On the future of Chinese cement industry

The Chinese cement industry is now facing several problems, including increasing environment pressure and serious overcapacity. In this paper, the Chinese cement and cement industry are re-examined in the light of aiming for low CO2 emissions in cement manufacturing, development of recycling and integration with related industries. Progress towards a smart cement industry is advocated for the manufacturing of environmentally friendly cement products. The green degree (GD), low CO2 emission degree (LCD) cycling degree (CD) and smart degree (SD) of different industries are quantitatively characterized based on material flow, energy flow and information flow. Moreover, comparisons are made among industries of cement, steel, nonferrous metallurgy, glass, and ceramics in different historical periods and this shows that cement and steel, traditional still modern as building materials, are not replaceable. It is demonstrated that ecology, lowering CO2 emissions, recycling and integration, and smart development are the four requisites for transformation in the Chinese cement industry, and the main path of transformation is presented as well. It is stressed that success of the transformation will largely depend on innovation in science and technology.OriginalityIn this paper, the cement and cement industry are re-examined by combining “oriental philosophy” and “western philosophy”. Based on the in-depth analysis of material flow, energy flow and information flow during cement manufacture and usage processes, the green degree (GD), low CO2 emission degree (LCD), cycling degree (CD) and smart degree (SD) were creatively put forward, accordingly, the ecological performance, low carton, cycling and intelligence degree were quantitatively characterized. The future direction of development of the cement industry was presented from the technical innovation point.