In order to implement the spirit of the National Conference on Eco-environmental Protection, as well as the decision-making and deployment of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on fighting against pollution in depth, to support high-quality development with high-level protection, and to strengthen the management of environmental assessment and approval of construction projects under the new situation of coordinated pollution reduction and carbon reduction in the new era, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have recently decided to implement the National Conference on Eco-environmental Protection. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has revised and promulgated the Principles for Examination and Approval of Environmental Impact Assessment Documents for Cement Manufacturing and Construction Projects (2024 Edition) (hereinafter referred to as the Principles for Examination and Approval). To replace the "Principles for Examination and Approval of Environmental Impact Assessment Documents for Cement Manufacturing Construction Projects" (hereinafter referred to as "Principles for Examination and Approval of Environmental Impact Assessment Documents for Cement Manufacturing Construction Projects") in the "Notice on the Principles for Examination and Approval of Environmental Impact Assessment Documents for Cement Manufacturing Construction Projects" (No.114, 2016), and to further standardize the environmental impact of cement manufacturing construction projects. It is of great significance to strengthen the guidance for local approval of "two high" construction projects of cement clinker manufacturing and co-disposal of solid waste in cement kilns, so as to promote the development of ultra-low emission and green low-carbon transformation in the industry.
One is to clarify the scope of application. According to the needs of environmental management, the Principles of Examination and Approval further clarify its applicable objects, covering the scope of construction projects consistent with the original Principles of Examination and Approval, referring to the Catalogue of Classified Management of Envi ronmental Impact Assessment of Construction Projects (2021 edition) (hereinafter referred to as the Catalogue of 2021 edition). There are three categories of construction projects that are clearly applicable to the approval principle: (1) cement manufacturing projects (including cement grinding stations), corresponding to the cement manufacturing (including cement grinding stations) in the project category of cement, lime and gypsum manufacturing 301 in the 2021 edition of the List; (2) Limestone mining project (supporting cement clinker manufacturing), corresponding to the project category of 101 soil and sand mining (excluding river sand mining projects) in the 2021 edition of the List; (3) Cement kiln co-processing solid waste projects, corresponding to the project categories in the 2021 Catalogue, are hazardous waste utilization and disposal, general industrial solid waste (including sewage treatment sludge) disposal and comprehensive utilization, and centralized disposal of domestic waste (including kitchen waste). According to the Standard for Pollution Control on Cement Kiln Co-disposal of Solid Wastes (GB 30485), the solid wastes in the project of cement kiln co-disposal of solid wastes include hazardous wastes, domestic garbage (including waste plastics, waste rubber, waste paper, waste tires, etc.), urban and industrial sewage treatment sludge, animal and plant processing wastes, contaminated soil, emergency wastes, etc.
The second is the requirement that new cement clinker production capacity is strictly prohibited in key areas of air pollution prevention and control. Cement industry is a traditional industry with excess capacity. In order to implement the requirement of "strictly prohibiting new cement clinker production capacity in key areas" in the battle of pollution prevention and control, this new content is put forward. At present, the key areas in the Principles of Examination and Approval refer to the "2 + 36" cities in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and surrounding areas, 13 cities in Fenwei Plain and 31 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, totaling 82 cities, in the Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality (Guofa [2023] 24).
The third is to put forward new requirements to encourage ultra-low emissions for new reconstruction and expansion projects. The cement industry is a key air pollution control industry with a large amount of pollutant emissions, while the current national industry standard control requirements are generally loose. In order to implement the requirements of promoting the ultra-low emission transformation of cement industry enterprises in the battle of pollution prevention and control, and in combination with the contents of the Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of Ultra-low Emission in Cement Industry (hereinafter referred to as "Ultra-low Opinions") formulated by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Principles of Examination and Approval put forward the requirements of encouraging ultra-low emission for new, rebuilt and expanded cement clinker manufacturing projects and cement grinding station projects. (1) Put forward high-standard environmental protection facilities for effective control of pollutant discharge in an all-round way. This time, the requirements of organized, unorganized and clean transportation are put forward in combination with the Ultra-low Opinions. In terms of organized emission control, cement kilns are equipped with low-nitrogen burners, low-nitrogen combustion technologies such as staged combustion and fine control of oxygen content in other decomposition furnaces are adopted, and combined denitrification technologies such as selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) are adopted to control ammonia escape; Cement kiln and kiln tail waste heat utilization system (kiln tail) and cooler (kiln head) shall be equipped with advanced and efficient dedusting facilities simultaneously; when sulfur dioxide in flue gas cannot be discharged stably up to standard due to high sulfur content in raw materials and fuels, desulfurization facilities shall be provided. In terms of unorganized emission control, the storage