Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology for waste heat recovery is a widely-proven technology for cement factories. A new tailored, turnkey ORC unit for Italian producer Cementi Rossi will feed about 30 per cent of its Pederobba plant’s needs, with higher efficiency, improved safety and lower environmental impact in mind. By Exergy, Italy.
According to the latest International Energy Agency (IEA) reports, due to rapidly-growing urbanisation and global population, cement demand is set to increase by between 12-23 per cent by 2050 (see Figure 1). As a result, CO2 emissions will increase by about four per cent within the same timeframe. Despite technological innovations, the cement sector is still the third-largest industrial energy consumer worldwide, responsible for seven per cent of global industrial energy use. Cement manufacturing also has the second-largest share of total direct industrial CO2 emissions worldwide (IEA, Technology Roadmap – Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry, 2018).
