Co-processing of industrial trade rejects in cement plant

In India non-hazardous industrial waste is generated at a staggering rate of about 30 million metric tonnes/year; considering the major generators (excluding power plant and mining industry waste) as per Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India (GoI), thus disposing of them is a challenge. The industrial waste generated from fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) trade rejects and expired product is also enormous (although largely remains unaccounted) and needs to be disposed of by the producer as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, GoI. Co-processing of this industrial trade rejects in cement plant can be a prominent solution as it reduces the disposal problem of the solid waste stream and provides an alternative methodology for complete thermal and material recovery of the waste with no by-products. Co-processing further reduces the use of conventional resources by utilizing the waste as an alternative fuel and raw materials. The study thus analyzes a co-processing trial of a month in a cement plant in the southern part of India and based on the obtained data, the environmental and operational sustainability was studied. The economic benefit obtainable was also analyzed based on the achieved substitution benefit. Parameters such as emission and quality of the final product were gauged. The leaching behavior of the final product was also analyzed. Thus, the findings will help in reducing the carbon footprints of the industrial wastes, specifically the FMCG trade waste, and will show the sustainability of co-processing waste in Indian cement plants.