Greening Cement

Investing in Impact

P4G has provided the partnership with US $360,055 in catalytic grant funding.  

Cement production plays a key role in Vietnam’s economy yet remains one of the most polluting industries. Additionally, Vietnam currently produces about 70,000 tons of waste per day and 75% of that ends up in landfills. The Greening Cement partnership aims to address both challenges by reducing Vietnam’s waste while shifting the cement industry to more sustainable growth. The partnership will set up the infrastructure to transport waste to cement factories that can process the waste into an alternative fuel for cement production.  

The partnership focuses on Cement Industry Corporation of Vietnam (VICEM) plants, which are state-owned, enabling this pilot to lead the way in changing the waste management system and cement infrastructure in Vietnam. With HOTDISC technology provided by the Danish engineering company FLSMIDTH, the partnership can process industrial and municipal waste from wet powders such as paper sludge as well as large solid waste, such as tires or old car fragments. The waste to energy process eliminates the need for expensive shredding and provides greater energy efficiency.  

The partnership has conducted preparatory work for logistics sourcing and compliance processing to implement its business model at the VICME Ha Long facility, including identifying waste supply chain challenges. It also started developing the design and engineering plan for waste handling facility.  

Securing waste supply remains the biggest challenge in implementing the waste-to-energy technology, compounded by a lack of transparency on environmental issues. Following the global economic downturn, the cement industry in Vietnam is also facing economic challenges due to the higher price of input materials and the decrease in export volume. Yet this also provides an opportunity for the partnership to demonstrate the value of reducing costs of cement production and fuel, where Greening Cement can play a key role in supporting the Vietnamese government’s commitment to achieving a circular economy and energy transition.