India!

With more than 1.2 billion inhabitants India has the second largest population in the world. Almost exactly 50 years ago, cement production amounted to 8 million t/a (source: ZKG 1/1964). With a predicted annual increase in production by approximately 8 %, the installed cement capacity will amount to more than 600 million tons in 2020. This is one of the reasons why the Indian cement industry places its trust in plant streamlining and modern technology as regards new plants, and the topic of sustainability is becoming more and more important. “The key elements of sustainable development are conserve, recycle and renew …” underlines Ashwani Pahuja, the Director General of the National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB), in an interview in this issue. Alternative raw materials and fuels are as important as new concepts for binders and alternative energy sources. These are the topics you will find in this issue. At present, a version of the Cement Technology Roadmap adapted to the Indian economy and sustainability strategy is being developed together with the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) of the WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, www.wbcsd.org). ZKG will inform about this in more detail in one of the forthcoming issues. 

Stay tuned!