Analysis of CO_2 mitigation policies in the Chinese cement industry

摘要

The cement industry is one of the major energy consumingand CO_2 emitting sectors in China. In 2010, 1,868 million tonsof cement was produced, which accounted for 56.1 % of theworld's total cement production.China's 11th Five-Year Plan (FYP), which spanned the years2006–2010, included policy measures for CO_2 emission abatementin cement production. Based on the main governmentalframework of CO_2 mitigation policies at national level in thecement sector, key policies and technologies used during thisperiod are identified and their effects on CO_2 reduction are assessed.This paper calculates the reduction of CO_2 emissionsrelated to four main policies and technologies for efficient cementproduction in both the 11th and the 12th FYP (2011–2015)with 2005 as a reference year. The four main policies are closingoutdated facilities, waste heat recovery, substitution for clinkerproduction and other technologies aimed at increasing energyefficiency. Due to these measures, we estimate that a total CO_2emission reduction during the 11th FYP of 397 million tonswas saved, which is considerably different to 185.75 milliontons estimated by Zeng (2008) and 303 million tons by theNational Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) byusing different calculation methods. Of the four technologies,the 4th group of energy efficiency increasing techniques was themost important policy and avoided the largest amount of CO_2emissions. Previous energy intensity reduction was mainly duemainly to the closing outdated facilities and energy efficiencyimprovements. Based on the assessment of technology performance,it appears that there is still a large emission reductionpotential in cement production processes. This paper calculatesthe potential for the 12th FYP period (2011–2015) based on thefour aforementioned policy measures. The result is then comparedto the Chinese Government targets in the 12th FYP andpromising future CO_2 mitigation policies and technologies areproposed, such as the use of alternative energy.