Glossary

BAT - Best Available Techniques
Best available techniques, i.e. the technical and / or organizational measures considered for industrial operations. For cement, they are defined in the BREF document prepared for the European cement sector by the IPTS Institute of Seville in March 2000 and regularly updated.

Biodiversity
Variety of living formulas, species, organisms in an environment, result of the evolutionary process, guarantee of stability and index of the ecological value of an environment.

Biomass
Non-fossil materials of biological origin - residues of agricultural and forestry origin, secondary products and waste from the agri-food industry - which can be used to produce energy and thus reduce dependence on fossil sources such as oil. Biomass is considered as neutral in CO2 emissions as the cycle time to absorb CO₂ is relatively short (e.g. a tree would take a few years to absorb the amount of CO₂ that it would produce once burnt).

Calorific replacement
The use of alternative fuels (CDR, waste oils, animal meal) substituting traditional fuels is saving energy resources from non-renewable sources.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
Oxide acid (anhydride) formed by a carbon atom bound to two oxygen atoms. Colorless, odorless and tasteless gas, heavier than air, which is formed in all the processes of combustion, respiration, decomposition of organic material, due to the total oxidation of the carbon and the decarbonization of the limestone. It is an essential substance in the life processes of plants and animals, but it is also responsible for the increase in global warming. Carbon dioxide, transparent to sunlight, absorbs infrared radiation emitted by the earth's surface, causing the so-called "greenhouse effect". The cement process is emitting CO₂ from two sources: from the calcination of raw materials (mainly limestone) and from the combustion of fuel.

Carbonation
Natural process according to which a material or a living species absorb atmospheric CO₂ during the life cycle, increasing its environmental sustainability over the useful life of the product. This is also the case for concrete. From the chemical point of view, carbonation is the reaction between calcium oxide (CaO), an alkaline product of hardened concrete and CO₂, which results in the formation of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃): CaO + CO₂ = CaCO₃ (limestone).

Cembureau
European Cement Association based in Brussels.

Cement
Hydraulic binder holding together other minerals, granules and other constituent parts of the rocks. When mixed with water, it reacts giving rise to a plastic mass that gradually hardens. Different types of cement can be produced according to the desired characteristics and performance using different raw materials and fineness. Cement is the main component of concrete and is the most used building material in the world, with billions of tons sold every year. White cement of which Cementir Group is world leader, is a product with very specific characteristics including whiteness. Its production process is slightly different from gray cement as it requires a rigorous raw materials selection and some variations in the process such as a different cooling/quenching. White cement is a niche market as world production does not exceed 20Mt per annum).

Clay
Clastic sedimentary rock consisting predominantly of minute colloidal particles of hydrated aluminum silicates associated with very fine sandy debris. It is used in the cement process to bring some of the necessary component such as silica, alumina.

Clinker
Semi-finished granulated material with hydraulic behavior deriving from the cooking of calcareous marl at high temperatures or from a mixture of limestone and clay. It appears as a granulated material. It is produced in the kiln and then used as the main component in cement. with the addition of gypsum or anhydrite and other materials and subsequent grinding.

Clinker Ratio
Measurement of the clinker content in different types of cement.

CO₂ – Carbon dioxide
See Carbon dioxide

Coal
Solid fuel, rich in carbon, derived from the decomposition in the absence of air of organic substances, mostly vegetable. The decomposition can be spontaneous (natural coal) or caused by heating (artificial coal). Coal is extracted from mines. It also contains ashes that can chemically contribute to the desire recipe for cement production.

Combustion
Chemical reaction of a fuel with a comburent, often with development of carbon oxides, water vapor and thermal energy. In the cement production process, the combustion takes place in the clinker kiln.

Concrete
The most common construction material used on Earth. From the mixing of aggregates, water cement, additives and other additions a paste is created that is malleable for a short period and is transported, generally in a cement mixer, to the construction site to make any type of structure after it has hardened. The almost unlimited combination of components allows us to guarantee an infinite number of performances both fresh and after hardening. Beside durability, concrete is a material that is very flexible in its usage and resistant to acid, sulfate, fire.

Continuous improvement
Management system based on the idea of systematically looking for ways to improve the way of working to attain optimum performances. It can be supported by statistical methods to optimize efficiency and minimize waste in any process so as to improve performance better and make it more progressive and continuous.

Crushing
Industrial process in which the size of the subject matter of the crushing is reduced, for example of that extracted from the quarries. The rocks are crushed to a size that is compatible with the subsequent process phases (eg. grinding).

Dioxins
Class of chlorinated aromatic organic compounds. Dioxins are low volatile compounds due to their high molecular weight and are fat soluble. Due to these characteristics they tend to accumulate in living tissues. Laboratory experiments on animals indicate that dioxin is one of the most toxic anthropogenic compounds. It is one of the compounds which is regularly controlled at main emission stacks.

