Outlook for the year 2024
Dear readers, Another new, as yet unfulfilled year lies ahead of us: new and interesting tasks and challenges, certainly many interesting developments and a whole series of trade fairs and conferences where these will be presented and discussed. The first major event will take us to Denver in the USA – the 66th Annual IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference will be held from April 28 to May 2. The ZKG Cement Lime Gypsum team will be there and is already looking forward to interesting discussions. The next issue 02/2024 will also focus on this event.
Sustainability and CO2 savings or CO2 neutrality will remain the big issue in 2024. That is why the ZKG issue 07/2024 is subtitled “Green Challenge”. This issue will once again focus on ideas, developments, viewpoints, and new developments. The demand for CO2 neutrality is a major challenge for the cement and lime industry in particular, as up to half of the CO2 generated during production comes from the raw materials themselves and cannot be reduced by more efficient plants. We would like to take this opportunity to call on all those involved in this topic to contribute to issue 7. To keep in mind the dates: the editorial deadline is 23.08.2024 and the advertising deadline is 01.10.2024.
Sustainability is also a topic in this issue. “FGD gypsum from flue-gas desulphurization scrubbing in coal-fired power-generating plants has up to now been very much in demand. As such plants are taken off-grid in the next few years, however, much greater importance will attach to the recycling of gypsum waste,” explained Dipl.-Ing. Jörg-Michael Bunzel, Holder of Procuration and divisional manager, Technology Engineering Development (TED), as the spokesman for MUEG GmbH, on the occasion of a visit to the gypsum recycling plant in Grosspösna/Sachsen. Read the report from p. 38 onwards.
The article from p. 24 “VDZ’s Annual Cement Conference 2023: ‘Mirror on the most important issues of our time’” by Lukas Höpfner, editor of ZKG, is also about the presentation of the preliminary results of a new VDZ study “Requirements for a CO2 infrastructure in Germany”, which is due to be published in March 2024.
In his paper “Innovative use of incineration bottom ash as binder in cements”, Dr.-Ing. Marco Abis from Heidemann Recycling et al. examines the possibilities of obtaining a low-CO2 binder component for cement production through the targeted processing of incineration bottom ash. It is also emphasized that the development of such new cement components will play a central role. Read more about this in the article starting on p. 44.
Have an interesting time with the current issue of ZKG
Dr. Petra Strunk
Editor-in-Chief
