Economy & Market
The 7th Indian Cement Review Conference pushes the conversation forward on ‘Decarbonising the Cement Industry’
The 7th Indian Cement Review Conference was held on 17th December, 2021, at The Lalit, New Delhi, in the presence of representatives of the cement industry.
The Conference revolved around the theme of ‘Decarbonsing the Cement Industry’ with panel discussions focussed on bringing the best trends in sustainability. The Conference started with an inaugural address by Mr Pratap Padode, Founder and President of the FIRST Construction Council. He highlighted alarming statistics about carbon emissions by the cement industry world, and underscored the fact that for climate change, cement needs to decarbonise. He encouraged the attendees to ask relevant questions of the experts and discuss decarbonisation amongst themselves to understand viable solutions for the challenges ahead.
Mr Satish Pandey gave a keynote address on the Current Best Practices and Plants of Tomorrow – Transform India. This was followed by the panel discussion on Paving Way Towards Energy and Sustainability, which was moderated by Mr Vaibhav Agarwal, Research Analyst and Vice President, Institutional Equity Research, PhillipCapital. The panelists included Mr Bibekananda Mohapatra, Director General, NCCBM; Mr Shrinath Savoor, Jt President (Strategy and Business Development), Shree Cement; Dr Sujit Ghosh, Executive Director, Dalmia Cement; Mr Madhusudhan, R Country Head, IKN Engineering; and Mr Subhasis Chattopadhyay, Head – Projects, Birla Corporation.
The key highlights of this discussion included use of supplementary raw materials like fly ash, and bio fuels like biomass and agricultural waste, importance of technology in carbon capture and need to upgrade existing cement plants. The panelists also discussed the importance of climate finance and wider acceptance of blended cement, especially in government-backed projects.
The fireside chat at the conference focussed on environment vs economic growth. It was moderated by Mr Sachin Joshi, Sustainability Consultant, and Head, UNIDO FIC-SID. The panelists for this session were Mr Mahendra Singhi, MD and CEO, Dalmia Cement Bharat; and Mr Rajnish Kapur, COO, JK Cement. This session focussed on the key measures to support the economy and reduce environmental pressure as well as innovations and best practices. Both the experts highlighted the fact that planetary boundaries are changing. Mr Singhi pointed out that India is the only country with online monitoring of carbon emissions.
The experts also stressed on the importance of vision and strategy for an inclusive growth for all stakeholders. This would make everyone think ‘what more can I do’. Economics and sustainability need to be aligned. Clean and green is profitable and sustainable and cement companies need to lead by example.
The second panel discussion for the day started right after the lunch break and covered associated topics of clean-energy future; the role of tech and AI in optimising energy consumption by improving equipment productivity; environmental concerns and carbon costs; sustainable cement packaging; and MSW as a fuel for kiln.
The panel was moderated by Mr Sanchit Makhija, Principal, AT Kearney. The panelists included Mr Manoj Rustogi, Head – Sustainability, JSW Cement; Mr Jeevaraj Pillai, Joint President (Packaging), UFlex; Mr Saurabh Palsania, Executive Director, Dalmia Cement; Mr SK Rathore, President, JK Cement; and Mr Jeyamurugan Kandasamy, Head of Connected Assets Global, Group Digital-Smart Products, FLSmidth.
In his valedictory speech, Mr Sumit Banerjee, Chairman – Editorial Advisory Board, Indian Cement Review, called climate change “a complex and ‘wicked’ problem.” He pointed out, “It is important to understand if cement production is sustainable. Carbon sequestration, synthesising cement, and use of hydrogen as fuel in a kiln are the three possibilities, which exist today that can provide some hope in decarbonsing cement. But these attempts are not serious because the cement industry’s participation in these endeavours is lukewarm. “
Appreciating India’s contribution to decarbonising cement, Mr Mahendra Singhi, MD and CEO, Dalmia Cement (Bharat), said, “The planetary boundaries of decarbonisation are changing. India is the only country with online monitoring of carbon emissions.”
The 7th Indian Cement Review Conference ended on an optimistic note as representatives of cement companies present, expressed their commitment towards decarbonising cement and the concrete steps required to make this possible.
Jignesh Kundaria, Director and CEO, Fornnax Technology
India is simultaneously grappling with two crises: a mounting waste emergency and an urgent need to decarbonise its most carbon-intensive industries. The cement sector, the second-largest in the world and the backbone of the nation’s infrastructure ambitions, sits at the centre of both. It consumes enormous quantities of fossil fuel, and it has the technical capacity to consume something else entirely: the waste our cities cannot get rid of.
