Foreword
India is one of the major cement producing countries in the world, having as many as 97 major cement plants and a total installed capacity of about 65 million tonnes per annum which is likely to be of the order of 100 million tonnes per annum by the turn of the century .

The Cement production is an air polluting industry right from mining to packaging of finished product. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) developed the emission standards for cement industry in 1986. Since then, the industry is mandatorily required'to install air pollution control equipment to reduce the dust emission for meeting the specified limit. For sustainable development. technological improvement of pollution control equipment is an essential pre-requisite. With the developments in technology, the industry should not only meet the regulatory limit but also strive for betterment, where it is feasible.

Keeping these considerations in view, this document has been prepared for dissemination of information on different types of dust collection system, their advantages and disadvantages, maintenance and operational problems, techno- economic comparison, payback period and best available pollution control technology in Indian context. Prevention being better than cure, the report also deals with clean technology aspects including kiln performance and optimisation, which is the need of the day.

A study was commissioned by the Central Board for collection of relevant information and preparation of this document. The study was undertaken by the National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB). Dr. B. Sengupta, Senior Scientist, CPCB coordinated this important task and he was assisted by Shri P .K. Gupta, Assistant Environmental Engineer. My sincere appreciation to the team of NCB and CPCB for their contribution in carrying out the groundwork and preparing this document.

We hope, the document will be useful to the cement industry , regulatory agencies, R & D institutions, consultants and others concerned with pollution control for sustainable development