3rd Global Fuels Conference 2009
15-16 June, Toronto, Canada

The third Global Fuels Conference for cement and lime has successfully taken place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with 140 delegates attending from 23 countries. Information on best practice in alternative fuels use was exchanged, and a number of alternative fuels equipment vendors also exhibited at the event. The conference culminated with a field trip to the St Marys Bowmanville cement plant. The next Global Alternative Fuels conference will take place in Washington DC in the USA in May 2010.

After the traditional welcome cocktail reception, the conference started on the morning of Monday 15 June with an official welcome from Pierre Boucher, the CEO of the Cement Association of Canada (CAC). Pierre pointed out that Canada has eight cement companies operating 15 cement plants, with six in Ontario alone. Of the 14Mt of cement produced in recent years, around 4Mt would be shipped to the US. While Canada has an overall alternative fuel usage of around 9%, Quebec is most active in the area with a 29% thermal substitution rate (TSR). Producers in other Canadian provinces are very keen to use higher levels of alternative fuels (AF). Mr Boucher suggested that the conference offered “a great opportunity to raise awareness of AF.” He pointed out that AF comes in two main types: CO2 neutral (including wood, municipal solid waste (MSW) and biogas; and non-CO2 neutral, such as used oil, non-recyclable plastics and tyres (but see below). “When materials are processed properly, AF increase environmental performance without increased risk to human health: the CAC is working hard to enable further use of AF in the future.”   
Authors from Marbek Consulting then spoke on their finding from a benchmarking study of energy use in the Canadian cement industry. Most plants were found to be operating efficiently, with one or two ‘stand-out’ plants, and a couple of plants that are still lagging behind (although they may be constrained by location and/or raw materials). The authors concluded that the main opportunities for energy efficiency are now likely to be found in the areas of raw materials and fuel preparation.

Rob Davies of Geocyle (Holcim’s global alternative fuels supply company, operating in 37 countries worldwide) next gave a fantastically detailed overview of AF markets and usage in the US. Geocycle operates in the ‘co-processing’ area, where energy and mineral components are recovered, where naturally-occurring materials are replaced and no new waste streams are created. Rather than speaking about WDF (waste-derived fuels) Rob preferred to speak about ‘engineered fuels’  which are highly specified fuels with a focus on quality control through tight control of inputs. Rob mentioned that there had been a complete collapse in the market for ‘recoverable’ waste, with waste that previously had been shipped to China now sitting stockpiled on ships that are now anchored outside various far-eastern ports, or being stockpiled in the US for having nowhere else to go to. Rob pointed out that AF use in the US is largely controlled by regional or state-wide landfill prices. For example, the nation’s most expensive landfill are found in New York, which means that alternative fuels are widely used – for example in a tyre-derived fuel (TDF) power plant in Connecticut. The cheapest landfilling costs are in the southeast, at around $15/t in Texas and Oklahoma – so that AF are used at lower levels in these areas. In general, all over the US, the use of hazardous waste has decreased, since haz-waste generation has decreased. Non haz-waste useage enjoyed double-digit annual increases between 1985 and 2005, but this is now expected to slow. Rob pointed out that 89% of non-haz-waste is sent to landfill, and that only 1% of the total is used in cement plants.

Rob futher pointed out that the gargantuan piles of tyres that used to exist are continuing to reduce as the cement industry (and other industries) progressively use them up for fuel (and for the production of crumb-rubber, a high-value material commonly used for sports surfaces). Once the tyre piles are exhausted (through what is essentially landfill mining) then demand (and prices) will have to be re-balanced with the new lower supply. Rob pointed out that auto-shredder residue (ASR) use is likely to increase, since the material has high calorific value (CV) and is likely to be available in quantities in the range of 5Mt/year. Around 2Mt/y of carpet residues are available each year (localised around carpet-producing states, mainly in Georgia), and although they can lead to increased in NOx, since carpet residues have high  CV, their use is also likely to increase. Construction and demolition waste has a lower CV, but is available in very large tonnages. Around 40Mt of plastics is available each year, of which 12Mt is manufacturing waste. Rob pointed out that the non-recyclable portions of plastics waste streams make good AF.

In the US Geocycle typically blends 3-12 waste streams (but up to 550 at the Holly Hill AF facility) to produce an homogenous engineered fuel: this also allows the cement producer/AF fuel producer to be insulated from variations in the price of individual waste streams. Rob concluded with a glance towards the future. He suggested that forthcoming climate change legislation will impact on AF, particularly because the Obama administration is now fast-tracking CO2 emissions trading rules. Hazardous wastes can currently economically travel around 500 miles (compared to 100 miles for non-haz-waste), but new regulations make it easier to reuse ‘wastes’ locally, possibly making future supply much tighter (and more expensive).

