An exergy analysis for cement industries: An overview

Cement production has been one of the most energy intensive industries in the world with energy typically accounting about 30-40% of the production costs. Reduction of the production cost is very much important. Therefore, many studies on the efficient use of energy were carried out in the past. More-over, these studies, which are based on exergy analysis, focus on industrial applications only. This paper reviewed exergy analysis, exergy balance, and exergetic efficiencies for cement industry. It is found that the exergy efficiency for cement production units ranges from 18% to 49% as well as the exergy losses due to the irreversibility from kiln are higher than other units in cement production plant. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.