Fundamental changes are taking place in the US cement industry with regards to emissions control regulations or Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) which will lay the foundations of standards in the next century. With such complex legal requirements now being placed on US cement producers it is essential that they are fully aware how to become MACT compliant. DR Uhr of Ducon Technologies Inc, USA, explains.
The consequences of MACT regulatory change for the US cement industry will be understood better in the next few years. Their influence in the global market place is a longer-term future consequence that cannot yet be measured. For now, action is needed to comply with the regulations at home, while producers, suppliers and end-users alike struggle to understand the secondary and tertiary changes to which they must adapt, associated with impacts to various sectors of their customer base and their supply chain.
Among these groups, providers of technology for air pollution control are already seeing new business opportunities from competitors in the global cement market place. The US cement companies are simultaneously challenging the regulations and inquiring about the best-available/maximum achievable control technology from the pool of existing technologies that are already validated, or which have the potential to be validated in the shortest time. The outstanding question is: are technologies available to allow these plants to meet regulated emission limits and can these technologies be implemented practically and economically at older plants, or will MACT regulations cause closure of plants and reduction of US cement production?
