Energy Requirements of Using Oil Shale in the Production of Ordinary Portland Clinker

Energy balance was performed on the clinkering process when utilizing oil shale as a source of both raw materials and energy. The balance was also compared with the typical energy requirements for production of Ordinary Portland (OP) Clinker. The use of Jordanian oil shale can reduce energy requirements in production of OP clinker by 15–20%. This reduction is due to two factors: lower clinkering temperature of 1300–1350 °C and an appropriate proportion of the proposed raw materials. An additional energy of 1726 kJ/ton clinker, which represents 45% of the required energy, is needed to achieve the required clinkering temperature. This could be achieved by estimating the amounts of makeup fuel basing on the net calorific value of this fuel.