Dirk Lechtenberg, the well-known AF expert and frequent contributor to Global Cement Magazine, next gave details of AF projects around the world, pointing out that his company, MVW Lechtenberg, applies the same European standards to its projects around the world. Dirk reiterated that it is important to open discussions with the public well before the establishment of a new AF project.

Wim Heldens of independent consultancy IC&C BV from the Netherlands next gave a presentation on ‘How to make money with alternative fuels.’ He suggested that new AF projects now show fuel costs of less than US$2/t of clinker, and that, although they can have good burning characteristics (quite apart from the economics of using them), operators “have to like to work with AF” for projects to become successful.

Global Fuels conference stalwart Tom Lowes next spoke about low risk routes to success. He started by saying that in a market downturn, “the lowest cost producer is king.” Since fuel cost is the major variable cost in cement production, AF use is a ‘no-brainer.’ Using sophisticated computer models, Tom was able to give a number of examples where stratification (non-mixing of fuel and combustion gases) was taking place in both kilns and calciners. Tom suggested that it is not sensible to build a big calciner without looking at the ‘engine’ – the momentum and mixing effect from the burner, and he suggested that jet mixing (not turbulent mixing) is the key to increased AF use.

In a fascinating paper, Mauricio Larenas of Beta Analytical spoke on the determination of the biogenic fraction of AF through analysis of C12/C14 ratios. When cosmic rays strike N14 in the atmosphere, they create radiocarbon C14 which oxidises to become C14O2. The radiocarbon has a half life of 5730 years, decaying to C12, so that any C14 incorporated into biological material when it grows is practically all gone after 50,000 years. This is the basis of radio-carbon dating (where measuring the ratio of C12 to C14 in a biological sample gives the age), but for alternative fuels this also allows a determination of the proportion of fossil (or fossil-derived) C12 compared to non-fossil (ie biomass) C14. Mauricio pointed out that the determination of fossil versus non-fossil fuels in a cement plant is currently a very long process, involving complicated sorting, cutting and weighing, which is also labour intensive and relatively inaccurate. By measuring the C12/C14 ratio in stack gases (for example by taking a gas sample every hour for 24 hours, using a gas bag and according to ASTM D7459), the overall fossil/non-fossil ratio of fuel inputs can be determined (using the ASTM D6866 standard and technology which has now been used for over 60 years). The technique can also be applied to individual solid samples, and has also been applied to determine the biogenic/fossil hydrocarbon ratio of tyres. These measurements are critical in optimising the economic benefit of emissions credits.   

Ted Reese of Cadence Environmental Energy next gave details on technology that his company has applied to Kirchdorfer Zement in Austria, but which could potentially have widespread application in cement plants around the world. Reflecting Tom Lowes’ paper on the importance of mixing in correct fuel combustion, Ted detailed the Mixing Energy Technology applied to the 1000t/d plant. Kirchdorfer wanted to increase AF use from 35% to 50% TSR, without an increase in CO emissions. The company’s solution was to inject high pressure air through paired nozzles in the sides of the precalciner, which destratified the gas, meal and fuel in the calciner, in order to accelerate mixing and burning, and to bring O2 into contact with CO to reduce CO emissions. Cadence used a rented compressor, a flexible hose and simple injector nozzles and, after having tested multiple injection locations, provided a 3% production increase, decreased CO production, increased AF use, decreased coal use and decreased requirement for SNCR with concomitant reagent saving, all at very low capital expenditure.

In the penultimate paper of the day, Rahim Vaseghi  of the Islamic Azad University, Iran, explained why Iran, although it is the world’s second largest crude oil exporter,  imports 40% of its internal demand for petroleum products because of its lack of adequate refining capacity. Despite the fact that it has to import petroleum products, the Iranian government heavily subsidises the cost, so that the cost of the 4Gj of energy required to produce a tonne of clinker might be $20-30/t in developed countries, or $10-15/t in other oil-producing GCC countries, but in Iran a cement producer would pay only $3-4/t. Unsurprisingly, energy conservation measures are not a priority in Iran, even though simple measures could save US$120m in thermal energy costs and US$100m in electrical energy costs.

The last paper of the day was given by Luc Rieffel of ATS/WMH, who spoke about his company’s AF handling and dosing capabilities.

