Displaying items by tag: Dust

South Africa: PPC says it plans to shut the kiln at its Port Elizabeth cement plant ahead of stricter requirements to the country’s emission standards. It is shutting down the kiln to meet new standards for NO₂ and dust emissions on 1 April 2020, according to Reuters. Around 30 jobs are expected to be affected by the shutdown.

The cement producer’s revenue rose slightly year-on-year to US$736m in its financial year to 31 March 2019. Its profit nearly quadrupled to US$10.2m. Its cement sales volumes also rose slightly to 5.9Mt. Sales and earnings fell in South Africa due to a poor market but they grew elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, notably in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There was a glimmer of good news visible through the Delhi smog this week with the launch of a market-based emissions trading scheme (ETS) for particulate matter (PM). A pilot has started at Surat in Gujarat. The scheme will apply to 350 industries in the locality and it will be scrutinised for wider rollout in the country.

China robustly started to tackle its industrial PM emitters a few years ago although the work remains on-going. In its wake India has increasingly made the wrong sort of headlines with horrifically high dust emissions. Delhi, for example, reportedly had PM2.5 emissions of over 440µg/m³ in January 2019. To give this some context, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) annual upper guideline figure for safe human exposure is 10µg/m³. Research by the Financial Times newspaper suggested that more than 40% of the Indian population is subject to annual PM2.5 emissions of over 50µg/m³.

Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) research reckons that if India were able to meet its national PM2.5 standard of 40µg/m³ then its population would live 1.8 years longer or 4.3 years longer if it met the WHO guideline level. The current situation is an unnecessary tragedy. In strictly structural terms the country’s productivity is being thrown away by damaging the health of its workforce. For comparison amongst other major cement producing countries, AQLI data placed China’s PM2.5 emissions at 39µg/m³, Indonesia at 22µg/m³, Vietnam at 20µg/m³ the US at 9µg/m³. These figures cover all industries in different conditions and climates. If the US can do it, why not the others?

Back on trading schemes, the famous ETS at the moment is the European one for CO₂ emissions. Similar schemes are slowly appearing around the world as governments look at what the European Union (EU) did right and wrong. For example, South Africa started up a carbon tax in early June 2019. Yet as the supporting documents by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) point out there have been a variety of ETS systems’ over the years. The US’s Acid Rain Program is generally seen to have achieved significant reductions in SO2 and NOx emissions although the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) has continued this work. Chile even ran its own PM ETS in the 1990s although the outcomes have been disputed.

One problem with a CO₂ ETS, and anthropomorphic or man-made climate change in general, is that it is intangible. Even if sea levels deluge major coastal cities, rising mean temperatures reduce agricultural yields and human populations contract sharply, people will still be arguing over the research and the causes. The beauty of a PM ETS is that if it works you can literally see and feel the results. A famous example here is the UK’s Clean Air Act in the 1950s that banished the fog/smog that London used to be famous for.

The Gujarat PM ETS is a pilot, the results of which will be considered by researchers from a number of US-based universities and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. Explicitly, the study plans to use a randomised control trial to compares its results against the command and control style approach used in the rest of the country. On the cement-side various Indian news stories have emerged as state pollution boards have increasingly started fining producers for emission limit breaches. Clearly the government is taking dust emissions seriously. Reduction is long overdue.

Italy: The Buzzi Unicem cement plant in Monselice, Padua has come under fire from concerned locals following an emission of dust on 25 March 2019. Local press reported that the plant failed to notify residents following an emission of raw meal for at least three hours and not until plant staff had been telephoned by the media.

The plant uses marl and supplementary raw materials, the alleged unclear origins of which have particularly animated local environmentalists. Environment Councilor and mayoral candidate Gianni Mamprin said, “They say it’s just dust, but I don’t trust them. A plant of this type is incompatible with the tourism project that we want to implement in Monselice. Above all, Article 19 of the Environmental Plan of the Colli Park states that (it) is an incompatible plant in a natural park. If I am elected mayor of Monselice, I will actively commit to the closure of this unhealthy plant, because this territory does not need a factory that continually creates anxieties and doubts for citizens.”

Thailand: Uttama Savanayana, the Industry Minister, has ordered agencies under the ministry’s control to set tighter dust emission standards for factories in Bangkok. He also intends to set up a working group to look at the issue, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper. Savanayana wants factories around the country, including cement plants, to be inspected. Legal action has been recommended for any sites that are exceeding the legal limits.

Spain: The Department of the Environment has fined Cemex España Euro52,000 for emissions from two of its limestone and marl quarries in Valencia. The cement producer is being penalised for dust emissions from the sites, according to the El Mercantil Valenciano newspaper.

India: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has penalised four cement producers in Tamil Nadu for failing to follow emission standards. Chettinad Cement’s plants at Puliyur and Karikkali, Tamil Nadu Cements’ plant at Alangulam, Dalmia Cements’ plant at Salmiapuram and ACC’s plant at Coimbatore have been accused by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for not complying with emission standards for particulate matter, SO_x and NO_x, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. ACC and Dalmia Cements have been fined around US$420/day since 31 August 2018, Chettinad Cement has been fined around US$5000 for a 12 day delay in compliance and Tamil Nadu Cements has been fined over US$23,000 for a delay of 55 days.

Spain: The regional government of Andalucia has fined Cementos Cosmos’ Córdoba plant Euro3000 for dust emissions in September 2016. The local environmental board criticised the subsidiary of Brazil’s Votorantim for only reporting the incident after the board contacted the plant about a dust cloud, according to the ABC newspaper. However, the fine was small because the dust pollution had no effects on the environment or local residents.

Ireland: Irish Cement has been fined Euro4000 for dust emissions in December 2017. The subsidiary of CRH pleaded guilty at Limerick District Court to breaking the terms of the industrial licence at its plant in Limerick in early December 2017, according to the Irish Times newspaper. The cement producer reportedly unsuccessfully attempted to clear a build-up of dust in the plant’s kiln. A ‘significant’ amount of dust polluted the local neighbourhood subsequently leading to 21 complaints to the Environment Protection Agency. The cement producer was fined previously in mid-2018 for dust emissions occurred in April and May 2017.

Fiji: The Department of Environment has issued a Stop Work Notice to Pacific Cement’s Lami plant due to complaints about dust emissions. The notice was issued following a visit by Sandeep Singh, the Director of Environment, to the unit, according to the Fiji Sun newspaper. The work orders are normally temporary to give industries time to implement mitigation measures.

Nouzab Fareed, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Pacific Cement’s parent company Fijian Holdings, acknowledged that the plant emitted dust ‘sometimes.’ However, he pointed out that the site imports over 0.1Mt/yr of clinker and that this comes from another plant.

Pakistan: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has shut one of Kohat Cement’s production lines for emitting too much dust, following local complaints. The EPA visited the company’s plant and found that Line A at the unit was emitting particulate matter ‘much’ above legal limits, according to the Balochistan Times. The other two lines at the plant were unaffected.