The Changing Cement Industry

-- "Eco-Cement" and Waste Disposal

Kazusuke Imamura, Chairman, Taiheiyo Cement Corporation

Taiheiyo Cement Corporation was established on October 1, 1998, by the merger of Chichibu Onoda Cement Corporation and Nihon Cement Co., Ltd. But this apparently brand-new company can trace its origin back over a hundred years to 1883, when these two constituent companies first brought cement into Japan and hence started the cement industry in Japan. The significance of the merger is that for the very first time in Japanese history, two major zaibatsu or financial combines have come together: the former Chichibu Onoda Cement belonged to Mitsui Group, while the former Nihon Cement belonged to Yasuda Group.

What drove us to do this? To answer this question, we should look at the world's leading company in this industry, which has its base in Switzerland. It produces an annual total of 70 to 80 million tons of cement at its 6 domestic and 36 overseas plants, and has a full international operation. Now our new company produces 36 million tons inside Japan and 7 million tons abroad, which makes us the second biggest in the world. The main purpose for our two companies to become one was to establish a position in the international business society.

Waste Recycle in the Cement Industry

Currently, our company puts large amounts of waste to productive use. The general household refuse and industrial waste produced nationwide amounts to around 450 million tons. In the process of producing its total of 36 million tons of cement, our company consumes 7.7 to 8 million tons of industrial waste. The domestic output of Japan's cement industry as a whole is 75 to 80 million tons, for which they use 26 to 27 million tons of waste. In this way, various types of waste are increasingly being utilized.

Our waste measures were triggered by the many cases of industrial pollution in the 1960s, including tragic Minamata disease in Kumamoto. In 1963, our Ofunato plant in Iwate Prefecture ? in the northern region of Japan ? had a grave accident caused by a failure of incomplete combustion. Although the incident lasted only half a day, it resulted in a large amount of quick lime being discharged, which caused damage to farm and livestock products. At that time I was the manager responsible for handling the issue, and I will never forget the ordeal. After the accident, many cattle suffered from diarrhoea. To identify the cause, we conducted a joint research project with the Agricultural Department of Iwate University for one year. Finally we concluded that our company was to blame, and paid compensation for the loss. As in this process, in many cases, the local community and companies worked together to identify the pollutants. Companies undertook the grave responsibility of settling public pollution cases, and invested large amounts of money in pollution control. I think that this helped mitigate problems between enterprises and the local community to a considerable extent.

The Cement- Utilities Cluster

Since the 1980s,problems have increased in scope far beyond local tensions between enterprises and the community. Taking the demand for cement as an example, in the developed world, approximately 750 to 800 kilograms per capita is consumed. In contrast, the coastal areas of china including Shanghai, Beijing, and Dalian consume 500 kilograms per capita, while in the inland areas only 100 kilograms per capita is needed. Thus as an economy develops and the population becomes more urbanized, the cement demand is likely to grow. Likewise, municipal waste increases as the population grows. At present, the biggest (per capita) dischargers of waste in Japan are Tokyo and Osaka, with 1,100 to 1,150 grams of waste produced per person per day. Meanwhile a Saga Prefecture resident discharges 590 grams, approximately one half of the figure for Tokyo and Osaka. The increasing volume of waste due to population concentration in large cities is indeed enormous. It is estimated that land fill sites will last for only the next 8 to 9 years. I think that waste disposal will become a major issue in the 21st century.

We have encountered one of these problems, too. When Chubu Electric Power Corporation planned to build a coal fired power plant nearly 15 years ago, they had no place to dump the ash from the boiler. Burning coal produces sulfuric oxides, and these could not be scattered from the stacks. So our company took the ash and used it for cement producion. As for the sulfuric oxides, we delivered pulverize lime stone to the power plant for processing into gypsum, which we then took back as a raw material. It was a perfect solution. This was the first case of waste and pollution control achieved by collaboration between utilities and the cement industry. What is behind this success? A large kiln in the cement production process burns 8,000 tons of cement a day, which is far greater than a relatively large waste incineration facility in Tokyo ? where the normal capacity is 800 tons a day. We have made every effort to develop the technologies necessary to conduct burning and crushing processes in this huge plant in such a way as to remove impurities without causing pollution. We have also trained the engineers needed. Such an experience became a good foundation for this successful collaboration. The cement industry also takes slag ? a byproduct from blast furnaces?from steel industry, and uses it as a raw material. This is the basis from which an industrial cluster can be formed.

Conceptual Transformation about Waste, Actual Transformation in Industry and Society

While handling these problems, we began to think that our kilns could make significant progress in developing new technologies to process different types of waste. After research trips to Europe, the US and Russia, and painstaking studies and experiments afterwards, we built an “Eco Cement” pilot plant in Tahara, Aichi Prefecture, with a capacity designed to cater for the waste discharge by the local population of 250,000. After a series of operational experiments, we became confident of the technical feasibility of producing cement by utilizing the ash from municipal refuse incineration and sludge from sewage treatment. Currently discussions are in progress with the local governments of Saitama and Chiba Prefectures, and with Tokyo Metropolis.

Further surveys on overseas waste treatment operations and their institutional framework have taught us that the dischargers' liability is extremely great. In the US, for example, under the Super Fund Act, the responsibility not only of those who discharge pollutants, but also of their associates is closely investigated. I was especially impressed by the information disclosure firmly established in Europe and the US.

On the other hand, in Japan, although relevant laws and regulations have been enacted, both the administrators and the private corporations are still reluctant to implement them. A total of approximately 100,000 small- and middle-sized companies (83,000 for collecting waste, 4,600 for processing it, and 7,300 for final disposal) are taking care of huge volumes of waste. In such a circumstances, if the regulations are tightened further, they may not be able to cope with the increased cost. This may encourage illegal dumping. We are entering an age in which dischargers' liability becomes greater, the regulations for environmental protection become stricter, and as a result, only those companies who can afford these tougher conditions will be able to stay in the business

In the US and Germany, waste treatment companies provide their employees with well-organized training courses, and the staff responsible for community relations disclose full information. Waste collection workers are respected by citizens, and sometimes you will see them having a friendly chat with children. I believe that what distinguishes these countries from Japan is their recognition that waste disposal is not solely the responsibility of administrators, but is a problem to be dealt with by citizens themselves.

These points illustrate just part of the radical change which I think Japan’s industrial structure will undergo. Cement itself will no longer be manufactured simply by mixing limestone and clay, but will be of a totally different type. Cement production methods and the ideas supporting them will also change. The steel, cement, and utility industries are among the biggest CO2 exhausters. However, our Dalian Plant emits no black smoke at all, while other neighboring plants belch forth vast quantities. Such a situation needs to be handled not just as a local Chinese problem, but as one of the global environmental problems which must be addressed worldwide, by developing as well as developed countries. Our company’s future challenge is to achieve as much expertise in the field of waste management as we have in cement production.