Gala Dinner and Global Fuels Awards
Many of the conference delegates elected to participate in a uniquely Canadian gala dinner, taking the ferry to Toronto Island for a barbeque on the patio of an island restaurant and then decamping to a bonfire on a beach with a fabulous view towards the Toronto skyline for toasted marshmallows, beer and campfire songs (and one or two mosquitos).

However, before the end of the evening, the Global Fuels Awards were presented. Geocycle’s Holly Hill facility was awarded the ‘Outstanding alternative fuels project of the year’ award, while Lindner Recyclingtech was awarded the ‘Most innovative technology for alternative fuels’ for its comprehensive range of recycling solutions. California Portland Cement’s Mojave plant was awarded the ‘Outstanding electrical energy efficiency project’ award for the on-going work at the plant (see the June 2009 issue of Global Cement Magazine), while Airstream Fans was awarded the ‘Most innovative technology for electrical energy efficiency’ award for its new fan technology, as applied in recent projects for Titan Cement.

A highlight of the evening was the presentation of the ‘Global Fuels Personality of the Year’ award, to Eric Hansen. Eric is well known in the cement industry around the world for his expertise in combustion and for his many years of service with Cadence. His gentlemanly, gracious and easy manner have endeared him to co-workers and customers alike during his nearly 40 years in the cement industry, and although he now only works half time (“12 hours a day, seven days a week” he says) his is a reassuring presence in the industry: long may it continue.   

Second Day
The second day of the conference started with a trio of papers given by cement producers: Holcim, St Marys (owned by Votorantim) and Lafarge. Luc Robitaille of Holcim Canada (the newly-renamed St Lawrence Cement) spoke about his company’s experiences with burning AF at the Joliette plant in Quebec, which operates four long dry kilns. As well as tyres, treated wood and tyre-fluff, the plant burns materials from 100 different suppliers and has invested over Can$20m in AF facilities. The plant uses a Cadence Feed-fork whole tyre mid-kiln feeding system, which led to a reduction in NOx and CO emissions. The plant also uses granular fuels such as sewage sludge and wood dust, alongside shredded telegraph poles and railroad ties, and waste oils and recycled liquid fuels. The plant also uses a mass balance simulator which can help it to forecast emissions from burning particular wastes or combinations of wastes. Luc emphasised that a ‘Citizen’s Committee’ is an extremely useful forum to help in community communication, and concluded that the use of AF at the plant was aided immensely by the positive stance of the Quebec government, which sometimes means that permits to use new fuels will be provided ‘within days’ of application.

Martin Vreogh’s paper on AF use at St Marys Cement (in Ontario) detailed the targets that the company wanted to achieve through its use of AF: to use at least 30% AF TSR, to overcome political and public concerns, to gain permitting, to use socially-acceptable fuels (not recyclables), to maintain the good image of the company, to ensure an economic outcome of the project, to develop long-term mutually-benefical relationships with suppliers and to have no negative effects on cement quality. To do this, it became clear that the company had to know the law, to identify key stakeholders and develop a dialogue with them, to find partner groups, to explore the technical limits of its process, to organise supply chains, processing and logistics, to develop budgets and to use demonstration projects (such as the four day burn at the St Marys plant and a 28 day burn at Bowmanville) to persuade the Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments to allow it to gain the permits required. It was pointed out that to entertain the use of AF, the plant has to be well within the legal limits on all emissions before any testing takes place. At the start of the process of trying to obtain permits for the use of AF, St Marys had envisaged having to pass through 40 permitting tasks: the list is now up to 140 tasks, and permits are still at least some months away from being awarded. Through the first two papers of the day, it became clear that the differing regulatory framework and approaches of the Provincial governments in Canada can have a profound influence on progress towards the use of AF (and away from fossil fuels).

The third cement producer paper of the morning was given by Rob Cumming of Lafarge’s Bath plant, on the company’s project to grow CO2 neutral biomass on its own land (or on the shallow-soiled, rocky and marginal farmland of nearby farmers). Rob suggested that biomass produced in this way has the potential to be the next cheapest fuel after coal. Rob said that Lafarge had looked at a number of sustainability criteria when assessing the project, including the carbon and water balance of the project, the effect on soil sustainability and possible carbon sequestration and the effect on wildlife habitats. Plants considered as biomass crops included sorghum, maize, miscanthus (a form of bamboo), switch grass, industrial hemp, willow and poplar. Challenges included cost, storage and processing (such as drying and densification of the fuel through briquetting or pelletisation). Torrefaction of biomass is a potential solution to some of these problems, since it produces a final fuel which behaves similarly to coal. Rob also mentioned some of the various technologies that can be used to increase plant yield (essentially by deferring the production of seed by the plant so that it continues to build biomass). Coal produces around 100kg CO2/Gj, while unoptimised biomass produces 8-15kg CO2/Gj. However, coal costs £3-4/Gj, while unoptimised biomass costs around $6/Gj (while higher-yielding varieties cost less). As Rob concluded, “The real challenge for alternative fuel is to be more economically viable than coal.”
Industry veteran George Venta next spoke on the effect of the use of AF on cement plant emissions, firstly pointing out that while eight out of 15 plants in Canada use AF, in America 64 out of 98 plants use AF, with most using only scrap tyres and with a low TSR. Contrasting the emissions data between Ontario (which does not yet use much AF) and Quebec (which does), George found that Quebec’s emissions per tonne of clinker produced were lower in every category except HCB (hexachlorobenzene), which was significantly higher. George’s overall conclusion was that burning AF does not lead to higher overall emissions.

