Technical benefit and risk analysis on cement clinkering process with compact internal burning of carbon

•Compact internal burning of carbon enables cement shaft kiln to run stably.•Compact internal burning of carbon enables cement shaft kiln to scale up.•New process triples energy efficiency with excellent environmental performance.•It will be able to compete with and replace the existing precalciner kiln process.•It will become the mainstream clinkering process in low carbon economy.

This article demonstrates the potential technical benefit and risk for cement clinkering process with compact internal burning of carbon, a laboratory-phase developing technique, from 9 aspects, including the heat consumption of clinkering and exhaust heat utilization, clinker quality, adaptability to alternative fuels, the disposal ability of industrial offal and civil garbage, adaptability to the raw materials and fuels with high content of chlorine, sulphur and alkali, the feasibility of process scale up, the briquetting process of the coal-containing cement raw meal pellet, NOx emission and the capital cost and benefit of conversion project. It is concluded that it will be able to replace the modern precalciner rotary kiln process and to become the main stream technique of cement clinkering process in low carbon economy times.