A review of energy efficiency and CO<inf>2</inf> emissions in the US cement industry

Abstract

Anthropogenic emissions of CO 2 account for one third of the entire CO 2 emissions across the world. Cement industry is considered to be one of the major sources of industrial CO 2 emissions which are about 1.8 Gt/y. These emissions are produced both from fuel combustion and cement production process. Coal as one the major fuels used widely by US cement industry, is considered to be a major source of CO 2 emissions. CO 2 emissions reduction can be achieved by either choosing an appropriate fuel processing technologies or capturing it post-processing from flue gas. This paper is a brief review of CO 2 emissions and their associated sources in the US cement industry. Conventional and modern approaches of increasing energy efficiency in the cement production process as well as CO 2 capture methodologies were studied. Effect of CCS (Carbon Capture and Sequestration) methods integration to the cement plant costs was also reviewed.