Jonathon Forinton, speaking on behalf of Wilfried Zieri of A TEC, looked at the behaviour of trace elements in AF during combustion (see table), and mentioned that A TEC’s RSP combustion chamber, developed in cooperation with Taiheiyo Engineering of Japan, can achieve high levels of AF use, while producing less than 500mg/Nm3 of NOx, without SNCR.

Jennifer Anderson of PANalytical next spoke about the challenges of analysing clinker – “one of the most difficult materials to analyse.” Clinker has many phases with overlapping XRD peaks and with most phases having solid solution composition variations that makes peak matching even more difficult. The use of AF may make phase compositions and crystalinities even more variable and difficult to quantify. Jennifer stated that the Rietveld technique can provide precise answers but that they are not necessarily accurate – they need to be ‘referenced’ or ‘constrained.’

Geoffrey Conroy of Aumund spoke next on Aumund’s range of handling solutions for AF, including the Samson surface feeder – or Miracle Surface Feeder as Conroy cheekily put it. However, the advantages and features of the feeder are obvious, since it has low civil engineering requirements, robust construction and low maintenance and both storage capacity and basic dosing capabilities. Geoff mentioned one cement plant that loads its Samson feeder up with 120t of tyre chips once each shift, and just leaves it to convey (and dose) the chips to the system.

Michael Gramling of the MHC/WTW Group subsequently gave details of a cement plant project in Ireland that aimed at using 50% AF. Michael pointed out that 4t of fluff can substitute for 3t of coal, leading to a saving of at least $4.4m/year at the plant. This was achieved through saving the cost of the coal, the cost of the treatment and preparation of the coal and through earnings in the gate fee for the fluff. Michael claimed that the project in Ireland was on-budget, on-specification and on-time.

Bernd Neumann of Schenck pointed out that an effective air-lock is the key to successful gravimetric dosing and feeding – and if money is to be spent to improve a system for AF, it should be spent here. Schenck has produced a special belt-style weigh-feeder specifically for use with AF, featuring a low tare weight belt for use with low density AF such as rice husks and fluff.

Ricardo Costa gave the next paper – on firing petcoke into white cement kilns - co-authored with Adriano Greco, both of Greco, Brazil. Petcoke, they said, is now very commonly used throughout the Brazilian cement industry, so much so, in fact, that it cannot be considered to be an alternative fuel. To keep the cement as white as possible, a variety of contaminants have to be avoided, including Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Va, Ni and Ti. White cement also needs a final reducing zone in the kiln and subsequent fast cooling. The cooling is often accomplished by using water sprays, but this leads to the generation of large quantities of steam with can cause the elongation of the kiln flame. Ricardo suggested that the use of petcoke instead of more expensive coal for the production of white cement can cover the cost of the equipment needed for the changeover in less than three months.

Larry Farmer gave the final paper at the conference, and spoke on the benefits of using oxygen enhancement to increase the rate of AF use, and to widen the variety of AF that can be used. 1-3% enrichment of combustion gases can lead to large differences, with flame temperatures increasing by 50-100°C, increased available heat and heat transfer and higher combustion efficiency. Oxygen enhancement can reduce emissions of CO and THC, and can allow enhanced kiln control and faster recovery from temperature excursions. The increased stability of the kiln – particularly when using AF – can lead to increased production, more consistent quality and better refractory performance since with more stable operation the refractory bricks last longer. Larry claimed that payback for the capital equipment involved is in the order of 2-4 months. He then gave details of an oxygen enrichment project at Steetley Dolomite in the UK. The plant had started to use solvent-derived fuel, with a water content of up to 25%, which had a relatively low heating value and variable composition, co-fired with coal. With oxygen enhancement, production increased by 11.9%, specific emissions were down 9.3% and the plant regained the production it had lost from using AF. Larry Farmer quoted Sam Bainbridge, a process engineer at Steetley: “We have been able to increase production by 10%, taking us back to the performance we had before we started to use alternative fuels – but with extra cost savings of course. The kiln is now more stable and quicker to recover from operational disturbances.”

