EUROPEAN COMMISSION Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Reference Document on Best Available Techniques in the Cement and Lime Manufacturing Industries

This Reference Document on best available techniques in the cement and lime industries reflects an information exchange carried out according to Article 16(2) of Council Directive 96/61/EC. The document has to be seen in the light of the preface which describes the objectives of the document and its use. This BREF document has two parts, one for the cement industry and one for the lime industry, which each have 7 chapters according to the general outline. Cement industry Cement is a basic material for building and civil engineering construction. Output from the cement industry is directly related to the state of the construction business in general and therefore tracks the overall economic situation closely. The production of cement in the European Union stood at 172 million tonnes in 1995, equivalent to about 12% of world production. After mining, grinding and homogenisation of raw materials; the first step in cement manufacture is calcination of calcium carbonate followed by burning the resulting calcium oxide together with silica, alumina, and ferrous oxide at high temperatures to form clinker. The clinker is then ground or milled together with gypsum and other constituents to produce cement. Naturally occurring calcareous deposits such as limestone, marl or chalk provide the source for calcium carbonate. Silica, iron oxide and alumina are found in various ores and minerals, such as sand, shale, clay and iron ore. Power station ash, blast furnace slag, and other process residues can also be used as partial replacements for the natural raw materials. To produce 1 tonne of clinker the typical average consumption of raw materials in the EU is 1.57 tonnes. Most of the balance is lost from the process as carbon dioxide emission to air in the calcination reaction (CaCO 3 → CaO + CO 2). The cement industry is an energy intensive industry with energy typically accounting for 30-40% of production costs (i.e. excluding capital costs). Various fuels can be used to provide the heat required for the process. In 1995 the most commonly used fuels were petcoke (39%) and coal (36%) followed by different types of waste (10%), fuel oil (7%), lignite (6%) and gas (2%). In 1995 there were 252 installations producing cement clinker and finished cement in the European Union and a total of 437 kilns, but not all of them in operation. In addition there were a further 68 grinding plants (mills) without kilns. In recent years …