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Regional disparity in clinker emission factors and their potential reduction in China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 28, pages 64220–64233 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Detailed analysis the disparity and reduction potential of clinker emission factors at the provincial level is important for regional reduction policies. Using the surveyed data from 185 new suspension and pre-heater (NSP) process lines and 69 shaft kiln lines, this study firstly analyzed the disparity in emission factors based on production process, production scale, and regional distribution in 2015. We found that the emission factor of the shaft kiln process (898.24 kg/t) is higher than that of the NSP process (858.59 kg/t), and that small-scale production lines have higher emission factors than large-scale lines both for the two process. China’s clinker emission factors increase from the eastern to the western regions. Then, we estimated the reduction potential of structural adjustment, raw material substitution, and energy saving and fuel substitution in regional emission factors by 2030. The result shows that emission factors of the surveyed provinces will decrease by 101.41–174.60 kg/t compared to the values in 2015, which mainly contributes by energy saving and fuel substitution (65.98%), and raw material substitution (25.72%). And structural adjustment contributes only a small part reduction for most investigated provinces. The national average emission factor is estimated to be 715.33 kg/t in 2030, which indicates a reduction of 16.65%. These results can provide valuable feedback to government officials on the effectiveness of existing measures and also serve as a reference for future decisions on emission reduction polices.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41971265, 71991484, 41702123, 41501590, and 71633006), the Geology and Mineral Resources Survey Project (DD20190676), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No.2016YFA0602802).

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Affiliations

  1. MNR Key Laboratory of Metallogeny and Mineral Assessment, Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 100037, China

    Tianming Gao & Tao Dai

  2. Research Center for Strategy of Global Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 100037, China

    Tianming Gao & Tao Dai

  3. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, 100101, China

    Tianming Gao, Lei Shen, Jianan Zhao, Limao Wang & Litao Liu

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lei Shen, Jianan Zhao, Limao Wang & Litao Liu

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  1. Tianming Gao
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  2. Lei Shen
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  3. Jianan Zhao
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  4. Limao Wang
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  6. Tao Dai
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Contributions

Tianming Gao: conceptualization, writing draft preparation, funding acquisition. Lei Shen: software, visualization. Jianan Zhao: methodology, supervision. Limao Wang: investigation, formal analysis. Litao Liu: investigation, data curation. Tao Dai: reviewing and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tao Dai.

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Gao, ., Shen, L., Zhao, J. et al. Regional disparity in clinker emission factors and their potential reduction in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 64220–64233 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15415-y

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Keywords

  • Cement clinker
  • Emission factor
  • Reduction potential
  • Disparity
  • China