Egypt's cement companies have been the driving force behind demands to shift to coal, with claims that they have not been able to work at full capacity because of gas shortages. According to Medhat Stefanos, head of the cement production division at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, 50 per cent of the production capacity of the country's cement factories has been wasted due to shortages of natural gas over the last couple of years. Stefanos said that using coal in cement production was “the ideal solution for the time being, though it's not the end of the road. The government should search for other alternatives in the future,” he added. Stefanos criticised claims that using coal would cause pollution. The use of coal in cement production used technology that avoided emissions. “Emissions from burning coal like fly ash are absorbed in the production process and become part of the cement, actually improving the quality of the product,” Stefanos said. “Using coal as fuel in the cement industry is better than natural gas, and we should invest in using it.” Opponents of the use of coal say that its use would be disastrous for Egypt, which already has one of the worst pollution levels in the world. But Stefanos said that those who are campaigning against the use of coal lack appropriate information and are spreading confusion on the issue. However, coal is only suitable for the cement industry and not for other energy-intensive industries, Stefanos said, pointing out that burning coal needs high temperatures, from 500 to 600 Celsius, a feature that is only available in the cement industry whose ovens operate at 1,700 Celsius. The cost of substituting natural gas for coal as a fuel in cement factories would cost from $12 to $15 million for each production line, he said. Once the companies had received the green light to use coal, more than 50 per cent of cement factories would be ready to use it by the end of this year and the majority of the market would be operational by early next year. Asked whether importing coal from the international market would make cement companies susceptible to fluctuations in the global coal price, Stefanos said that the abundance of coal worldwide would make price fluctuations unlikely. “Over the past 50 years, there have been no significant fluctuations in coal prices as there have been for natural gas and mazut.” The government said last week that it had authorised the use of coal in cement factories after certain environmental measures, such as obtaining assessments of the environmental impacts of all stages of the importation, storage and use of coal, had been taken. The latest technology would be used to reduce emissions to the lowest possible level, it said. The cabinet has also agreed to the use of agricultural and municipal waste as a fuel source for cement production, with this being used by up to 40 per cent for production.
