 to 55% in 2050 would result in a cumulative reduction of 55Mt in CO 2 emissions. This would signify around 13% of the CO 2 emissions reduction. The use of Municipal Solid Waste (17% of thermal substitution) and Non-Hazardous Solid Waste (other 17%), both with a high content of biomass, represent the greatest potential. • Brazil has a modern and efficient industrial complex, with an average thermal consumption of 3.5 GJ/t of clinker and electricity consumption of 113 kWh/t of cement. Therefore, major changes in energy intensity of cement production are not expected before 2030, when the gradual replacement of the more obsolete units and equipment with new lines using the best available technologies (BAT) will start taking place. It will then be possible to achieve values of 3.2 GJ/t of clinker and 91 kWh/t cement by 2050 and a cumulative reduction of 38Mt of CO 2 by 2050, representing around 9% of the sector’s mitigation effort. Process control and optimization, recovery of heat in the coolers, vertical mills, and waste heat recovery (WHR) equipment for generating electricity will each have a pivotal role in this reduction.