Against the backdrop of the state's vigorous advocacy and the successive introduction of ecological environment rectification policies, and in the face of the slogan of "wanting green mountains and clear waters, and even more so blue skies and white clouds," the cement industry is undoubtedly facing unprecedented pressure for environmental governance. How cement enterprises can actively explore and practice to achieve ultra-low emissions has become a hot topic of discussion. Zhang Zhenkun, Technical Director of Asia Cement (China), shared his views on ultra-low emissions in the cement industry with the Construction Headline News Network: ultra-low emissions are not out of reach, but an inevitable and irreversible trend.

Zhang Zhenkun stated that, on the one hand, the current national and local governments are gradually formulating strict pollutant emission standards based on the characteristics of the cement industry. From the actual situation of the cement industry itself, cement enterprises still have room for improvement in nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and dust emissions, and the ultra-low emission target is not out of reach, which indicates that the implementation of ultra-low emissions in the cement industry will be the general trend.

On the other hand, ultra-low emissions are conducive to the healthy development of the cement industry. In the reform of advancing ultra-low emissions, cement enterprises will reduce pollutant emissions, and operating costs such as environmental protection taxes will decline accordingly. Moreover, in this process, enterprises have made outstanding contributions to the environmental protection cause of the country and society, reflecting their social responsibility.

Therefore, in summary, Zhang Zhenkun believes that ultra-low emissions are an inevitable and irreversible trend, and as a member of the cement industry, Asia Cement also placed improving the environmental protection level of its production lines in a key position in enterprise development at an early stage.

According to Zhang Zhenkun, Asia Cement has accumulated more than 60 years of experience in producing high-quality cement, introduced advanced production technologies and environmental protection equipment from around the world, and taken the lead in deeply researching and building 12 large-scale short rotary kiln cement production lines. With carefully designed supporting production processes, green mine systems, and efficient and refined management, its pollutant emission values are far below national standards.

In terms of ultra-low emissions, the short kilns are equipped with low-nitrogen burners at the kiln head, low-nitrogen calciner, and pulverized coal staged combustion equipment, which can achieve 100% low-nitrogen pulverized coal combustion denitrification. Without injecting ammonia water, NOx at the kiln tail can be controlled below 400 mg/m3. With a small amount of ammonia water injected into the SNCR system, the ultra-low emission target of NOx below 100 mg/m3 can be achieved. At present, SCR technology has been widely used in thermal power and other industries due to its high nitrogen oxide removal efficiency, thus attracting attention from the cement industry. In this regard, Zhang Zhenkun explained that the working conditions of cement production lines are complex, and factors such as dust and humidity can cause problems such as catalyst effectiveness attenuation in SCR. In addition, the investment and maintenance costs of SCR are relatively high, and under current conditions, large-scale promotion in the cement industry faces difficulties. SNCR cannot meet increasingly stringent environmental protection requirements, and problems such as ammonia slip and high ammonia water prices also hinder the development of SNCR. "Low-nitrogen pulverized coal denitrification may be a trend for achieving ultra-low emissions."