EAS
Acronym. Ecology, Environment and Safety.

Eco-friendly
Characteristic deriving from processes designed to minimize the negative impact of the industrial system. It also refers to the responsibility, in human actions, towards the environment and its resources. For products it can refer to their long term cycle such as LCA (life-cycle analysis) which takes into account the entire life of a product from production, usage to elimination.

EMAS - Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
Voluntary scheme created by the European Community which can be joined voluntarily by organizations (companies, public bodies, etc.) to assess and improve their environmental performance and provide the public and other interested parties with information on their environmental management. The main aim of EMAS is to help create sustainable economic development, highlighting the role and responsibilities of businesses. To obtain (and maintain) the EMAS certification (registration), organizations must subject their environmental management system to a compliance assessment by an Accredited Auditor, and have the same auditor validate their Environmental Report (and its updates, which are usually annual).

Emissions
Discharge of any solid, liquid or gaseous substance introduced into the ecosystem, which can directly or indirectly impact the environment. In cement production, emissions are regulated, reported and monitored on a continuous basis.
Specifically for CO₂
"Scope 1" emissions: these are all direct emissions from the company's sources or those controlled by the company. To calculate the direct emissions of CO₂ equivalents (purpose 1), the emission factors of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories were used (IPCC 2006 Guidelines).
"Scope 2" emissions: these are the indirect emissions of the company, ie those related to the purchase of energy from sources controlled by another subject. The emission factors provided by Ecoinvent 3.3 were used to calculate the indirect emissions of CO₂ equivalents (purpose 2). The Ecoinvent 3.3 database is a database that has emission factors linked to the electricity production mix of different countries in the world.

Environment
Set of chemical-physical characteristics (abiotic factors) and biological (biotic factors) of the context in which an organism is inserted or a company operates. Overall, the environment includes air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, human beings and their interrelations.

Environmental certification
Certificate issued by external auditors that certifies the Environmental Management System adopted within a production plant. Environmental certification can refer to international (such as ISO 14001) or European (such as EMAS Regulation) standards.

Environmental Management System
Part of the general company management system developed in compliance with environmental, quality and safety regulations. It includes the organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes, resources to develop, implement, achieve, review and maintain this company policy. Management systems can be certified under some specific standards (eg ISO 14001 for environment, ISO 9001 for quality, ISO 18001 for Safety and many others).

EPA
Acronym (USA): Environmental Protection Agency.

EPD
Acronym: Environmental Product Declaration. The Environmental Product Declaration is a communication tool created to develop environmentally sustainable products. EPDs are documents or information, that are not product specifications (they do not contain usage recommendation or expected performance). Their objectives are: the dissemination of detailed and verifiable information relating to environmental aspects, the encouragement for the demand and supply of ecologically preferable products and the promotion of environmental improvement.

ETS
Acronym of Emissions Trading System. It is an administrative tool used by the European Union to limit emissions of polluting gases through the creation of an emission rights market to achieve the CO₂ reduction targets established by the Kyoto protocol and the subsequent Paris agreement. It consists in the possibility of purchasing emission permits from another operator, which is also subject to emission reduction restrictions, while defining an overall cap of emissions both per plant and per country. The best-known emission trading system is based on CO₂ but there are other emissions trading systems for other pollutants such as NOx, SO₂.

Fossil fuel
Product of the transformations suffered by large forests buried millions of years ago. Fossil fuels are coal, oil, natural gas and pet-coke which is derived from crude oil.

Frequency rate (Safety indicator)
Health and Safety indicator used to calculate the frequency of lost time accident through a ratio of number of accidents that have occurred in a year divided by the hours worked in the same year. The rate is multiplied by 200,000 (1,000,000 hours is used as industry benchmark), a factor enabling presentation of the number of work accidents every 100 full time workers over one year (with the assumption that a full time worker works about 2,000 hours per year).

FTE
Acronym. Full Time Equivalent. Indicator that identifies workers on a full-time basis or those who perform work for a total of 40 hours per week (as per CCNL).

g/t TCE
Grams per ton of cement equivalent.

Greenhouse effect
Physical phenomenon which consists in the trapping in the atmosphere of part of the energy coming from the surface of the Earth, which otherwise would be lost in space. It depends on the presence of some gases in the atmosphere (the so-called greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrous oxide (N₂O), methane (CH₄), ozone (O₃), perfluorinated hydrocarbons (PFC), hydrogen-containing fluorohydrocarbons (HFC), hexafluoride sulfur (SF6) and allows to maintain a suitable temperature on the Earth. Anthropic activities can lead to an increase in the presence of these gases and, with it, of the greenhouse effect, giving rise to climate changes in the medium term.

