News
15
12
2018

TITAN Bulgaria Executes a Biodiversity Management Plan to Preserve Biodiversity in the Zlatna Panega Quarry

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08
05
2018

TITAN Bulgaria and Fisherman club “Stari Vidri” plant again the Zlatna Panega River with fishes

On May 8th, 2018, Zlatna Panega river was planted with fishes from the species Balkan trout (Salmo trutta fario). The Balkan trout is the most valuabl ...

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20
04
2018

Annual spring cleaning of the Zlatna Panega River

On 20April 2018, TITAN Bulgaria held the annual spring cleaning of the Zlatna Panega river. The initiative is part of the “Adopt the Zlatna Pane ...

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Environmental protection is the guarantee for keeping stakeholders’ trust.

The company's performance in economic and social terms is bound to our continuous efforts in terms of environmental protection. By preserving the environment, we create lasting values for our business and for all stakeholders.

INVESTMENTS

Zlatna Panega Cement AD annually invests significant resources in building new facilities and in maintaining the existing ones in order to improve the environmental quality of the area surrounding the plant.

In 2011 – 2016, the company investments led to а reduction in the use of natural resources, decreased CO2 emissions, and eliminated fugitive emissions sources in the plant.

All filters were replaced by new ones, hybrid filters were installed to the kilns, water treatment plants were constructed, and the old water supply and sewerage networks were replaced by new ones.

The newly constructed installation for non-catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides has been successfully in operation since 2016, reducing nitrogen oxide emissions in Kilns 4 and 5.

2 533 000 BGN were invested in environmental improvements in 2017. Environmental management costs and investment in environmentally friendly technologies have an approximately equal share in the total amount of environmental costs – 44.1% and 43.9% respectively. The first group includes all the maintenance costs of the treatment facilities, maintenance of the industrial site cleanliness, ecological monitoring costs, incl. such as calibration of continuous emission monitoring devices, costs of environmental studies, audits, etc. In terms of investment, in 2017, predominant are those that aim at increasing the amount of alternative fuels used, maintaining low dust emissions and new analyzers for automatic emissions monitoring in the atmosphere.

AIR EMISSIONS

TITAN Group's strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change is aimed at achieving a balance between satisfying the needs of society and reducing the impact of carbon emissions on the environment.

By developing and producing new products with an eco-friendly and long life cycle, releasing minimal amounts of carbon, we strive simultaneously to minimize the harm and maximize the benefits coming out from our activities to the environment.

Currently:

  • Total and specific NOx emissions have decreased as a result of launching the NOx reduction system (SNCR installation)
  • Dust emissions remain at low levels. All sources of dust emissions are equipped with highly efficient filters that minimize the release of particulate matter into the atmosphere.
  • One of the main sources of fugitive emissions at the plant, the warehouse for cement clinker, was eliminated.
  • SOx emissions remain significantly below the norm.
  • The average annual concentration of total organic carbon remains at extremely low levels with no significant changes. This is due to the relatively constant composition of raw materials used in recent years.
  • Hydrogen chloride and fluoride emissions remain well below the limit.

The low levels of major pollutants, associated with the burning of waste, namely total organic carbon, dioxins and furans, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and heavy metals, amid the increasing percentage of alternative fuels in the fuel mix, are evidence of a well-controlled burning process with careful selection of wastes used for production.

ALTERNATIVE FUELS AND RAW MATERIALS

Cement production is a waste-free process.

Cement production is most suitable for implementing alternative fuels and raw materials. This is due to the high temperatures of 2000 °C, the oxidation environment and the prolonged keeping of the gases for more than 5 seconds.

The production of clinker is the most suitable process that can be used for neutralizing materials with heavy metal content. These heavy metals bind in the crystalline structure of the clinker and stay there forever.

As long as the cement industry keeps on manufacturing clinker under the viable production conditions in using alternative fuels and raw materials it will play an important role in solving society’s problems with wastes and reducing CO2emissions into the atmosphere.

GAEA - Green Alternative Energy Assets, is a joint venture between TITAN Cement SA and Evolution Environmental Group LLC (“E2”), an American environmental and alternative energy company, offers solutions for waste management/environmental protection, waste utilization and alternative fuels production. Since 2012, GAEA has been through different development stages and constant enhancements and now the AF business has already reached the level of a well-functioning organization. With the help of its technological know-how and well-managed team, GAEA EAD is capable of contributing significant value to the cement producing operation in Bulgaria.

As a result of working with alternative fuels, we saved more than 80 000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which significantly reduced not only our own carbon footprint but also helped to improve the environmental conditions in the region as a whole.

Due to the changes in the structure of waste supply and the prevailing use of packaging and plastics, we achieved significant improvements in the quality of processed engineered fuel (PEF).

Along with the optimization of supply and production process, GAEA implemented a full set of procedures, related to day-to-day operations, providing greater efficiency, and continuous control. At the end of 2016, GAEA was also certified with an integrated quality management system according to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS standards.

Alternative fuels

Sources of alternative fuels that we utilize:

Used tires– currently Zlatna Panega Cement has two operating lines for supplying used tires to the two kilns of the plant.

RDF (refuse derived fuels)– these are fuels made of selected waste materials such as plastic, paper, rubber, textile that CANNOT be recycled or reused. These materials are cut into small pieces and then they are homogenized and fed to the kiln burners.

Biomass – СО2neutral

The first type of biomass includes waste materials from industrial processes such as meat and bone meal from slaughterhouses and sediments from waste water treatment plants.

The second type of biomass are the waste materials from agriculture such as rice chaffs, residual wood from the wood-cutting industry, energy crops or fast-growing trees cultivated on exhausted lands. Energy crops are perennial, do not need fertilizers and pesticides, grow deep roots and thus improve the quality of the soil.

