GCI
TECH NOTES©
Volume
12, Number 5
A Gossman Consulting, Inc.
Publication
May 2007
For nearly 30 years the Portland
cement industry has pursued
a growing list of alternate fuels saving natural resources, reducing
costs,
decreasing emissions, decreasing the need for landfills and other
disposal options
and decreasing the CO2 footprint of emissions. I have personally been
involved
in working on a wide variety of these projects and thought that it
might be
helpful to have a master list of alternative fuels that have been are
or are
considered usable in cement kilns. I hope to come back and update this
list
from time to time so please email me with any more that I may have
missed.
Waste solvents and other chemical industry wastes
Waste oils and petroleum wastes
Solid hazardous waste fuel
Ship oil waste (Basel Convention waste)
Tar balls from oil ships
Diaper manufacturing waste
Plastic waste from pharmaceutical packaging
Waste from roof shingles and tar paper
Spent aluminum potliner – treated and untreated
Aluminum anode waste
Paper pulp sludge
Glycerin from biodiesel production
Contaminated soils
Palm kernel shells
Rice kernel shells
Biosolids – from sewage sludge
Shredded woody wastes and sawdust
Used railroad ties
Rendering wastes and other animal processing wastes
Waste cooking oils
Landfill gases
Filter cake – from oily waters and other organic containing cleanups
Auto fluff
Electronic disassembly wastes
Buffer pads – from polishing
Carpet scraps – pre can post consumer
Plastic shred from recycling wire
Off specification spirits (alcoholic beverages)
Hospital wastes
Tires – whole and shredded
Refuse derived fuels – and organic containing streams from recycling household refuse
Battery cases
Tar sands
Oil shale
Please note that not all these fuels are suitable for all cement kilns. Each kiln and its unique process and chemistry must be evaluated to match appropriate fuels with kilns. Further, rigorous waste fuel quality control programs are needed to safely handle many of the above materials. There are numerous other resources at the gcisolutions web site that discuss these issues in more detail. Please call me at 847-683-4188 if you have any questions.