GRI
Acronym. Global Reporting Initiatives. GRI was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative between the US government organization CERES (Coalition for Environmental Responsible Economics - Coalition for Responsible Environmental Economics) and the United Nations Environment Program, with the aim of improving quality, the rigor and usefulness of sustainability reports. This initiative was actively supported by representatives of the business world, non-profit groups, auditors and investor organizations, trade unions and others. Together, these different actors worked to build a consensus on a set of reporting guidelines with the goal of achieving global reach.

GRI Reporting Framework
The GRI Reporting Framework aims to provide a generally recognized framework for reporting economic, environmental and social performance. The Framework includes the Guidelines for sustainability reporting, Indicator Protocols, Technical Protocols and Sector Supplements.

Grinding
Industrial process aimed at crushing a solid material, of any nature, reducing it to the state of dust, granules or semi-fluid paste in the order of microns. In cement process it takes place at several steps of the process: grinding raw materials to produce raw meal to feed the kiln, grinding clinker and other raw materials to produce cement, grinding fuel for injection in the kiln. There are several grinding technologies, the main ones being: vertical roller mill, roller press, ball mill.

Hydraulic Binders
Minerals that mixed with water harden progressively forming in this way solid bodies capable of expressing resistances typical of stronger rocks. Cement is a hydraulic binder.

Index of Gravity or Severity rate (LTISR)
Health and Safety indicator used to calculate the extent of the accident (or the severity of the consequences of accidents at work). This is the number of working days lost due to accidents divided by the number of hours worked in the same year. The rate is multiplied by 200,000 (1,000,000 hours is used as industry benchmark, a factor that allows the presentation of the severity of the number of accidents at work per 100 full-time workers, workers over the course of a year (with the assumption that a full-time worker works for about 2,000 hours).

ISO 14001
Voluntary international standard, which establishes the requirements that an efficient environmental management system must meet. ISO 14001 is a certifiable standard, which means that certification of compliance with its requirements can be obtained from an accredited certification agency that operates according to certain rules. ISO 14001 certification is not mandatory, but is the result of a voluntary choice by a company / organization that decides to establish / implement / maintain / improve their environmental management system. The adoption of the ISO 14001 standard allows an organization to identify and monitor the impact of its activities on the environment and improve its environmental performance by implementing a systematic approach that provides for the definition and achievement of specific environmental objectives.

ISO 9001
International standard of a voluntary nature published in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization, concerning the requirements of Quality Management System for organizations of any sector and size. The current revision, subsequent to the first dated 1994, is also known as Vision 2000.

ISO 50001
Voluntary international standard that specifies the requirements for the creation, implementation, maintenance and improvement of an energy management system. The purpose of this system is to enable an organization to use a systematic approach to continuously improve its energy performance, including energy efficiency, as well as energy consumption and use.

Joule
Unit of measurement of energy (one joule is the work required to exert a force of a newton for a distance of one meter). A gigajoule (Gj) is equal to 1 * 109 joules, while a terajoule (TJ) is equal to 1 * 1012 joules. The thermal energy can also be expressed in kCal (1kcal = 4.18J)

Kiln
The rotary kiln consists of steel tube covered with refractory bricks. The tube is tilted slightly (1–4 °) and rotates slowly on its axis between 30 and 250 rpm. The kiln is fed from the upper end with the Raw Mix which the rotation of the oven gradually moves downwards. At the other end the fuel is burned, in the form of gas or pulverized solid fuel. When the material moves under the flame, it reaches its peak temperature, before descending into the cooling device. The air is sucked first through the radiator and then through the furnace for fuel combustion.

Kyoto Protocol
Voluntary agreement that arises from the United Nations World Conference on Climate Change (1997) by virtue of which the industrialized countries commit themselves in the 2008-2012 period to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by a certain amount compared to 1990 levels.

Limestone (CaCO₃)
Rock made up of Calcium Carbonate (CaCO₃ ). we can distinguish limestones of sedimentary and metamorphic origin. Limestones can often contain other minerals such as siliceous and arenaceous limestones.

LTIFR (Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate)
Please see Frequency Rate

LTISR (Lost Time Injury Severity Rate)
Please ss Index of Gravity

Marne 
Fine-grained gray-yellowish sedimentary rock formed by limestone and clay. Marne is a natural material that is almost readily usable to produce cement or lime without need for correctives. 

MIC (Mineral Components)
Acronym. Mineral components with suitable characteristics (CaO, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₄) that, in relation to the cement production process, can be used in partial replacement of the clinker contributing to the reduction of CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere. The mineral component can be either coming from natural resources (eg. pozzolane, clay) or be by-product of other industries (eg. slag from the steel industry, Fly ash from power plant).

mg / Nm3 
Unit of measurement of concentration that is used for atmospheric macro pollutants; indicates the milligrams of substances present in a cubic meter of gas at normalized conditions (0° C temperature and 1.013 bar of pressure).

