Making Calcined Clay More Competitive: Lower CAPEX, Lower Energy, Lower CO₂
As the cement industry moves toward lower-carbon production, calcined clay offers a proven pathway to reduce clinker dependency and associated CO₂ emissions. However, widespread adoption depends not only on technical feasibility but also on making production economically competitive, energy-efficient, and capable of delivering consistent product quality.
This presentation explores how smarter process design and innovative technologies can improve the economics and environmental performance of rotary kiln-based calcined clay manufacturing.
Based on a 1,000 tpd case study, FCT demonstrates how separating drying and calcination, optimizing heat recovery, and reducing gas treatment requirements can significantly improve plant efficiency. The proposed configuration achieves significant reduction in specific heat consumption, and less off-gas requiring treatment, offering opportunities to reduce equipment size, investment requirements, and operating costs.
The presentation also introduces FCT’s innovative inorganic modifier technology for clay color control, validated through pilot and industrial-scale trials. Compared with conventional methods, this solution delivers improved product color with a lower additional energy demand and CO₂ footprint.
By addressing both plant efficiency and product quality, FCT presents practical solutions to make calcined clay production more economically attractive and environmentally sustainable, accelerating the adoption of low-clinker cement technologies.
About the speaker
Paulo Mazzei is the Chief Business Development Officer for FCT Combustion globally. Paulo graduated from Fundação Alvares Penteado, with a degree in mechanical engineering and is an International Trade specialist from Fundação Getulio Vargas, both in Brazil. For the last twenty years, Paulo has worked in process engineering and sales roles, at international companies in the cement and industrial minerals business. Paulo’s experience includes eight years in the sales and process department of Polysius, and seven years managing the sales department of Raymond Pulverizers in South America.
