Cement kiln co-processing promotes the redevelopment of industrially contaminated land in China: Spatio-temporal...

The cleanup and redevelopment of industrially contaminated land are essential for sustainable urban development, both from economic and environmental perspectives. Remediation efforts in developed countries have incurred high decontamination costs and administrative, monitoring, and enforcement requirements that are beyond the capabilities of many developing nations. Here, we reviewed the development of cement kiln co-processing of contaminated soils, a commonly used remediation strategy in China, and discussed the spatio-temporal features, benefits and efficiency of co-processing. Our results show that urbanization, the real estate market, and policies have impacts on the development of technology. By June 2021, cement kiln co-processing has disposed of approximately 2,633, 823 m³ of contaminated soils, and the average feed rates of organic pollutants, combined pollution, and heavy metals are 6%, 4%, and 3%, respectively. The average cost of co-processing contaminated soil is US$167.2 per cubic meter, which is lower than that of other conventional remedies. Based on the pollution status and cement production capacity, it is most likely that the co-processing strategy will be adopted by three countries of India, Indonesia, and Vietnam in the next few years. In the future, more data will be needed to quantify and assess the technology diffusion at the provincial level and the technological details of adopting this strategy.