Analyzing thermodynamic improvement potential of a selected cement manufacturing process: Advanced exergy analysis

Cement industry uses very energy-intensive operations resulting in a suboptimal sustainable performance. The objective of this research is to provide insight into the value of exergy analysis in sustainability assessment of cement industry. For that purpose, a detailed exergy evaluation of a complete cement plant located in Morocco was performed using both conventional and advanced exergetic analysis. The major internal exergy losses were identified during the calcination process and the two raw mill departments, which amounts to about 78.66%, 70.86%, and 72.12% respectively. Those irreversibilities are split into avoidable/unavoidable exergy destruction in the advanced exergy analysis. Findings show that 15%, 29.21% and 31.54% of the total exergy destruction in the calciner and the raw mills 1 and 2 respectively are avoidable. However, there is a need for optimization of comminution and combustion operating parameters in the cement production process currently in use.