Reducing Cement Sector Emissions
There is a need to study the feasibility of alternate low-carbon material options, substituting materials, and design & construction optimization strategies in the Indian construction industry. There is also a need for the development of standards, creating awareness among the user community for quicker adoption, and creating an ecosystem for faster replication. This report discusses several possible measures to mitigate the emissions from the Indian cement industry.
Cement is the second most consumed commodity after water across the globe and is the most important construction material. In India, in the year 2019, around 337 million tons of cement was produced. The housing sector (65%), which includes residential flats, individual flats, and rural housing, is the highest consumer of cement among all the other sectors. Infrastructure development (25%), which includes, roads, railways, airports, ship ports etc.) is the second-largest contributor in the cement demand followed by commercial and industrial construction (10%). The demand of cement in India is expected to grow, driven by growth in the real estate sector and infrastructure development in the coming decades. The government schemes like the Smart city mission, Housing for all, Bharatmala Pariyojana, and others will drive the consumption of cement in the future. Unfortunately, the process of producing and consuming cement is highly unsustainable as it uses limestone (a rare earth material) as a raw product and has a high GHG emitting process. This industry alone is responsible for approximately 8% of the total GHG emissions at the national level. The report highlights the various sustainable production practices like the use of alternate low carbon cements (like limestone calcined clay cement, composite cements, geopolymer binders, belite rich cements and other novel cements) and use of Secondary Cementitious Materials (SCMs) like fly ash, slag pond ash, fillers (low-grade limestone) etc. during the final stages of producing cement. The report also highlights different sustainable consumption practices, by the adoption of which, the consumption of cement can be reduced as compared to the conventional practices. These practices include, voided concrete slab technology, confined masonry and use of timber in the construction of buildings and utilization of C&D waste (recycle and reuse). All the measures mentioned above are discussed in detail in the report. The adoption of these measures would ensure sustainable practices in the Indian cement Industry and would lead to mitigating GHG emissions from this Industrial sub-sector.
