Under tightening emission legislation, it may be time to consider new technologies and products to remain in compliance. Denmark-based Umicore offers a variety of catalysts for the removal of NOx, NH3, dioxins, CO and various volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Globally several cement plants are today operating with a Umicore catalyst. This article presents selected case stories from some of the company’s catalyst installations in cement plants. By Anders Rooma Nielsen, Umicore, Denmark.

Figure 1: Umicore’s DNX® SCR catalyst series, shown in steel encasing

NOx reduction technologies are well-known throughout the cement industry. Some plants use different primary methods such as low-NOx burners and staged combustion, often combined with secondary methods such as SNCR or SCR technologies. These NOx reduction methods are all well-proven. SCR technology is widely accepted as being the most efficient NOx removal method, able to achieve very high NOx removal efficiencies of above 95 per cent.

In recent years the US and European cement industries have also experienced demand for removal of other emissions such as CO and VOCs. This may call for new  and yet less well-known solutions.