Displaying items by tag: agricultural waste

Nigeria: Dangote Cement plans to upgrade its Ibese cement plant in order to use biofuels in its cement production. The Nigerian Guardian newspaper has reported that the plant will receive a pneumatic feeding system for the kiln of its Line 2. Dangote Cement plans to use palm kernel shells, rice husks, coconut shells and sugarcane bagasse, along with sawdust. The producer says that this will reduce its CO₂ emissions by 5.2% and help to divert local agricultural waste from incineration.

Project head Sumaila Muhammed said “We carried out alternative fuel resource mapping within our host communities. We decided to collect these wastes and convert them into valuable energy resources as smokeless, renewable biofuel."

Canada: Lehigh Cement has initiated the administrative process to begin the use of alternative fuels (AF) in cement production at its Picton cement plant in Ontario. Under the company’s plans, the plant will substitute 200t/day of AF for coal and petcoke at the plant. Possible AF sources include excess seed from farm feed production in Ontario. The Picton cement plant previously reduced its CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement by 20% through assorted sustainability initiatives.

Picton plant manager Carsten Schraeder said that the move will support Canada’s 2030 emission reduction plan, and also take pressure off landfill sites.

India: The Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) is considering using agricultural biomass as an alternative fuel. It says it is willing to offer support to different state governments to help find a way of delivering biomass directly from fields to cement producers, according to the Times of India newspaper. The CMA says it is offering a solution to the dust pollution caused by crop burning. However, the industry needs to resolves problems with transportation and seasonality. The CMA hopes to contact local governments and organisations to find a solution to these issues in 2019.

Egypt: Khaled Fahmy, the Minister of Environment, has opened a new production line at Arabian Cement Company’s Ain Sokhna plant in Suez. The line uses FLSmidth’s Hotdisc combustion device to allow it to use high levels of alternative fuels, according to the Watani newspaper. The opening was attended by Muhammad Shehab Abdel-Wahab, chief executive of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Nahed Youssef, head of waste management organisation, as well as a number of representatives of the financiers, and director of the European Investment Bank.

In 2015 Arabian Cement Company commissioned another Hotdisc installation. At the time is said it had a designed fuel mix of 70% coal and 30% alternative fuels, using a mixture of agricultural wastes, municipal sludge, and refuse-derived fuel (RDF).

Uganda: Geocycle has officially launched its presence in Uganda. The waste management subsidiary of LafargeHolcim will collect and burn waste fuels in the kilns of local cement producer Hima Cement, according to the Daily Monitor newspaper. At present Geocycle coordinates the management and use of agricultural waste fuels for Hima Cement, including coffee husks, rice husks, bagasse, palm kernels and sawdust. It has also started working with the Fort Portal Municipality to source municipal waste streams.