Prescription Drug Abuse Essay

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D uring 2008 South Africa generated approximately 430 Metric tons of CO2 (Boden et al., 2011), thereby warranting South Africa’s commitment to the significant reductions in GHG emissions through international agreements. The possibility of CO2 sequestration through mineral carbonation of material (e.g. mine waste) is becoming more attractive (Hietkamp et al., 2004). A number of potentially suitable industrial wastes are extensively produced in South Africa, (e.g mine waste), and studies for mineral carbonation thereof have been conducted, (Meyer and Vogeli et al., 2014, pp. 45-51). But to date the contribution and mitigation of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions by the Cement industry has not been addressed. The South African construction industry contributes between 80 and 90% of total infrastructure spending within the South African Development Community (SADC). Growth in the construction industry directly effects the cement industry and by 2009 production capacity increased by 24% to 17.5 million ton cement produced locally for the given year. C ement occupies approximately 50% of the mixed concrete volume and is responsible for physiomechanical properties of concrete. Cement production is essential to infrastructure and building construction, creating demands in very large quantities. Energy resources invested in the production process and resulting greenhouse gas emissions have become problematic. The cement production process has become among the world’s largest anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to approximately 5% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions, (WBCSD, 2009). Increased pressure is being placed on the industry to reduce CO2 emissions, owning to awareness regarding sustainability.... ... middle of paper ... ...to recycle/reuse the industrial-by-product materials to achieve sustainable development aims in South Africa has necessitated the need for the possibility of CO2 sequestration through mineral carbonation as carbon storage technology. Although experimental studies investigating the use of cement Kiln Dust (CKD) as a cement replacement material have been conducted and positive outcomes found, (Najim and Mahmod et al., 2014), the CO2 emission produced by the industry is not reduced by this replacement during the raw material stage. Therefor most promising mitigation for reduction of CO2 emissions is the mineral carbonation of cement kiln dust. The study provides mitigation results not only for anthropogenic emissions of the industry, but also the reduction of waste piles and landfills for industrial waste, and the use a stable end-product in the construction industry.

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