Cement Plants Used For Waste Disposal or Processing
Due to the high temperatures inside cement kilns, combined with the oxidizing (oxygen-rich) atmosphere and long residence times, cement kilns are used as a processing option for various types of waste streams: indeed, they efficiently destroy many hazardous organic compounds. The waste streams also often contain combustible materials which allow the substitution of part of the fossil fuel normally used in the process.
Waste materials used in cement kilns as a fuel supplement:
- Car and truck tires – steel belts are easily tolerated in the kilns
- Paint sludge from automobile industries
- Waste solvents and lubricants
- Meat and bone meal - slaughterhouse waste due to bovine spongiform encephalopathy contamination concerns
- Waste plastics
- Sewage sludge
- Rice hulls
- Sugarcane waste
- Used wooden railroad ties (railway sleepers)
- Spent Cell Liner (SCL) from the aluminium smelting industry (also called Spent Pot Liner or SPL)
Portland cement manufacture also has the potential to benefit from using industrial by-products from the waste-stream. These include in particular:
- Slag
- Fly ash (from power plants)
- Silica fume (from steel mills)
- Synthetic gypsum (from desulfurisation)
Read more about this topic: Portland Cement
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