Absolute emission

Absolute emission is the emission in a year expressed in quantity of CO 2 per year (tonnes CO 2 per year).

AFR

Alternative fuels and raw materials used for fossil fuel substitution in clinker production. AFR are derived from waste.

Alternative Fuel

a material of heating value to the combustion process sourced from waste and by products of other industries and the community, used instead of natural resources such as coal or gas.

Alternative Raw Material

waste or by-product material used as raw feed to the cement manufacturing process instead of natural materials

Annex I

Annex I to the UNFCCC lists the developed country Parties which have special responsibilities in meeting the objective of the Convention. They include the OECD countries (excl. Mexico and Korea), the countries of Eastern Europe, Russia, and the European Union. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Annex I Parties have accepted quantified emissions limitation or reduction commitments for the period 2008–12.

Baseline

Reference emission level. The term is used with different meanings in different contexts. It can denote:

• the historical emission level of an entity in a reference year,
• the projected future emission level of an entity if no extra mitigation measures are taken (business-as-usual scenario),
• the hypothetical emission level against which the climate benefits of JI and CDM projects are calculated

Benchmarking

Under benchmarking, some average emissions level, or a percentage thereof, is used as a uniform target for all emitters in the group for which the average applies.

Blast Furnace Slag

Blast furnace slag is produced as a by-product during the manufacture of iron and steel. In Australia, granulated blast furnace slag is used as a cementitious material and air-cooled blast furnace slag is used as an aggregate.

Bypass dust

Discarded dust from the bypass system dedusting unit of suspension preheater, precalciner and grate preheater kilns, consisting of fully calcined kiln feed material.

Calorific value

The heating potential of a fuel

Carbon Dust

Carbon dust used by cement kilns typically has a fuel value of about 20 MJ/kg and is comprised primarily of petroleum coke fines contaminated with aluminium, sodium and fluorine which is generated during the process of rebuilding aluminium smelter anodes.

Cement

A calcium alumina silicate with hydraulic properties that enable it to act as glue binding other materials together and used in construction.

Cementitious Material

Materials that have similar properties to cement and can be used to supplement clinker or cement, eg slags and fly ash

CKD

Discarded dust from long dry and wet kiln system dedusting units, consisting of partly calcined kiln feed material. Extraction and discarding of bypass dust and CKD serve to control excessive circulating elements input (alkali, sulfur, chlorine), particularly in cases of low-alkaline clinker production. The term “CKD“ is sometimes used to denote all dust from cement kilns, i.e. also from bypass systems.

Cleaner Production

The continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes, products, and services to increase overall efficiency, and reduce risks to humans and the environment. Cleaner Production can be applied to the processes used in any industry, to products themselves and to various services provided in society.

Climate-neutral

Burning of climate-neutral fuels does not increase the GHG stock in the atmosphere over a relevant time span. Renewable AFR are climate-neutral because the CO 2 emission is compensated by an equivalent absorption by plants.

Clinker

The artificial calcium silicate rock formed during the clinkerising process in the kiln and then ground finely to make cement.

Co-benefits of Pollution Prevention and Control

More eco-efficient processes offer co-benefits whereby pollution prevention and control of other air-borne, liquid and solid contaminants may also contribute to the reduction and elimination of persistent organic pollutants.

Concrete

A measure combination of cement, sand, water and aggregate that through the hydraulic properties of the cement bind together to achieve a building and architectural material with high compressive strength.

CORINAIR

Coordination d’information environnementale – aire

Demolition Timber

Used timber arising from construction and/or demolition projects. The cement industry is able to utilise demolition timber as an alternative fuel source lowering its greenhouse emissions and reducing the volume of material going to landfill.

Direct emissions

Direct GHG emissions are emissions from sources that are owned or operated by the reporting entity, e.g., emissions from cement kilns, company-owned vehicles, quarrying equipment, etc.

Dry process

Modern kiln technology that accepts the raw material as a fine dry powder, ready for calcining and clinkerising
Environmental Management Systems
a structured approach for determining, implementing and reviewing environmental policy through the use of a system which includes organisational structure, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources.