According to CPCB and NITI Aayog projections, India generates approximately 62.4 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with that figure expected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. Much of this waste is energy-rich and non-recyclable. At the same time, cement kilns operate at material temperatures of approximately 1,450 degrees Celsius, with gas temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees. This high-temperature environment is ideal for co-processing, ensuring the complete thermal destruction of organic compounds without generating toxic residues. The physics are in our favour. The infrastructure is not.
Pre-processing is not the support act for co-processing. It is the main event. Get the particle size wrong, get the moisture wrong, get the calorific value wrong and your kiln thermal stability will suffer the consequences.
The Regulatory Push Is Real
The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2026 mandate that cement plants progressively replace solid fossil fuels with Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), starting at a 5 per cent baseline and scaling to 15 per cent within six years. NITI Aayog’s 2026 Roadmap for Cement Sector Decarbonisation targets 20 to 25 per cent Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) by 2030. Beyond compliance, every tonne of coal replaced by RDF generates measurable carbon reductions which is monetisable under India’s emerging Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS). TSR is no longer a sustainability metric. It is a financial lever.
Yet our own field assessments across multiple Indian cement plants reveal a sobering reality: the primary barrier to scaling AFR adoption is not waste availability. It is the fragmented and under-engineered pre-processing ecosystem that sits between the waste and the kiln.
Why Indian Waste Is a Different Engineering Problem
Indian municipal solid waste is not the material that imported shredding equipment was designed for. Our waste streams frequently exceed 40 per cent to 50 per cent moisture content, particularly during monsoon cycles, saturated with abrasive inerts including sand, glass, and stone. Plants relying on imported OEM equipment face months of downtime awaiting proprietary spare parts. Machines built for segregated, low-moisture waste fail quickly and disrupt the entire pre-processing operation in Indian conditions.
The two most common failures we observe are what I call the biting teeth problem and the chewing teeth problem. Plants relying solely on a primary shredder reduce bulk waste to large fractions, but the output remains too coarse for stable kiln combustion. Others attempt to use a secondary shredder as a standalone unit without a primary stage to pre-size the feed, leading to catastrophic mechanical failure. When both stages are present but mismatched in throughput capacity, the system becomes a bottleneck. Achieving the 40 to 70 tonnes per hour required for meaningful coal displacement demands a precisely coordinated two-stage process.
Engineering a Made-in-India Answer
At Fornnax, our response to these challenges is grounded in one principle: Indian waste demands Indian engineering. Our systems are built around feedstock homogeneity, the holy grail of kiln stability. Consistent particle size and predictable calorific value are the foundation of stable kiln combustion. Without them, no TSR target is achievable at scale.
Our SR-MAX2500 Dual Shaft Primary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive) processes raw, baled, or loosely mixed MSW, C&I waste, bulky waste, and plastics, reducing them to approximately 150 mm fractions at throughputs of up to 40 tonnes per hour. The R-MAX 3300 Single Shaft Secondary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive), introduced in 2025, takes that primary output and produces RDF fractions in the 30 to 80 mm range at up to 30 tonnes per hour, specifically optimised for consistent kiln feeding. We have also introduced electric drive configurations under the SR-100 HD series, with capacities between 5 and 40 tonnes per hour, already operational at a leading Indian waste-processing facility.
Looking ahead, Fornnax is expanding its portfolio with the upcoming SR-MAX3600 Hydraulic Drive primary shredder at up to 70 tonnes per hour and the R-MAX2100 Hydraulic drive secondary shredder at up to 20 tonnes per hour, designed specifically for the large-scale throughput that higher TSR ambitions require.
The Investment Case Is Now
The 2070 Net-Zero target is not a distant goal for India’s cement sector. It starts today, with decisions being made on the plant floor.
The SWM Rules 2026 are already in effect, requiring cement plants to replace coal with RDF. Carbon credit markets are opening up, and coal prices are not going to get cheaper. Every tonne of coal a cement plant replaces with waste-derived fuel saves money on one side and generates carbon credit revenue on the other. Pre-processing infrastructure is no longer just a compliance requirement. It is a business investment with a measurable return.
The good news is that nothing is missing. The technology works. The waste is available in every Indian city. The government has provided the policy direction. The only thing standing between where the industry is today and where it needs to be is the commitment to build the right infrastructure.
The cement companies that move now will not just meet the regulations. They will be ahead of every competitor that waits.
About The Author
Jignesh Kundaria is the Director and CEO of Fornnax Technology. Over an experience spanning more than two decades in the recycling industry, he has established himself as one of India’s foremost voices on waste-to-fuel technology and alternative fuel infrastructure.
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