Farewell, Awards and Field Trip
At the farewell party at the end of the conference, Fives Pillard was awarded the prize for best exhibition stand. Both Mauricio Larenas of Beta Analytical and Larry Farmer of Air Products were commended on their presentations. Rob Cumming was third in the best presentations awards, with his paper on biomass farming at the Lafarge Bath cement plant. Luc Robitaille of Holcim Canada was second with his paper on the use of AF in Quebec, while Rob Davies of Geocycle was first, with his comprehensive and valuable study of AF use in the US.

The conference field trip visited St Marys Cement’s Bowmanville cement plant, 100km east of Toronto. The plant is currently applying for permits to burn AF, and hopes to be able to start its AF programme from 2009 onwards.

4th Global Fuels Conference 2010
26-27 May, Washington DC, USA

The 4th Global Alternative Fuels Conference for cement and lime took place at the end of May in Washington DC, a few blocks away from the White House and a short jog from the US Capitol building, heart of America’s governmental process. The conference was co-sponsored by the US Portland Cement Association, and attracted representatives from practically all US cement producers, as well as a number of Mexican, Central American, Canadian and international producers as well. A large number of lime companies were also represented at the event, from North America and abroad.

Dr Tyrone Wilson of the PCA started the conference with an explanation of the current state of legislation in the US for alternative fuels (AF). In essence, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been asked to update the regulations. At the start of the process, the EPA seemed to be positive about the possibility of burning AF in cement kilns, and appeared ready to apply a ‘light touch’ approach. However, when the draft regulations were published at the start of May 2010, it was apparent that a significant change of heart had occurred and the EPA now seems likely to apply stringent emissions regulations (rules that currently only apply to industrial incineration facilities) to cement plants. The cement industry is not happy about this possibility, since it would certainly increase its costs and might potentially lead to the closure of a number of US cement plants. The PCA and other industry representatives are now very busy trying to make the EPA see that by making it harder for the cement industry to use AF, the materials are likely just to end up in landfill, which is not a particularly good way of protecting the environment. The final regulations are due to be published before the end of 2010.

Following on from Ty Wilson was industry stalwart Michael Blumenthal of the Rubber Manufacturers’ Association. He pointed out that tyres are currently viewed as a waste, unless significant processing steps are undertaken to create a specified product, such as reduced-metal chipped tyres. However, under the proposed new EPA rules, if the raw material is a waste, then it will remain a waste and the cement kiln user will have to be regulated under the onerous incinerator rules. Michael stated that once the new rules have been published, they will be immediately challenged by either the environmental lobby (for being too lax), or the cement industry (for being too harsh) or possibly both (for being too harsh and too lax at the same time). A final decision is not expected before 2014, but the cement industry hopes for a ‘business as usual’ scenario in the meantime.

Rob Davies of IPP (see right, making a point) next surveyed the landscape of AF technology for the cement industry (and some of the factors that influence usage). He gave details of wind, solar, mechanical-biological treatment (MBT), anaerobic digestion, algae-based fuel, gasification and pyrolysis, the use of engineered fuels, bio-solids and pellet and cube fuels. Rob concluded that the US has a very long way to go to catch up with the Europeans in the area of AF use and resource conservation.

Next up was an eye-opening presentation on the concept of landfill mining, by US firm Schreiber, Yonley and Associates. The company says that it can be done - and can provide fuels for cement production - but that there are a number of hurdles that would have to be cleared even before starting to dig. The most significant regulatory requirements are those under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and those under the Clean Air Act. After gaining your permits to dig (no small matter), landfill mining would consist of resource definition (as with any mine) through drilling or by using geophysical exploration, probably accelerated methane production, excavation, separation, possible beneficiation of separated fractions, stockpiling and dispatch. The economics of the process are critical and no two landfills are the same.

Rahim Vaseghi of the Islamic Azad University of Iran was the next speaker and detailed the unusual situation in Iran with regards to AF. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the government has effectively subsidised the cost of energy for both domestic and industrial consumers (alongside a number of other commodities, including bread, making Tehran one of the cheapest capital cities to live in anywhere in the world). However, due to an economic crisis and ongoing budget deficit, the government has been forced to drop its subsidy, so that industry will go from paying next-to-nothing for its energy to having to pay ‘top dollar.’ The 70Mt of cement production capacity in Iran (which is now comparable in size to America’s own domestic industry) is now very actively looking at the possibility of using AF. However, also in common with America, there is little compunction not to just put waste in a big hole in the desert. One way or another, the Iranian AF industry is about to be born.

