In the municipality of Constantine, in the northeast of Algeria, a project for an industrial waste incinerator is being developed, 10 kilometres east of the city, where the Hamma Bouziane Cement Company (SCHB) production unit is located. It is an ecological compensation for this company with a production capacity of 1 million tonnes of cement per year.
The project was unveiled on September 26, 2019 during a technical day on “Cements in Algeria: challenges and prospects”, organised at the Hamma Bouziane cement plant. “This project, which will be carried out in collaboration with the local environmental department, will make it possible to find common ground between the desire to further develop the cement production chain and the current concern for environmental protection,” said Mustapha Kebbous, CEO of SCHB. The treatment capacity and the cost of building the future industrial waste incinerator have not been communicated. However, it is reported that it will be operational by 2020.
Ecological and energy benefits
Incineration is a thermal waste treatment process that consists of burning household waste and sometimes industrial waste in furnaces adapted to their characteristics (composition, moisture content, etc.). In addition to this environmental benefit, incineration can also produce energy. The heat released by the combustion of the fuel elements contained in the waste is recovered and introduced into a turbo-alternator that produces electricity.
According to SCHB officials, this second advantage of the incinerator will reduce the energy costs that account for the plant’s largest expense, well before the plant’s maintenance and upkeep costs.
The Hamma Bouziane Cement Company is an entity of the Algerian Cement Industry Group (Gica). With a turnover of approximately 17 million euros or 2,200,000,000 Algerian Dinars, the private company created in April 1998 now employs nearly 480 people. A staff that will grow, because according to those in charge, the industrial waste incinerator under construction should open about a hundred workstations. A good investment therefore, as long as it does not emit very toxic pollutants such as dioxins, furans or heavy metals.
Boris Ngounou