Mine
The distinction with the quarries is based on the type of material extracted. For mines we talk about 1st cat material. (eg. cement marl). However, in the cement industry the term of quarry is widely used whether it is a mine or a quarry.

Monitoring
Set of activities aimed at quantifying the parameters that indicate the status of an industrial process. It can be referred to the environment (air, water bodies, subsoil), quality (cement performance) or process.

NGO
Acronym. Non Governmental Organization.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
Gases produced, among other things, due to oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen or nitrogen contained in fossil fuels. Nitrogen oxides can act on the airways synergistically with other gases and participate as "precursors" in the formation of photochemical oxidants (ozone, organic peroxides). They are, after sulfur dioxide, the most widespread and aggressive air pollutants and with this they give rise to the so-called "acid rains". NOx occurs during combustion. Cement kiln are usually setting measures to control NOx emission either through primary measures or abatement (like SNCR)

OHSAS 18001
Acronym. International standard that establishes the requirements for the development of a system for the management and protection of workers' health and safety (OHSAS stands for series of health and safety at work assessment). The OHSAS certification verifies the voluntary application within an organization of a system that guarantees a sufficient control of health and safety at work, as well as compliance with mandatory regulations.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
Agency of the US Department of Labor, which introduced standards for occupational safety.

Ozone (O₃)
Unstable gas whose molecule consists of three oxygen atoms. It has strong oxidizing power. It plays an important role in the radiant balance of the atmosphere.

PET COKE
Carbonaceous product obtained from mineral oils by thermal splitting. As such it is a by product of the oil industry. It is considered as a traditional fossil fuel and is widely used in the cement industry However, in the cement industry the term of quarry is widely used whether it is a mine or a quarry.

Powders
Powder is a generic name attributed to matter subdivided into very small particles with a diameter of approximately 0.25 to 500 µm. Dusts suspended in the air (atmospheric dust) have significant effects on the climate, on the trend of radioactivity and on human health.

Pozzolane
Natural materials consisting of volcanic or sedimentary deposits that, thanks to a mineralogical composition rich in SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃ and other oxides, hold hydraulic properties.

Prebatched or premix
Cement products, especially mortars, consisting of mixtures of cement and aggregates dosed and packaged in proportions suitable for specific uses such as internal or external finishes to complete works of a more structural nature. Such product thus only needs water addition in right quantity to become ready to use.

Quarry
A quarry is a field in the process of exploitation, that is a portion of territory in which raw materials have been identified that can be used for industrial purposes. The distinction between quarry and mine is determined by the category of material extracted: for quarries we speak of 2nd cat material. (eg limestone, clay, gravel, sand). Limestone, for example, belongs to this category of materials and is therefore extracted from quarries.

Rotary Kiln
Dry shredded solid fuel obtained from the processing of solid urban waste, generally collected in cylindrical blocks known as eco-bales.

RDF (Refuse-Derived Fuel)
Dry shredded solid fuel obtained from the processing of solid urban waste, generally collected in cylindrical blocks known as eco-bales.

Severity rate
Please see Index of Gravity

Slag
Granulated slag from steel industry in the blast furnaces (hence the acronym GBFS: granulated blast furnace slag), composed of complex silicates of aluminum, calcium and magnesium and, in small quantities, from manganese oxides, iron oxides and calcium sulfide. By virtue of the hydraulic properties they process, they are used as a clinker additive in the production of cement.

SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel)
Dry shredded solid fuel obtained from the treatment of solid urban waste compliant with the European standard ER15359. Fuel obtained from the dry component (paper, plastic, textile fibers, etc.) of solid urban and similar waste, after a special separation/processing treatment from the fractions destined for another type of recovery. Subsequent processing cycles guarantee an adequate calorific value and reduce the presence of metallic material, glass, aggregates, putrescible material and dangerous substances for combustion purposes. By its nature (high temperature, high retention time, absorption of ashes in cement), the cement process offers adequate conditions for such use of prepared waste to substitute traditional fuels such as coal, pet-coke, natural gas. Those alternative fuel can also contain biomass, providing an opportunity to reduce CO₂ emissions. The use of this fuel in a cement plant is done under a specific permit and under strict quality and environmental controls. .

Stakeholders
Interest bearers who for various reasons interact with the business of the company, participating in the results, influencing their performance, assessing their economic, social and environmental impact. They can be customers, suppliers, shareholders, the community in which the plant operates, the authorities etc.

Sulfur dioxide (SO₂)
Gas present in emissions from the use of fuels containing sulfur, usually derived from petroleum or coal. In some cases, it may come from the raw materials utilized.

TCE (Ton of Equivalent Cement)
Indicator related to the production of the clinker plant, calculated based on the clinker produced and the average clinker / cement ratio for the year.

Waste water
Waste water deriving from industrial activities or domestic drains. Waste water can be discharged into the external environment after an appropriate treatment.