Alternative raw materials

These are waste raw materials used as a substitute of the natural raw materials for the production of clinker or as a cement additive. Waste raw materials substitute natural raw materials such as Са, Si, Al and Fe, which are the main ingredients of clinker. The cement additives replace the natural gypsum with industrial gypsum or improve its characteristics.

Scaling (Fe additive)

Fly Ash (cement additive)

Wet Ash (cement additive)

Industrial Gypsum (cement additive)

Steel Slag

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WATER MANAGEMENT

Cement production requires enormous quantities of water for cooling the hot gases in the kiln, the production equipment and for irrigation.

In order to improve the quality of the water and to make its use more efficient the following facilities were built at Zlatna Panega Cement AD:

  • New sewerage system.
  • Treatment plants for industrial and household waters.
  • Facility for drying the sludge from water treatment.
  • A settlement tank for rainwater from the fuel storage.

In order to avoid losses, the purified waters in the treatment plant for industrial waters are returned to the cycle while fresh water is used only for refilling.

Due to the three-stage sewage treatment(mechanical, chemical and biological), the parameters of water measured at the outlet of the facility are much below the permissible norms. The treated waters are subjected to monitoring every three months by a certified laboratory.

Successful water management inevitably requires constant training of the staff in understanding the importance of this resource.

Аll water cistern trucks at Zlatna Panega Cement AD were provided with special devices that enable them to use recycled water for irrigating the territory of the plant.

One of the most important projects related to water management is the introduction of an automated electronic metering system for water in the plant in 2015. The new system contains 64 meters. Switching to electronic reporting happened in the middle of 2016. The control over the flow of water and proper maintenance of the water supply network and water recycling system have reduced overall water consumption and the specific water consumption per ton of cement.

The cement plant operates near the biggest karst spring in Bulgaria – „Glava Panega”. To guarantee the quantity and quality of the groundwater, specific methods of mining are introduced in the Zlatna Panega quarry, strict rules for work in the quarry and the cement plant have been established, as well as water quality monitoring. By chemical composition and properties, the water from the „Glava Panega” spring meets the requirements for drinking water.

QUARRY MANAGEMENT

The company follows the principle that preserving the environment and the natural resources is a continuous process that starts from the geological studies, through the extraction and ends with the subsequent technical and biological replanting.

At the time of investigating the reserves, a selective excavation, depositing and subsequent storage of the soil rubble and rock rubble is carried out. The proper locations for their depositing are identified in order to select fields for the spoil that are located on damaged terrains relatively close to the replanting area. In this way, no additional areas are blocked and maximum use of the existing terrains is guaranteed.

Once the selective depositing of the soil rubble is completed and in case it will not be used for another 5 years the company starts to plant grass on the spoil in order to preserve its reproductive capacities until the moment comes to use these terrains for biological replanting.

The selectively deposited rock rubble is used for technical replanting. Importance is given to ensuring optimum restoration of the landscape.

The provisions of the Bulgarian and European legislature concerning the preservation of the natural resources are strictly observed during the actual exploitation of the quarries. The choice of the right system for operating the quarry, for keeping to the overall and annual exploitation plans, the optimum extraction of the natural resources with minimum losses, ensuring the stability of the slopes and unused boards, the regular accounting for the use of the reserves, the damaged and replanted terrains, the periodic measuring of the environmental factors are all certain proof of the company’s commitment towards environmental issues and the preservation of natural resources.

The efficient exploitation of the natural resources prolongs the life of the existing quarries and avoids any damages to the new terrains.

When it comes to replanting the key moment is the possibility to perform gradual replanting. This means that technical and biological replanting must be carried out after the reserves of a given horizon have been depleted. In this way, we try to create favorable conditions for rapidly restoring the environmental factors to their initial state and quality.

Through technical replanting, we try to restore as much as possible the original landscape and to create conditions for normal biological replanting.

Through biological replanting, we try to restore the diversity of trees and grasses typical for the region thus restoring the ranges of the animal and bird species that inhabited the region.

Once the replanting is finished the company continues to look after and monitor the growth of the trees.

BIODIVERSITY

Zlatna Panega Cement AD operates in one of the most beautiful and rich in biodiversity Karst regions in Bulgaria. This is both - a privilege and a challenge. For 50 years the company has been successfully reconciling mining and production activities with the preservation and restoration of biodiversity. Zlatna Panega Cement AD has developed a Biodiversity Management Plan based on the Guidelines of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2013) and IUSN and European Commission instruments.

In order to obtain the necessary raw materials, Zlatna Panega Cement AD has concessions for two quarries – Zlatna Panega and Koritna. Close to the Zlatna Panega quarry is the largest Karst spring on the Balkan Peninsula - Glava Panega, which is protected by NATURA 2000.

At the moment only the Zlatna Panega quarry is in operation and a part of it has been replanted.

An environmental study was conducted in 2009 in order to get a clearer idea of the existing flora and fauna in the Zlatna Panega quarry. The results showed that various species such as Orchis simia observer, Achillea Clypeolata, Spiranthes spiralis, etc. were found on the territory of the quarry.

Some of the plant species that fall within the operating quarry, were moved to suitable locations that will no longer be exploited.

At the same time, over the years at the Zlatna Panega quarry, thousands of new trees have been planted such as black pine, ash, oak (Turkey oak and Pedunculate oak) and others. The seedlings of the selected local, typical for the region plant species were grown in the nursery of Zlatna Panega Cement Plant.

In 2017, we continued the observation of the ornithofauna in the area of the Zlatna Panega quarry. The species diversity remains unchanged and is like that in undisturbed terrains with similar characteristics.

Prohodna cave - The Eyes of God 1
Karlukovo Karst Region 2
The Zlatna Panega River 3
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