Benchmarking of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in cement production: a case study

In the pursuit of economic growth and value creation, foundation industries including cement, metals, glass, chemicals, paper, and ceramics face formidable challenges related to energy usage, emissions, and resource consumption in their manufacturing operations, all while striving to achieve ambitious Net Zero carbon and green targets. To overcome these challenges and propel sustainable progress, benchmarking emerges as a powerful ally. This study performs a benchmarking analysis of energy use and CO2 emissions for a UK cement plant as well as best available techniques (BAT) investigation to identify opportunities for performance improvement in crucial areas such as energy usage and environmental sustainability. The research utilises industrial data from a 2850 tonne per day capacity dry process cement plant. Key energy and emissions parameters, including thermal and electrical energy intensity, recovered energy and CO2 intensity, are computed per tonne of cement produced along with capacity utilisation across major process stages including raw material grinding, clinkerisation, and cement grinding. Comprehensive data sourced directly from the manufacturer is compared against literature benchmarks for global averages and best practices. Although surpassing global average values, the plant lags European best practices across all metrics, signalling room for substantial improvement. Assessment of relevant BATs for the cement industry reveals prospects to integrate vertical roller mills for cement grinding and use Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) at the clinkerisation stage. Adopting these techniques could reduce the electrical energy intensity of clinkerisation by 51% and cement grinding electrical intensity by 30%, surpassing benchmarks. While limited to a single cement plant, the study provides a standardised methodology that could be replicated across foundation industries to enable performance tracking and highlight efficiency gaps. The benchmarking approach developed can guide the implementation of energy conservation measures and the adoption of best practices by the cement industry to reduce its carbon footprint.