Egypt: manufacturers encouraged to increase AF use

The Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade, Tarek Qabil, announced that the industry has completed a study on the use on alternative fuel sources to fossil fuels in Egyptian cement plants. Mr Qabil said that the ministry plans to boost cement factories’ reliance on alternative fuel sources such as coal by 6.4-30 per cent within the next 5-10 years.

He went on to say that the total coal needs of the country’s cement plants are expected to reach 9.7Mta by 2025. Increasing the use of alternative fuel sources will save US$50m annually by 2015 as well as reduce the current CO₂ emissions from cement factories.

The study was conducted by the Ministry of Industry, International Finance Corporation, the Ministry of Environment and the Cement Division of the Building Materials Chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries and looked at data from 14 cement plants, which represent 75 per cent of the cement industry in Egypt.