Executives of Ciment Català and the four associated companies have maintained, during the last weeks, several meetings with technicians of the Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Generalitat for the development of the III Voluntary Agreement. This agreement, signed between the public administration and the cement industry on July 6, 2017, aims to increase efficiency in the use of resources in factories, and also promotes the transition of companies and the sector towards the postulates of the Circular Economy. These contacts are regularly maintained between both parties, the Generalitat and the sector, in order to carry out actions to improve industrial activity in relation to the environment and sustainability.
Specifically, during the meetings this fall and winter has begun to raise the way to measure in the factories the ammonia emissions derived from the use of selective non-catalytic reduction systems (SNCR) that constitute a Best Available Technique (BAT) of the cement sector, defined as such at European level. This system is installed in all the Catalan cement factories to reduce the polluting emissions of nitrogen oxides. These practices consist of the injection of ammonia into the manufacturing process to reduce the nitrogen oxides in the gases. The method involves measuring the possible excess of addition of ammonia to avoid its emission and waste.
Work sessions have also begun to design future actions related to the improvement of communication with the environmental administration on the inspection criteria of facilities. Likewise, it has been considered the implementation of information initiatives in society to convey the environmental behavior of the factories. Finally, Generalitat and the cement industry are also working on the enhancement of energy recovery of waste to avoid its destination to incineration or landfill and simultaneously reduce CO2 emissions.