Kuwait's KCC planning to convert municipal waste into alternative fuel to coal

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 14: The Kuwait Cement Company (KCC) has a plan to convert municipal solid waste into an alternative fuel used in the manufacture of clinker kilns (the main material for the cement industry) at its factory in the Eastern Shuaiba Industrial Area, reports Al-Qabas daily. Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Rashed, Vice Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors said in a letter addressed to the Chief of the Diwan of His Highness the Prime Minister, that the development of the cement industry is linked to the Kuwait Cement Company (a Kuwaiti public shareholding company) which is the only company in Kuwait that manufactures clinker and cement entirely locally.

Al-Rashed added, over more than five decades the company has played a major role in the progress of the urban and industrial renaissance of the country, and has developed its production capacity to keep pace with the country’s growing need for cement, and to achieve one of its most important strategic goals in the localization of the cement industry, and to serve industrial development and the national economy. In light of the initiative submitted by the company to the President of the Municipal Council Osama Al-Otaibi on June 19, 2019, expressing its desire to contribute to solve the problem of the annual increase in municipal solid waste by using it as an alternative fuel in the clinker kilns in its factory, as is the case in many developed countries, to get rid of the environmental destruction caused by this waste, and prevent large areas of land being used to waste landfills, said Al-Rashed.

Modern
He said the Kuwait Cement Company is the only company that owns modern furnaces that can burn large quantities of municipal solid waste in a scientific manner commensurate with all environmental requirements from an artistic perspective and the latest modern technology. He said the Municipality is welcome to cooperate with the company in this field within the framework of its endeavors and its future vision in implementing an integrated management to dispose of this waste and benefit from it by recycling it in order to protect the environment and natural resources, and to reduce the volume of waste that needs to be disposed of in landfills that are available locally in large and increasing quantities continuously by treating this waste and converting it into RDF product, which is used as an alternative fuel to traditional fossil fuels (coal) in several industries, including the cement industry, and from the perspective of the municipality’s vision in the participation of the private sector in the implementation of waste management projects through partnership between the public and private sectors and thus contribute to achieving environmental and economic returns and a public benefit to the state.

Al-Rashed indicated that a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Municipality and the Kuwait Cement Company on April 4, 2021 with the aim of getting rid of municipal solid waste, by burning it in the cement factory’s kilns, which requires allocating an area of 250 thousand square meters to establish an environmental fuel factory within the landfill site of (Mina Abdullah), and the relevant consulting company which signed a contract with it, specialized in the field of waste management, submitted an economic and technical feasibility report for the establishment of the plant, and is currently addressing the manufacturers to purchase equipment for the waste recycling plant, and a study of the environmental impact of the project is currently underway.