Cuba to produce "green" cement

Cuba to produce "green" cement

Havana, Mar 26 (EFE).- Cuba in April will begin producing "ecological
cement" using materials that allow it to reduce CO2 emissions by 32
percent during the manufacturing process, Communist Party daily Granma
said Tuesday.

In addition, the production process for this green cement, which will be
produced in a factory in the central province of Sancti Spiritus, has 29
percent lower energy costs than normal cement.

"Cuba will transform itself into a pioneer on the planet in (cement
production), ahead of India, which also will undertake this production
in the near future after assimilating the Cuban-Swiss experience," the
daily said.

The project is the fruit of joint research between Switzerland's
Lausanne Polytechnical University and the CIDEM research center at the
Universidad Central Marta Abreu in the Cuban province of Villa Clara.

"The green cement has great utility in applications ... (such as) the
production of concrete blocks, roof tiles and in general in all
finishing work," CIDEM director Jose Fernando Martirena told Granma.

He added that the product will be "very useful to the petroleum industry
for its heat-resistant properties."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/agencia-efe/130326/cuba-produce-green-cement