Cement industry of China: Driving force, environment impact and sustainable development

Recently, China roughly yields 60% of global production of cement. In this review, the driving force, environment impact and sustainable development of China’s cement industry are discussed basing database from society, economy and industry. At 2014 the production of China’s cement is 2.48 billion tons, equivalently 1.77 ton per capita and 137.4 gram per USD of GDP, the driving forces of China’s cement industry include urbanization, industrialization and the economic stimulation, the production of cement might come to a plateau after decades of rapid increasing. By closing down massive outdated capability, restricting the industries to denitration, desulfuration, recovering waste heat and slashing carbon emission, the pollutants from the cement industry reduced significantly during the last decades; the cement industry completed a great deal of various solid wastes and contributed to the cleaner production. Various approaches to increase the recycling degree are reviewed and an efficient way is put forward. The alternative cements must be based on high abundance raw materials, low carbon emission, low energy consumption, low pollutants and waste byproducts. Cleaner production, recycling and alternative cement are three effective approaches for the sustainable development of cement industry.