b.Reduction of CO2 emission

Sustainable development of the cement and construction industry about environmental impact is one of the biggest challenges. The production of one ton of Portland cement release approximately one ton of CO2 into the atmosphere in the manufacturing process. The cement industry contributes about 5% of the total atmospheric CO2 emissions globally. As a matter, of fact, we are now concerned by the environmental impact of civil engineering structures. Judicious use of those cementitious materials as a partial replacement of cement can result from a significant result reduction of the CO2 footprint of concrete structures. Most of the CO2 emissions and energy use in the cement industry are related to the production of the clinker; 63% of the CO2 emitted during cement production comes from the calcination process, while the rest (37%) is produced during the combustion of fossil fuels to feed the calcination process.

c.Economic advantages

The production of cement is energy-intensive, depends on the availability of raw materials near the cement manufacturing area and natural disturbances due to the extraction of raw materials. The process is mainly classified into three, the raw material preparation process, the clinker burning process, and the finish grinding process. Of all these processes, clinker burning is the most energy-intensive process, accounting for about more than 97.3% of the fuel consumed and about 30% of the electric power consumption, and the rest about 40% of the electric power is consumed by the finish grinding process and about 30% by the raw material preparation. Fuel costs are a large part of the manufacturing cost of the cement industry, making cement plants have aggressive energy consumption. Moreover, the clinker burning process as shown above takes more than 97% of the fuel consumption, implying that it is the most expensive part of cement production.
