Adoption of green cement, LC3 as a road to sustainable development

Limestone calcined clay cement (LC³) offers a promising pathway for the cement industry to reduce its carbon footprint while maintaining performance and cost effectiveness. LC³ nearly doubles the cement output per tonne of clinker, driven by its low clinker factor (0.5) and widespread raw material availability. This paper evaluates the practical implications of transitioning to LC³ under slow switch and fast switching scenarios in two plant types: one producing ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and Portland pozzolana cement (PPC), and another producing only OPC. Results indicate that adoption of LC³ can increase production capacity up to 82 % while reducing the coal consumption and carbon dioxide emission per tonne of cement by up to 23 % and 34 %, respectively, for fast switching scenarios. Even the raw materials handling per tonne of cement decreases up to 12 %. After establishing the implications of switching to LC³ on cement plant operation parameters, this paper discusses the feasibility of using locally available low-grade limestones and common low-grade kaolinitic clays (>40 %) in LC³ production. Furthermore, it highlights the global progress of LC³ adoption and standardization, underscoring its role as a scalable, low-carbon cement solution for the cement sector's sustainability goals.