Following these global, regional and national studies, the conference turned to look at more technical subjects. John Tiernan and Hyder Busheri of AFS Technology firstly gave an interesting paper on the use of suspension burning for tyres. Suspension forks in the precalcining chamber are used to hold the tyres in the gas flow, where they combust without adding to NOx and where the tyres’ influence on the sulphur cycle can be minimised. The technique appears to have promise for future development and industrial application.

Stefan Laux and Jeff Moscari of Praxair next detailed the benefits of using oxygen-enhanced combustion for AF. Without doubt, the approach is of great economic benefit in sold-out markets, where the use of AF can be increased with minimal reduction in production (or production can be increased in the absence of AF). If markets are not sold-out, then the use of oxygen enhanced combustion may be marginal or sub-economic, but the markets will become sold-out again, and then oxygen will be back.

David Lahaie of Evergreen Recycling then gave details of an anaerobic digestion process for pulp mill residuals and dairy waste that could provide not only methane as a burner fuel but also a solid (de-watered) fuel for use in cement kilns.

ABB’s Eduardo Gallestey then went on to explain how ‘Advanced Process Control’ not only stabilises the pyroprocessing system, but also allows the increased use of AF.

Gala Dinner and Global Fuels Awards
The Gala Dinner at the conference took place at the historic Anderson House of the Society of the Cincinnati, an opulent mansion in Washington that many of the delegates present at the conference had no idea even existed. After the dinner, the Global Fuels Awards took place, having been nominated by conference delegates. Lehigh Cement’s Union Bridge plant was awarded the ‘Alternative fuels project of the year,’ for its hard-fought-for bio-solids project. Cadence Environmental Technology was awarded the ‘Most innovative technology for alternative Fuels’ prize for its Mixing Air technology and process. Cemex was given a special prize for ‘Best electrical energy project’ for its new EURUS wind power project, while the ‘Alternative fuel company of the year’ award went to Vexor for its VEF - Vexor Engineered Fuel. The Global Fuels ‘Personality of the year’ prize was awarded to Michael Blumenthal of the Rubber Manufacturers’ Association, who, during his long career in rubber, has been responsible for - literally - moving mountains (of tyres) into cement kilns. A funky soul band entertained delegates late into the sultry night.

Second day
Early next morning, presenters from Vexor and Schnarre Engineering recounted their experiences with testing an engineered fuel (VEF) in kilns and calciners. VEF has a number of benefits and advantages over coal and its use is growing in the cement industry. Vexor points out that it would be useful to have a national AF pre-qualification system, so that an AF tested in one state would automatically be qualified for use in all other states (which is not the case at the moment).

Luc Rieffel of Walter Materials then gave details of two of its AF projects, one at Lafarge and one with Holcim. Both involved storage, handling and dosage and they both demonstrated the company’s wide capabilities in AF processing.

Loubana El Atasi of Napier University, Scotland, then spoke about Taiheiyo Cement’s use of recycling waste as alternative fuels in Japan. The company has been using alternative fuels for nearly a decade and accepts a very wide variety of materials, including shredded pachinko machines (pachinko is a kind of Japanese vertical pinball). The company also uses an ash-washing process to remove chlorides from municipal incinerator bottom ash, so that it can be used as a raw material for cement manufacture.

Well-known engineering company IKN USA was next up, to speak about the optimum means of AF use in a number of case studies. Lengthening the residence time of AF particles, to ensure complete burnout and to reduce NOx, is critical and can be accomplished with the adaptation or construction of a separate calcining chamber, or by other means.

Peter Windmoeller of Vecoplan detailed a case study of AF preparation and storage at a North American cement plant. The company’s storage facility has an inherent homogenisation function and the AF thus produced has a steadying effect on kiln conditions (and can thus increase clinker production capacity) at the same time as using AF: a win-win situation.

The hazards of using AF were pointed out by Jörg Baldauf of Thorwesten Vent GmbH: as well as self-ignition behaviours, AF can give rise to explosive atmospheres that must be planned-for. His company’s explosion venting doors and explosion and fire prevention systems are acknowledged as among the best in their field.

John O’Brien’s presentation on behalf of Plattco Corporation concentrated on the crucial considerations when selecting valves for AF projects, specifically Plattco’s double-flap airlock valves. John showed that these valves are very well-engineered and should be a strong contender for any project feeding whole tyres into the riser duct.

