RBI recommends technology for India’s cement industry to reduce carbon emissions

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.