Seminars & Workshops
ECRA's seminar programme provides a range of pan-European seminars and workshops covering the issues of major importance to the cement industry.
Seminars & Workshops
ECRA's seminar programme provides a range of pan-European seminars and workshops covering the issues of major importance to the cement industry.
Modern exhaust gas cleaning systems including CO₂ processing
The legal requirements to reduce emissions from cement plants challenge the cement industry to continuously improve its high level of environmental protection. With the entry into force of the revised European Industrial Emissions Directive and the Air Quality Directive, there is a strong focus on the further reduction of industrial emissions. In addition, emerging decarbonisation technologies require the adaptation or introduction of new technologies to clean exhaust gas streams from cement plants. Also, further emission reduction is an ongoing issue, particularly in relation to the legal framework that applies when alternative fuels/raw materials are used.
Sustainability reporting in the cement sector
With the revision of the EU Accounting Directive comes the obligation for many companies to integrate a comprehensive machine-readable sustainability report into their management report. The basis for this reporting are several standards developed by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) which cover general reporting requirements as well as environmental, social and governmental sustainability aspects. To determine what exactly a company needs to include in its report a materiality assessment is necessary. Beyond that there is also an obligation to report on so called “taxonomy-compliant“ turnover, CAPEX and OPEX according to the respective EU Taxonomy Regulation. By this means, the EU Commission intends to redirect financial flows into green economic sectors. The seminar will give an overview of the legal basis and reporting standards, the materiality assessment and examples of their application in the cement sector.
Greenhouse gas monitoring and reporting in the cement sector
The reporting of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission reductions and accounting in emission trading schemes ask for specific monitoring and reporting (M&R) procedures. Different international reporting systems exist in parallel. Additional company internal reporting systems may be already established. In the light of the application of carbon capture technologies new questions are to be solved regarding the CO₂ accounting along the CCUS value chain. The EU has started to develop corresponding legislation, updating the EU ETS Monitoring and Reporting Regulation, Renewable Energy Directive, definition of synthetic renewable and recycled fuels (RFNBO, RCF), etc., with some risk of conflict between accounting approaches. At the same time the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) is updating its Cement CO₂ and Energy Protocol, in order to address needs for integrating use of new technologies in cement plants with GHG reporting. The seminar will give an overview of current developments and the existing M&R approaches and examples of their application in the cement sector.
Latest developments in carbon capture technologies in the cement industry
The reduction of CO₂ emissions from industrial processes is identified as a pivotal challenge for attaining carbon neutrality in the construction sector. It is now widely acknowledged that the abatement of process-related CO₂ emissions will necessitate the capture and subsequent sequestration or utilisation of CO₂ from cement plants. The seminar will present the latest advances in carbon capture technology for use in cement plants, including strategies to reduce the supplementary energy requirements through effective heat integration. The presentation will commence with an overview of the initial lessons learned from carbon capture projects that are currently operational, those that are under construction, and those that are still in the planning phase. The seminar will facilitate comprehension of the requisite conditions for the capture application, which must be adapted to the specific characteristics of each plant site. ECRA draws upon its own experience in CCUS research and benefits from its extensive network of connections within the research community and amongst its active members. This enables the invitation of expert speakers representing internationally acknowledged research projects or from leading suppliers of gas and equipment.
CO₂ specification
New technologies have been developed over the years to help meet Europe's climate change targets. CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) and CCU (Carbon Capture Utilisation) are topics that have become very important for the cement industry in a very short time. Requirements for the composition of CO₂ transported by ship, train or pipeline are of paramount importance for the safety of the transport systems and the phase behaviour of the CO₂. At the same time, these requirements determine the cost of the purification steps in the upstream chain. How to measure CO₂ flow and composition in transport systems is another issue that will be addressed during the seminar.
Modern cement grinding
Since the major goal of all cement producers is to decrease the clinker factor and with that new materials are introduced, grinding becomes more and more important in the cement production process. The seminar will give an overview about further developed established technologies but also new approaches in regards to comminution equipment. The separate ultra fine grinding becomes more important in the comminution world and shows first results from installations. Furthermore, this approach allows to design unusual particle size distributions to use the full hydraulic potential of all kind of materials. Beside cement grinding the seminar will deal also with further developed raw grinding shops and optimised raw meal properties which will reduce the thermal energy consumption in the clinker burning process.
State-of-the-Art Calciner Technology
Virtually all new kiln installations in the cement industry designed worldwide today are equipped with precalcining technology. Precalciners provide particular flexibility, as NOₓ and CO emissions are influenced by calciner operation, and alternative fuels can be fed at several firing places at different temperature levels. In addition to economic criteria, physical criteria (e.g. particle size) and chemical criteria (e.g. chlorine, sulphur, alkali and phosphate content) play a decisive role in the selection of alternative fuels as they can have an impact on the kiln operation and emissions. The seminar will give an overview of the current state-of-the-art of calciner designs, the use of alternative fuels, and the possibilities of controlling NOₓ and CO emissions by fuel, air or meal staging. Current state of the art thermal pre-treatment systems for the burning or gasification of alternative fuels will also be presented.
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