Continuing the theme of AF handling, Michael Gramling of WTW Engineering detailed his company’s AF solutions, including the sweeping auger for discharge of AF, the truck docking station, chain conveyors and an active bottom discharger for AF, as well as giving information on AF projects in Poland and Ireland.

Thane Browning of Aumund partnered with Dennis Odom of Holcim to present a number of different handling options for AF, including the use of the Samson surface feeder. The Samson feeder, which does not require costly excavations to install and can be easily moved around on site, has a storage capacity large enough to take a full lorry-load of AF and can be covered to provide protection from the elements and to reduce dust and odour.

Tom Lowes gave the next presentation on behalf of Cinar Ltd and co-author Gina Nance of GCC and gave a pugnacious argument for the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to help solve AF-related problems and to optimise proposed AF-related projects.

FLSmidth Inc. and FLSmidth Pfister next gave a joint presentation on experience in designing complete AF solutions to meet permitted limits. CFD was once again used to optimise particle trajectories and burnout times, in order to decrease NOx production, and details were given of an AF project at Finnsementti at Lappeenranta, in Finland.

Ed Le, originally from Vietnam but now residing in Texas, next spoke on behalf of Cadence. Ed drew the audience’s attention to the possibility of using the fuel-lean gas-reburn method to reduce NOx production, by burning traditional fuels such as gas or oil in the oxidising zone at the back of the kiln, rather than using SNCR. Ed suggested that under many economic scenarios, the fuel-lean gas-reburn method can be cheaper to use and at least as effective as SNCR.

The penultimate paper in the programme was given by Jonathan Forinton of A TEC America, who spoke about techniques for the production of engineered AF, as well as the final destination of trace elements in the pyroprocessing system, including the most topical element of the moment, mercury. His conclusion was that mercury enters the pyro-system as a trace element in fuels and raw materials (including in batteries, thermometers, electronics and light bulbs in MSW). A small portion of Hg is absorbed into the clinker, but the majority is volatilised and circulates in internal cycles until it is emitted. The main strategy to reduce Hg emissions must be to reduce inputs, including separating out sources of mercury from MSW before combustion.

The final presentation at the conference was given by Tom Box, who espoused the use of two state-of-the-art techniques (Ewan Technology and the Cooper Process) combined together to form the CEFCO process, which is said to be able to eliminate practically all pollutants and CO2 from flue gas. If it is ever proved to be commercially applicable, it might just change the world.

Awards and prize giving
At the post-conference farewell party a number of awards were presented. Vecoplan won the prize for best exhibition stand. Jörg Baldauf was adjudged to have given the third best presentation for his paper on explosion prevention and protection and Luc Rieffel the second best for his presentation on AF handling. However the winner of the ‘Best presentation award’ was Ed Le for his popular paper on the fuel-lean gas-reburn method, given in an inimitable style with great panache.

Field trip
Following the conference, around 35 delegates took part in a field trip to Lehigh Cement’s Union Bridge cement plant, to see the company’s new bio-solids handling, dosing and firing solutions (left). The bio-solids project took several years to come to fruition, having to pass over many regulatory hurdles and to pass through many permitting hoops. Delegates were delighted to be given full access to all parts of the plant.

Conclusion
The conference questionnaires revealed that the event was extremely popular with the delegates, and that they had found it to be of exceptional usefulness. The ratings for the conference were the highest for any of the Global Fuels conferences.

11th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition on alternative fuels for cement and lime 2017

2 - 3 February 2017, Barceonla, Spain

The conference has very successfully taken place in Barcelona, with 185 delegates from 37 countries attending. 

Read the conference review

View the image gallery (large gallery - may take time to load)

10th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition on alternative fuels for cement and lime 2016

22 - 23 February 2016, Prague, Czech Republic

The 10th Global CemFuels conference and exhibition on alternative fuels for the cement and Lime industry has successfully taken place in Prague, with 170 delegates, 35 exhibitors and two cement plant field trips.

Read the full conference review

View the image gallery (large gallery - may take time to load)

Video of the 10th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition 2016

9th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition on alternative fuels for cement and lime 2015

16 - 17 February 2015, Dubai, UAE

Park Hyatt Dubai, Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club

The 9th Global CemFuels Conference, Exhibition and Awards has successfully taken place.

Read the full conference review

View the image gallery (large gallery - may take time to load)

Video of the 9th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition 2015

Delegate comments 2015:

• Keep up the good work!
• Very good timing as usual.
• Congratulations
• Entire facilitation was very good!
• To become a competent leaderin the AF sector, one must attend international seminars especially Global CemFuels (Italcementi delegate)

8th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition on alternative fuels for cement and lime

24 - 25 February 2014, Vienna, Austria

The 8th Global CemFuels Conference, Exhibition, Awards and Field Trip has successfully taken place, with 190 delegates, 30 exhibitors and 27 presentations.

