According to a recent media report (China Building Materials News 2017.04.27), ecological cement has been praised as a model of realizing circular economy in building materials products. Indeed, this is a name that is relatively easy to induce mistakes, especially in commercial publicity. Because this beautiful veil of ecological cement still misleads a large number of Chinese people.
The so-called ecological cement is developed by Japan in 1999 and announced its success in 2002, using fly ash from waste incinerators as raw material. However, due to its complex process, normal cement plants need to add a lot of washing and filtering equipment, the manufacturing process is too long, the production capacity is low, and the production efficiency is low, resulting in the production cost as high as 2 to 3 times that of ordinary cement, which is difficult to accept by the market. Fortunately, from the very beginning, the relevant marketing department gave this kind of cement a fashionable and gorgeous name, which is called ecological cement. After entering the market for many years, Japan began to promote it to the international market in 2005. However, it first hit a wall in Europe (I was working in Europe at that time and witnessed many related scenes), and around 2008, it shifted its focus to mainland China. At that time, our country was in the upsurge of green ecology, and ecological cement became a much-told story in the cement industry for a time. Some people blindly flattered it, and many people imitated it, even today. Beginning in 2010, Japan's ecological cement seems to show a glimmer of business opportunities in China.
It took three to four years to hold a series of promotion, exchange, consultation and negotiation activities in several major cities in China. After several ups and downs, because of the high price of patents, licenses, intellectual property rights and other fees, the investment is too expensive, forcing Chinese enterprises with investment tendencies to withdraw one after another after calm thinking and analysis. After going to Europe to promote sales and returning empty-handed, the Japanese side once again returned from China without success. Since then, this ecological cement has never been out of Japan. Five ecological cement plants were put into operation in succession from 2001 to 2006, with a total maximum capacity of only 850,000 tons per year, accounting for about 2% of Japan's total cement output, and were on the verge of closing down in 2014. Because Japan has learned a lesson, it has begun to transfer part of its domestic waste to cement kilns for co-disposal. It is reported that one or two ecological cement plants have stopped production.
China's BBMG Liulihe Cement Plant refers to the idea of Japanese ecological cement, and the cement produced by the complete set of production technology and equipment independently developed has inherited the good name of Japan. In 2015, it became the first ecological cement plant in China and the only authentic ecological cement plant in China so far. The Beijing Municipal Government's waste utilization subsidy to the plant is 1500 yuan per ton of fly ash. The main purpose of building the plant is to fully experience, analyze and study the advantages and disadvantages of this technical route from long-term production practice, so as to accumulate rich first-hand experience and lessons, and make a comprehensive and scientific evaluation of it. Undoubtedly, this is a contribution to China's cement science and technology.
Reflecting on the origin and evolution of ecological cement in Japan, we can see that the project of ecological cement is in such a situation today, mainly because Japan hastily decided to incinerate 100% of the national domestic waste in 1986, and nearly 2500 incinerators of different sizes were built and put into operation in all parts of the country in more than a year. Toxic fly ash of 1 million to 1.5 million tons is produced every year, all of which are sealed and buried deeply, thinking that it can be done once and for all. Although waste incineration can be reduced by 95%, 5% of fly ash and slag need to be disposed of strictly. After all, after decades of continuous accumulation, land occupation and hidden risks are also increasing year by year. Facts have proved that this single-handed technical decision is a mistake (Europe is not like this, in the long run, we must avoid or eliminate the hidden dangers of secondary pollution as soon as possible, and we should also pay attention to the need to properly disperse risks, not "put all eggs in one basket").
Ten years later, in 1996, Japan accumulated 10 ~ 15 million tons of fly ash. Unfortunately, at that time, there were several pollution leaks from fly ash landfill sites, and the public's concern about its environmental safety increased. Under the pressure of public opinion, in order to solve the problem of fly ash as soon as possible, the government decision-making department rushed to launch the ecological cement project. This is the result of many failures caused by mistakes in early decision-making and improper handling in later stages, driven by the desire for quick success and instant benefit.
International experience shows that comprehensive and systematic R & D projects such as ecological cement are expected to achieve overall success in technology, economy and commerce in the near future, which is a small probability event. Now eco-cement is basically a technical success, an economic failure and a commercial failure. The overall situation should be normal and beyond reproach. The problem is that its commercial marketing methods are not appropriate, its technical content and publicity content are flashy and exaggerated, its expectations are too high, and its mood is too strong. Unfortunately, after hitting the wall everywhere, the drop is too great to bear, and it is not possible to recover the cost in a hurry. On the contrary, the research and development projects that basically conform to the law of scientific and technological research and development, and whose final results are normal and not very successful, have become a bitter fruit; If the mentality is not correct, it will become more and more bitter, which is also the natural law of development of things.
Now it seems that the initiators of the commercial promotion of ecological cement have been adjusting their mentality for many years, and may be facing the reality and further summing up the experience and lessons. After understanding the whole process of the origin and evolution of ecological cement in Japan, it is believed that the cement industry and the media in China will add a large number of people who know the truth, and at the same time reduce a large number of colleagues and the public who have been misled, so as to draw useful lessons from it. More importantly, it is hoped that China's relevant technological policies, as well as the relevant industries, can seriously study its experience and lessons for our use and draw lessons from them! (See also the 6th edition of China Environment Daily on July 18, 2013. Ecological cement is a bitter fruit.)
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