Fly Ash

Fly ash is a by-product of the combustion of pulverised coal in power-generation plants. it is extracted by the dust collection system as a fine particulate residue from the combustion gases before they are discharged into the atmosphere. The use of fly ash as a supplementary cementitious material is a very effective utilisation of a waste material. Fly ash is used as a supplementary input to making clinker, as well as an addition to ground clinker, thereby replacing some of the clinker required for cement production. This has the effect of reducing the thermal energy requirements at the cement plant.

GHG

The greenhouse gases listed in Annex A of the Kyoto Protocol include: carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane (CH 4), nitrous oxide (N 2O), fluorocarbons (PFCs, HFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6).

Indirect emissions

Indirect GHG emissions are emissions that are influenced by the activities of a reporting entity, but physically occur from sources owned or operated by someone else. Sources of indirect emissions, are, e.g., imported electricity, employee travel on vehicles not owned or operated by the company, product transport in vehicles not owned or controlled by the company, emissions occurring during the use of products produced by the reporting entity.

Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control

This principle aims to achieve integrated prevention and control of pollution arising from large-scale industrial activities. It lays down measures designed to prevent or, where that is not practicable, to reduce emissions in the air, water and land from these activities, including measures concerning waste, in order to achieve a high level of protection of the environment taken as a whole.

Inventory

Data base of a legal entity obtained by applying a protocol for emissions accounting and reporting.

IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a global panel of experts which provide the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC with established scientific information on climate change.

Life Cycle Analysis

A system-oriented approach estimating the environmental inventories (i.e. waste generation, emissions and discharges) and energy and resource usage associated with a product, process or operation throughout all stages of the life cycle.

Life Cycle Management

An integrated concept for managing the total life-cycle of goods and services towards more sustainable production and consumption, building on the existing procedural and analytical environmental assessment tools and integrating economic, social and environmental aspects.

MIC

Mineral components are natural or artificial mineral materials with hydraulic properties, used as a clinker or cement substitutes (e.g. blast furnace slag, fly ash, pozzolana). Gypsum can also be considered a MIC.

Parties

Parties to the UNFCCC are those countries which have signed and ratified the convention. The European Union, in addition to each of the EU member states, is also a party to the convention. By analogy, Parties to the Kyoto Protocol are those countries which have signed and ratified the Protocol (no OECD country has yet ratified the Protocol, as of August 2000).

Polluter Pays Principle

The principle to be used for allocating costs of pollution prevention and control measures to encourage rational use of scarce environmental resources and to avoid distortions in international trade and investment. This means that the polluter should bear the expenses of carrying out the above-mentioned measures decided by public authorities to ensure that the environment is in an acceptable state.

Pollution Prevention

The use of processes, practices, materials, products or energy that avoids or minimizes the creation of pollutants and waste, and reduce overall risk to human health or the environment.

Pre-calciner

Modern kiln technology that converts the raw material to clinker in 2 stages, first calcining the raw material then intensely heating the kiln charge to form calcium silicates (clinker)

Precautionary Approach

In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.

Protocol

The methodology for calculating, monitoring and reporting GHG emissions.

Resin

The Any of a number of clear or translucent substances, either from plant origin or synthetics, used in producing lacquers, adhesives, plastics, polyesters, epoxies, silicones, etc; The cement industry is able to utilse spent resins as an alternative fuel source or fuel source component.

Slag

See Blast Furnace Slag

Specific emissions

Specific emissions are emissions expressed on a per unit output basis, for instance in kg or tonnes of CO 2 per tonne of cement.

Spent cell liners

A component, high in carbon and therefore in calorific value, that is used during the refining of aluminium and therefore becomes a waste.

Sustainable Consumption

The use of services and related products which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimising the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardise the needs of future generations.

Sustainable Development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

UNFCCC

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Parties to the UNFCCC are those nations which have signed the Convention.

Wet process

kiln technology that requires the raw materials to be fed to the kiln process as a slurry for calcining and clinkerising