Innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions, lessen impact to air quality
As one of the most pressing environmental problems facing the world today, air pollution affects many urban areas globally, including major cities in Vietnam where poor air quality in the last few years have reached alarming levels.
The cement industry is among the major sources of outdoor air pollution globally, contributing to about 7 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. Cement, however, is a vital resource for Vietnam; the country is among the world’s top cement producers and exporters. Locally, cement remains in high demand due to increasing residential construction, strong public works, and booming tourism-related infrastructure development.
Recognizing how important the environmental issue of air pollution is, the Vietnam government has developed an action plan to reduce its overall Green House Gas (GHG) emissions by 164 million tons up to 2030. But given how cement is a vital product for Vietnam’s economic development, it is imperative to find solutions that can support the country’s goals to reduce its GHG emissions while being able to sustainably manufacture this very valuable resource.
Towards this end, leading technology group thyssenkrupp, through its Industrial Solutions business in Vietnam, has been developing and offering innovative solutions to support cement producers in ensuring sustainable production with reduced environmental impact.
“Having been present in Vietnam for nearly 50 years now, our approach is not only to change but to revolutionize the country’s cement industry and to develop it towards a green and more environmentally friendly future,” said Lukas Schoeneck, CEO Industrial Solutions Vietnam, who further talked about the company’s initiative for green cement production called #grey2green.
“There are three major pillars of focus for the company’s work towards sustainable cement production,” outlined Mr. Schoeneck. “These are (1) the significant reduction of emissions like carbon dioxide (CO2) by increasing the use of activated clays instead of clinker produced in the traditional method, (2) the saving of the national fossil fuels reserves like coal by significantly replacing them with alternative fuels like industrial or municipal waste, and (3) the digital transformation of the cement industry in order to make production plants smarter and more efficient.”
thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions’ #grey2green initiative targets to respond to the pain points in the cement production process, which is both resource and energy intensive as well as entails great numbers of emissions. thyssenkrupp’s green polysius® cement plant portfolio of solutions, comprised of polysius® carbon neutrality, polysius® NOx reduction, polysius® fuel substitution, and polysius® activated clay, were developed to help manufacturers reduce the use of raw materials, water, fuels, coal and gas, as well as the impact of NOx, NH3, CO2 and most other organic compounds during the cement production process.
Innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions, lessen impact to air quality
thyssenkrupp has recently implemented these solutions in other parts of the world to great success. The company helped build the first industrial-scale flash calciner plant in Cameroon for low CO2 cement production with activated clay; technology from thyssenkrupp helped the plant reduce its carbon dioxide emissions in cement production by up to 40 percent. On the other hand, TPI Polene Public Company Limited (TPIPL) – one of the largest cement producers in Thailand, is using thyssenkrupp’s prepol Step Combustor technology for three of its kiln lines, allowing thermal use from municipal solid waste as a replacement of coal in cement production.
According to Mr. Schoeneck, with the issue of environmental protection increasing across the society and industries in Vietnam, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions and particularly its #grey2green initiative has gained great interest among local cement producers.
“A big majority of the cement producers in Vietnam understand their responsibility and we are here to help them find individual solutions and give guidance in the process,” said Mr. Schoeneck. “The Vietnam government has determined to unconditionally reduce CO2 production by 8% until 2030, and knowing that the support and application of new technologies can bring that the target even higher, we have been offering our low carbon cement type solutions to the Vietnamese cement industry to help it fulfil its targets and protect the environment.”
Mr. Schoeneck also underscored how these solutions have even farther-reaching benefits. “One of our technically most fascinating solutions is to capture the released CO2 to reuse it for the chemical industry. Our Carbon2Chem technology allows us to use the CO2 to produce fertilizers which help Vietnam feed the population,” noted Mr. Schoeneck. “This is certainly a win-win situation for the industry and the environment, and we constantly develop new ideas under the #grey2green umbrella.”
Beyond the environmental aspect, thyssenkrupp also understands the immediate business needs of its clients. “For the Industrial Solutions unit, we also aim to support them to achieve their goals of reducing their environmental impact via the application of our solutions while having decreased operational costs and improving their competitiveness,” said Mr. Schoeneck.
By Thao Linh
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