RBI recommends technology for India’s cement industry to reduce carbon emissions
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RBI recommends technology for India’s cement industry to reduce carbon emissions
Subject: Environment
Section: Climate Change
Context- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a recent report, advocated the adoption of technology, such as carbon capture, to contribute to India’s net-zero carbon emission target. It acknowledged that India’s cement sector has already made progress in reducing carbon emission targets.
Concept-
- India is the world’s second-largest cement producer and consumer, after China.
- On a global level, cement production contributes around eight percent of the anthropogenic CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions.
- The Indian cement industry is among the most energy and carbon-efficient of cement industries globally and has the lowest carbon footprint on account of early and voluntary actions.
- Recent developments in green technologies, particularly related to reverse calcination, offer “exciting opportunities” for the cement sector.
- reverse calcination could sequester up to five percent of cement’s emissions at present, which could be extended to 30 percent with the improvement in technology.
- Dalmia Cement was the first cement group to commit to becoming carbon negative on account of a circular economy, energy efficiency, non-fossil power generation, electric mobility, use of green hydrogen, sustainable biomass use as a fuel and carbon capture and utilisation
About Calcination:
- Calcination is a thermo-chemical process, widely used in the cement industry, where limestone is converted by thermal decomposition into lime CaO and carbon dioxide CO2.
- Calcination is done to bring about some change in the substance physical or chemical constitution.
- During calcination, solids are heated at high temperatures.
- This is done to mainly remove volatile substances, water or oxidize the substance. This process is also sometimes described as a purification
Reverse Calcination:
- It proposes the introduction of calcium hydroxide at the calcination phase, when high temperatures split limestone raw feed into CO2 gas and calcium oxide.
- It has the potential to sequester CO2 and recreate limestone in a continuous loop.
