Egypt’s First Waste Treatment Plant Is Inaugurated – Suez Cement
The Kattameya plant is the first cement plant in Egypt to partly use Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) instead of natural gas and coal as a fuel for the cement kiln.
Suez Cement Group of Companies (SCGC), one of the largest Egyptian cement producers, has been continuously investing towards a better Egypt and a cleaner environment and has made a long-term commitment towards being environmentally responsible.
Mr. Bruno Carré, Suez Cement CEO, and H.E. Laila Iskandar, Egypt’s Minister of State for Environmental Affairs, opened the new waste-processing plant in February 2014. The plant, which turns pre-sorted waste into fuel, is located inside the Kattameya cement plant, which was established in 1981 and is located in an area of 4,200,000 m². *
The facility is the first of its kind in Egypt and boasts state-of-the-art equipment and technology.
The project, which took almost a year to complete, is worth 5 million Euros, and is part of Suez Cement’s strategy to boost the amount of energy it acquires via Refuse-Derived Fuels. The facility was built in compliance with Egyptian environmental law, and is expected to convert 45,000 tons of household waste into 35,000 tons of alternative fuel annually, providing up to 20% of the fuel required by the plant.
According to Bruno Carré, “We are definitely proud about this new milestone and thanks to the new facility we are on track to reach our goal of producing 20% of our energy fuel needs using alternative fuels by 2017. Suez Cement is strongly determined to continue making meaningful and valuable contributions to the socio-economic development of Egypt.” *
Egypt’s Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Laila Iskandar opposes the import of coal, due to its negative effects on the environment and public health. Coal is not among the alternatives for solving the energy crisis in Egypt, according to Iskandar. Iskandar commented ‘The project will use the latest equipment and technologies available in this area. Suez Cement has been suffering from an energy crisis, yet it decided to respect the Egyptian laws and to contribute to solving the problem of waste as well.’
