China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection is considering tougher standards on NOx emissions from cement plants. The cement industry is responsible for about 11.6% of all NOx emissions in China, and according to reports the new standard will require NOx emissions from existing plants to fall below 450 mg/Nm3 from the current average of 880 mg/Nm3. New plants will be subject to an even harsher limit of 320 mg/Nm3.
The new standard, which is expected to be issued on 1 July, is more stringent than expected, but the draft notes that the levels are equivalent to those of advanced countries. The cost of emissions reduction equipment is expected to be something of a burden on the cement industry, which reportedly saw profits fall 29% y/y in 1Q13 due to weak demand. It is expected that the new regulations will help weed out some of the outmoded plants that are adding to China’s overcapacity problem. Some provinces have already acted to provide the cement industry with incentives to improve facilities: in Sichuan, cement plants were threatened with power cuts if they failed to reach the province’s NOx emissions targets for the 2011 – 2015 period.
Adapted from source by Katherine Guenioui.