1. Recovery of scrubber sludge in the cement industry
Brussels, October 16th Lennard de Heer, Business Development Manager

2. Geocycle wordwide Geocycle is a 100% subsidiary of LafargeHolcim
LafargeHolcim is the world biggest cement company with more than employees wordwide, active in 80 countries

3. Geocycle Belgium
Geocycle Belgium manages all the waste streams which are being co- processed in the cement kilns of Holcim Obourg
Each year tons of waste is being co-processed in the cement kilns of Holcim Obourg
More than tons of waste needs pre-treatment at the platform of Geocycle in order to make it suitable for the cement kilns.

4. How scrubber sludge is tranformed into an alternative fuel / raw material
Renewi delivers the scrubber sludge to Geocycle in bulk,
After analyzing a sample, the sludge is discharged into one of the pits
An operator homogenizes the waste and then it is transformed into a solid alternative fuel
To make it solid, the scrubber sludge is mixed with absorbents like sawdust or PU-powder
After this process the “impregnated sawdust” leaves the platform of Geocycle to the cement factory
Finally, this alternative fuel is injected directly into the flame of the cementkiln. The organic content is completely destroyed and the mineral fraction is integrated into the cement, leaving no residue.

5. Advantages of recovery in cement kilns
Recovery of energy:
Saving of fossil fuels
Recovery of minerals:
Saving of non-replaceable natural raw materials
Reduction of CO2 emission
No residue (ashes)
A method according to the regulation of the European Union
and the Walloon Federation