'Green' concrete commitment

"Our business strategy is to conduct ‘green’ manufacturing and also achieve sustainable growth without having an adverse impact on communities and the environment through the following actions: reduce the use of electricity as the primary source of energy, research new innovations, use sludge, co-precess and sort industrial waste to produce alternative fuel, achieve zero waste to landfills and increase alternative energy use to 25 per cent of our total energy by 2020, five years from now," said Amornsak Torot, the company’s vice president of its Saraburi operations.

The company has invested Bt733 million since 2010 to develop its alternative fuel resources to produce 137,312 tonnes of cement a year, which is equivalent to 151,930 tonnes. This has reduced landfills and greenhouse gas emissions by 220,678 tonnes. This is about 11.3 per cent of total capacity and is enough energy to produce an average 12 million tonnes of cement a year.

The company also has an alternative fuel resource plant in Chon Buri province, which was built in 2014. This is part of its plan to increase its production capacity to increase alternative energy usage to 25 per cent of total energy consumption in 2020.

"When we achieve our goal, we will use alternative fuel resources to produce up to 300,000 tonnes of cement per year and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 500,000 tonnes and landfill. This is our challenge for 2020," Amornsak said.

As for its innovative alternative fuel resource plants, Amornsak said the company developed the technology to use alternative fuel resources from waste such as industrial waste and sludge, which originates from industries like petrochemicals, paints and electronics that produce mud from oil drilling, sludge oil and paint sludge.

He said the company successfully developed its technology to use sludge to off-set the use of primary fuel in its cement products by 2014 to produce 15,897 tonnes of cement, which is equivalent to 9,885 tonnes of lignite. This was an achievement of the project to create energy efficiency and it benefited the environment by reducing greenhouse gases by 13,839 tonnes.

With the initial success of the technology to use sludge in 2014, the company received six national and Asean Energy conservation and alternative energy development awards, including Asean Best Practices Renewable Energy Project Awards 2015 (Special Submission Category-Winner: Innovation of Sludge Utilisation as Alternative Fuel in Cement Kilns), and Asean Best Practices Energy Efficient Building Awards (Tropical category-winner: Suan Ming Mongkok or INSEE Green Park).

Following its business strategy to be a ‘green’ plant, its Saraburi plant eliminate its waste to landfill.

"We developed our plant to be ‘zero waste to landfill’ since 2010 by using the conversion of industrial waste into alternative fuel, which involves waste separation by physical characteristics of solid waste," he said.

Solid waste is cut and crushed and has to pass quality control before it is sent to the cement kiln. Liquid is mixed and conveyed to the cement kilns. The sludge is mixed and conveyed through the high-pressure compressor to the cement kiln. The industrial waste will be burned at temperatures higher than 1,800 degrees Celsius in a closed system, so carcinogens, such as dioxins and fly ash, will not be emitted into the air.

Non-biodegradable inorganic compounds will be melted into stabilised crystals in the form of clinkers, without leaving ash left over from burning to landfills. Therefore, this is an environmentally-friendly industrial waste management process, in which alternative fuel is used. One tonne of industrial waste can produce 5,250 kWh of electricity, which is equivalent to the amount consumed by 35 households.

The disposable waste from the cement industry is not massive and most of it can be managed internally. For example, used engine oil and oil-contaminated clothes can be processed and converted into alternative fuel for use in the cement burning process. Most waste received for disposal is derived from industrial groups that adhere to the "Zero Waste to Landfill" principle.

"Last year, we managed 640,000 tonnes of waste, about half of which was recycled to become raw material and the other half was used as alternative fuel in cement kilns at our plant," he said.

In terms of energy conservation and the use of renewable energy, the company transforms hot air waste from cement kilns into electricity, which reduced the cost of fuel and energy in the cement production process from Bt540 million in 2014 to Bt590 million in 2015. In addition, this did not release hot air into the air and therefore did not adversely affect communities or the environment, Amornsak said.

With the initial success for its plant in Thailand, the company also plans to use the same system at its new cement plant in Cambodia, which is currently being constructed and plans to begin operations in 2019, he said.

"Our long-term goal is to increase the proportion of alternative energy to 25 per cent by 2020, and we plan to build alternative fuel resource platforms in others areas.

"Our ultimate goal is to expand waste management to cover all industrial estates and factories in Thailand in order to reduce the impacts on community occupational health, reduce improper waste management, and reduce environmental impacts to make our world a liveable place with green hearts in all of us.

"The next three plants worth Bt300 million are for part of our long-term business expansion plan," he said.