More sustainability in cement productionOur project in southern Thailand saves greenhouse gas emissions by replacing fossil fuels in cement production with biomass. A total of five cement plants implemented several measures to reduce CO2. Cement production is very emission-intensive, as a lot of thermal energy is required in the kilns. This is usually obtained from fossil sources such as hard coal, lignite, oil or gas. In the five factories, fossil fuels are replaced as far as possible by renewable biomass such as wood, rice husks or other agricultural waste. Before the project started, these were disposed of as agricultural waste in landfills or burned directly in the field without any further use.
In addition, thanks to the project financing, new systems for collecting, storing, processing, preparing and heating the biomass could be installed in all participating factories. Each plant uses materials produced in the surrounding area. The type of biomass depends, among other things, on the local crop rotation.
How biomass projects help contribute to climate changeBiomass refers to organic residues such as tree branches, leaves, sawdust, wood chips or coconut shells. Those are of a biogenic, non-fossil nature that can be used to generate renewable energy. One way to generate renewable energy, among others, is to fire kilns using biomass. This process prevents harmful smoke and large quantities of CO2 to be released.
As an additional greenhouse gas reduction measure, biomass climate projects mostly prevent biomass from rotting in the open air, so that no methane (CH4) is released. Biomass projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio are registered with international standards.
