Decarbonization and clean production in China's cement industry: Strategies from the LEAP-LCA perspective

Abstract

The cement industry in China has led to 15 % of CO₂, 5.4 % of SO₂, 17.3 % of NO_x, and 20.9 % of PM₁₀ emissions. There is a lack of comprehensive models to quantify the energy consumption and pollution/carbon emission characteristics of each equipment and process in cement production, identify key emission sources in the cement industry, and provide targeted emission reduction targets for cleaner production and low-carbon development in the sector. Therefore, this study constructs a life cycle energy demand and long-range energy alternatives planning (LCA-LEAP) model of the cement industry. The system boundary encompasses five phases. Each comprising 24 equipment processes. According to the main phases and processes of carbon and pollution emission, six carbon reduction technologies are proposed, and three scenarios are formed through the combination of technical measures. Therefore, the effect of decarbonization and cleaner production in the cement industry can be quantified using different combination measures. The clinker calcination phase is the largest contributor to carbon emissions and pollutants throughout the life cycle. From the perspective of carbon emission sources, process emissions (54.02 %), fuel combustion (38.28 %), and electricity consumption (7.7 %) constitute the primary contributors to carbon emissions. After implementing combined emission reduction measures, carbon emissions per ton of cement decreased by 24.96 % - 57.39 % across the three scenarios, while reductions in SO₂, NO_x, and PM₁₀ ranged from 4.42 % to 24.68 %. Raw material substitution achieves the highest carbon reduction, exceeding 33 % in all scenarios. Meanwhile, end-of-pipe treatment technologies demonstrated the optimal pollutant reduction performance, contributing 53.07 %–61.49 % of the total emission abatement. These explored low-carbon and clean production pathways should serve as references for achieving low and net zero emissions in the cement industry.