Read the review of the 8th Global CemFuels Conference on alternative fuels for the cement and lime industry.

View the image gallery from the 8th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition 2014 (large gallery - may take time to load)

Video of the 8th Global CemFuels Conference and Exhibition 2014

Report on Lafarge Mannersdorf from February 2014 issue of Global Cement Magazine

We thank all participants, speakers and exhibitors for making the 8th Global CemFuels Conference such a great success!

7th Global CemFuels Conference 2013

11 - 14 March 2013 - Istanbul, Turkey

Read the review of the 7th Global CemFuels Conference

View the conference image gallery

The Global CemFuels Conference and Exhibition 2013 has successfully taken place in Istanbul, Turkey, featuring two well-attended field trips to local alternative fuel-using cement plants, a major exhibition, 25 presentations, an impressive Gala Dinner, the Global CemFuels Awards and 150 delegates from 30 countries and lots of networking. The next Global CemFuels Conference will take place in Vienna in spring 2014.

There were two field trips to cement plants burning a variety of alternative fuels.

On 11 March (Monday) - trip to Nuh Cimento
View a compay profile of Nuh Cimento
Read the Global Cement Magazine plant visit to Nuh Cimento

On 14 March (Thursday) - trip to Büyükcekmece Cement.

6th Global CemFuels Conference 2012

5 - 6 March. Aachen, Germany

Read the review of the 6th Global CemFuels Conference here

This conference included a field trip to HeidelbergCement's ENCI plant

After the success of the Global Fuels Conference in North America and in Asia, the Global CemFuels event returned to Europe for the first time since 2008, and welcomed a record 150 delegates from 22 countries. European cement and lime manufacturers are currently at the vanguard of alternative fuels use and the event showcased the state-of-the-art in collection, handling, processing and firing all types of alternative fuels for cement (and lime) production, in the charming and well-located German town of Aachen.

5th Global CemFuels Conference 2011

12 - 13 April, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Read the conference review here

"The best conference I've been to in this area - outstanding"

"Excellent in every category - superb"
Holcim delegate

Including the Global Fuels Awards

Technology; News and developments; Networking

Global Fuels and Alternative Fuels for the Cement and Lime Industry: their impact on process, production, emissions and quality.

Including sessions on practical aspects of the use of biomass as a fuel in the cement and lime industry, and on methods for decreasing specific electrical consumption.

4th Global CemFuels Conference 2010

26 - 27 May, Washington DC, USA

The 4th Global Fuels Conferenc has successfully taken place in Washington DC, on 26-27 May 2010, with a field trip to the alternative fuels facilities at Union Bridge Cement Plant, with kind permission of Lehigh Cement on 28 May. Around 125 delegates attended the meeting, from 18 different countries, which was a fantastic turn-out in the depths of the 'Great Recession.' The event had the highest rating for technical information, networking and the event overall of all the Global Fuels events so far.

Co-sponsored by the US Portland Cement Association, PCA

Delegate comments 2010

"Great work - well done to the organising team".

"A well-done conference."

"I really appreciated the quality proceedings book."

"The 'meet the delegates' sessions are a great ice-breaker for networking. The presentation programme was robust - it was a great change to go to a conference and to be able to sit through a full day of applicable and relevant material."

"The food and music at the Gala Dinner was fabulous - thank you."

Sponsored by:

3rd Global CemFuels Conference 2009

15 - 16 May, Toronto, Canada

The third Global Fuels Conference successfully took place in Toronto, 15-16 June 2009, with 140 delegates and 23 countries attending, followed by a field trip to St Marys Bowmanville cement plant.

Read the conference review here

Sponsored by:

2nd Global CemFuels Conference 2008

4 - 5 February, London, UK

The second Global Fuels Conference successfully took place in London, 4-5 February 2008. Click here for a full review.

1st Global CemFuels Conference 2007

5 - 6 February, London, UK

The conference - with 144 delegates from 30 different countries - was a huge success.

Delegate comments:

'Very good conference - Congratulations!'

'Thank you very much for this perfectly well-organised conference'

'Great job as usual'

'Quality of the conference hotel was very good'

'Everything was perfect'

'The best conference I've been to in this area - outstanding'

'We really enjoyed the conference and will definitely recommend attending your future ventures'

'In general the conference was good, content interesting and worthwhile...Good networking forum