Symulacja komputerowa jako narzędzie wspomagające wybór strategii ograniczania emisji 
CO2 w przemyśle cementowym
[Computer simulation as a decision-support tool for selecting CO2 emission reduction 
strategies in the cement industry]

Akhil Kunche (Department of Operations Research & Business Intelligence, PWr, Wrocław)


Cement manufacturing is an emission-intensive process, currently responsible for 8% 
of the global CO2 emissions. As such, the cement industry provides immense potential 
in contributing to the required emission reduction goals as part of the Paris Climate 
Agreement. However, the global cement industry has only achieved modest gains in 
reducing their carbon footprint in the last 20 years, with low implementation rate of 
mitigation projects indicating the limitations of existing policies in prompting the 
industry to adopt significant measures to reduce their emissions. 

There are several mitigation strategies currently being explored in the cement 
industry, but the implementation costs (payback period) and the potency of carbon 
emission reduction depends on several dynamic factors such as pricing and 
availability of additional raw materials, carbon tax policies, grid electricity 
tariffs and the emission factor. As mitigation projects are typically designed to 
last the lifespan of a cement plant, it leads to decision-making challenges for the 
industry stakeholders. 

The current proposal intends to design and develop a flexible decision-support tool 
in the form of a system dynamic simulation model that could be applicable for any 
individual cement plant. It allows to devise reactionary strategies to comply with 
future CO2 emission policies while minimizing plant expenditure. By formulating and 
analyzing the problem at an individual plant level, the study could also provide 
logistical insights for the industrial stakeholders on the costs associated with 
aspects such as transportation and processing of raw materials required for 
undertaking the mitigation commitment. Additionally, such a tool could also be 
potentially applicable for policymakers for evaluating the expected outcomes of 
different policy interventions over a cement plant's lifetime.