and transportation of dust-producing materials should be sealed or closed. In terms of clean transportation, limestone and other raw materials are preferentially transported into the plant by clean means such as railways, waterways, tubular belt conveyors and belt corridors. Vehicles with new energy or national six emission standards should be used for vehicle transportation in the plant to further provide application scenarios for new energy heavy trucks. Through the implementation of the above measures and requirements in the environmental impact assessment, the pollutant discharge concentration of the new reconstruction and expansion project is better than that of the standard discharge. Through the source strength accounting and prediction evaluation in the environmental impact assessment, the pollutant discharge is finally determined in the form of pollutant discharge, which provides strong support for the effective control of key pollutant discharge in the follow-up emission permit and the law enforcement and supervision according to the permit. (2) There are restrictions on the types of construction projects that achieve ultra-low emission levels. In the "Principles of Examination and Approval", for the project of "co-processing solid waste transformation relying on existing cement kilns", based on the fact that documents such as the implementation plan of carbon peak in building materials industry support the use of cement kilns to co-process solid waste to achieve carbon reduction and to maintain consistency with the scope of application in the "Ultra-low Opinions", no ultra-low emission requirements are put forward. The ultra-low emission transformation shall be carried out according to the time schedule of the Ultra-low Opinions; if the newly built, rebuilt and expanded cement clinker manufacturing projects are synchronously equipped with the function of co-processing solid waste, this requirement shall be implemented. (3) Clarify the requirements for meeting the emission standards. In view of the non-standard implementation of emission standards in EIA approval, some approval departments directly quote the pollutant emission limits stipulated in management documents instead of emission standards, and according to the categories of construction projects, the emission standar DS that should be implemented for project pollutant discharge are classified and listed in the Principles of Examination and Approval, so as to ensure compliance with the law in EIA approval of projects. It does not propose pollutant discharge standards that are stricter than the current applicable standards.
The fourth is to supplement and improve the relevant requirements of the cement kiln co-processing solid waste project. In recent years, the approved projects in the cement industry mainly focus on the co-disposal of solid waste in cement kilns, and with the continuous deepening of the industry's "dual-carbon" work, the substitution of raw materials and fuels is one of the effective ways to reduce carbon. With the support and encouragement of national policies, the number of co-disposal of solid waste in cement kilns will continue to grow, and the co-disposal of solid waste in cement kilns is mainly approved at the county level. In order to strengthen the guidance of environmental assessment and approval of cement kiln co-disposal solid waste project, first of all, the content of solid waste management and control into the kiln is added. In combination with the provisions of the Standard for Pollution Control on the Co-disposal of Solid Wastes in Cement Kilns (GB 30485), the Technical Specification for Environmental Protection of the Co-disposal of Solid Wastes in Cement Kilns (HJ 662) and the Guidelines for the Examination of Business Licenses for the Co-disposal of Hazardous Wastes in Cement Kilns (Trial), It is clear that the category, scale, dosing location and dosing facilities of solid waste entering the kiln for co-disposal should be determined in accordance with the above standards and specifications, so as to ensure that the discharge of heavy metals from such projects meets the standard requirements and the environmental impact is controllable. Secondly, the requirements of pollution prevention and control measures are put forward pertinently. This time, it is clear that the kiln tail dust removal of the cement kiln co-processing solid waste project should adopt high-efficiency bag (or electric bag composite) dust removal facilities; the storage facilities for waste gas treatment by introducing into the high temperature area of the cement kiln should also be equipped with other gas purification devices for use during the shutdown of the cement kiln. Thirdly, clarify the control requirements of bypass flue gas emission. It is proposed that the bypass flue gas of the cement kiln co-processing solid waste project should be discharged together with the kiln inlet flue gas, and if it cannot be discharged together, the same emission control requirements for the kiln inlet flue gas should be met.
The five is to add the content of greenhouse gas environmental impact assessment. Firstly, in order to implement the requirement of incorporating greenhouse gas control into environmental impact assessment management in the battle of pollution prevention and control, and combining with the cement industry (cement clinker manufacturing) as the pilot industry of environmental impact assessment of carbon emissions determined by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, it is proposed that greenhouse gas emissions should be included in the environmental impact assessment of cement clinker manufacturing projects. Accounting for greenhouse gas emissions of projects, promoting synergistic effects of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and promoting innovative demonstration and application of carbon reduction technologies. Secondly, combined with the "Building Materials Industry Carbon Peak Implementation Plan" (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Lianyuan [2022] 149) and the "14th Five-Year Plan" National Cleaner Production Implementation Plan (Development and Reform Environmental Resources [2021] 1524), the requirements are put forward from the aspects of raw material substitution, fuel substitution, energy efficiency improvement, carbon capture, utilization and storage integration.
