Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The following FAQs address the CO2 and Energy reporting with the Protocol Spreadsheet.

General Questions

"#VALUE" appears as long as some necessary input cells have not been completed (i.e., some cells have been left blank).

Generally, a value must be entered in all white input cells. Enter 0 (zero) if a value is zero or if an item is not applicable. Do not leave input cells blank.

Some critical cells that are easily overlooked include:

  • Lines 115 to line123 and line146 to line153 (consumption and heating values of biomass fuels)
  • Lines 301 to line304 and line311 to line314 (consumption and heating values of non-kiln fuels)

In the Cement CO2 and Energy Protocol Spreadsheet Version 3 there are columns for all years since 1990 to allow for comparable analysis of data of former years, which were reported according to the Cement CO2 Protocol Version 2 until the year 2010.

Note however: The inclusion of historical data for the new parameters in version 3 is at the discretion of each company. However, the interpretation and analysis of the new data will be helped if companies include as much historical information as practically possible. In any case the submission or presentation of data should clearly indicate which methods (Protocol Version 3 or Version 2) have been used for their determination. In the Protocol Spreadsheet Version 3 this information is obvious from line007ab with a fixed value. See also the comment entered in line007ac.

Further information on the comparison and changes between Protocol Version 3 and 2 can be found in the Protocol Guidance Document, Appendix A6 and A7, and in the section What is new in Version 3 ?.

These buttons indicate the existence of grouped rows and columns.

However, please use only the selection of Inventory Boundaries in line007a to line007j for opening and closing corresponding groups of lines in the Protocol Spreadsheet and apply these inventory boundaries by selecting the relevant year of reporting in line007k. Manually opening and closing groups of lines by using the buttons "1" and "2" might cause problems with the processing of macros incorporated into the Protocol Spreadsheet.

These cells can be filled voluntarily if they are relevant e.g. for a local or regional regime; they are not checked by the validation tool.

FAQs on General Plant Information

 

FAQs on Inventory Boundaries

 

FAQs on Clinker and Cement Production
Cement (equivalent) is a cement production value which is determined from clinker produced on-site applying the plant specific clinker/cement-factor. Hence it is a virtual cement production under the assumption that all clinker produced in a plant is consumed for cement production in the same plant and applying the real plant specific clinker/cement factor.
line049b

The value of 865 kg CO2/t clinker in the Protocol version 3.1 is taken from the CSI GNRClosedGetting the Numbers Right data base. It is the global weighted average for the years 2006/2007.

The clinker/cement (equivalent) factor is defined as the ratio between clinker consumption and own clinker consumed plus gypsum, limestone, CKD, plus clinker substitute consumed for blending, plus clinker bought and consumed. As shown in the following equation the nominator is based on clinker consumption. Hence, the denominator sold clinker is excluded and bought clinker is included.

For more details, please see the chapters 6.3 and 6.2 in the Protocol Guidance Document.

FAQs on Kiln Fuel Consumption

 

FAQs on Non-Kiln Fuel Consumption

 

FAQs on Power Balance

line033d
For the value "kg CO2/MWh" from the national grid governmental data should be used as a first priority. If they are not available as the second priority IEAClosedInternational Energy Agency data should be used.

FAQs on Waste Heat Use

 

FAQs on Direct CO2 Emissions

Only absolute gross CO2 emissions are calculated both including and excluding on-site power generation (line059 and line059c). Absolute net emissions (line071) as well as specific values (related to clinker in line060 or cementitious in line062) are calculated excluding on-site power generation.

FAQs on Indirect CO2 Emissions

 

FAQs on Performance Indicators

 

FAQs on Fuel CO2 Factors Sheet

 

FAQs on Calcination

The Calcination sheets are auxiliary sheets and hidden by default. One Calcination sheet must be created for each plant which uses one of the methods A1, A2 or B2 for calculating calcination CO2 (see Plant sheet line007n and z Select a Method for Determining CO2 Emissions from Calcination).

Thus, if you select a Calcination CO2 method other than B1 for the first time in a certain Plant sheet, you will need to create a new Calcination sheet. See How to create a calcination sheet

In a step-by step example you will find an explanation on how to integrate the results of the Calcination sheet into the Plant sheet.

If CO2 from raw material calcination shall be calculated for several plants, new calcination sheets should be created by clicking the button "Create Calcination Sheet" in the corresponding Plant sheet in line007n.

See How to create a calcination sheet

Check the following steps:
1. Activate macros.
2. Say "YES" to Kiln operation in line007c of the section Inventory Boundaries.
3. Select CO2 Calcination Method, then create Calcination sheet.
4. In a step-by step example for printout you find an explanation on how to Integrate the Calcination sheet into the Plant sheet.

Basically the difference is, that one equation uses the plant specific emission factor for clinker (EFCLI in t CO2/t clinker) and the other equation uses the weight fraction of carbonate CO2 in the raw meal (CO2RM). The calculation methods A1 and A2 require the use of CO2RM whereas the output methods B1 and B2 are based on EFCLI.

Equation 17: Equation 5 from the Protocol Guidance Document, Chapter 3.4

where:

  • EFCKD = Emission factor of CKD
  • EFCLI = Emission factor of clinker
  • d = calcination rate of CKD

Equation 18: Equation 1 from the Protocol Guidance Document, Chapter 3.3

where:

  • EFCKD = Emission factor of CKD
  • LOIRM = Loss on ignition of raw meal
  • d = calcination rate of CKD

Please note, that the calcination rate d of the CKD shall preferably be based on plant-specific data. In the absence of such data, a default value of 0 (d=0%) shall be used for dry process kilns because CKD is usually not or only to a negligible degree calcined in this process. In other processes (half dry, half wet or wet) calcination rates can be significant. In the absence of data, a default value of 1 (d =100%) shall be used for these kiln types.

See the Protocol Guidance Document for additional information (Chapters 3.3 and 3.4).

FAQs on Validation

The validation tool will check if all required cells contain values and if these values are within a certain range of common values for cement plants (see List of Validation Ranges). This is to help users avoid making mistakes during data input, such as unfilled cells and lost or additional trailing zeros.

If the validation fails due to a value outside the min-max validation range, it does not automatically mean that the entered value is wrong! However, you should double-check the value and then ignore the message of the validation tool if the given numbers are definitely correct.
Please see Check for errors for further information.

FAQs on Company Sheet

The lines

  • line034d to line034s,
  • line138 to line144,
  • line199a and
  • line200a to line200h

are invisible in the Company sheet, because the calculation formulas lead to invalid results for specific values on company level. A correct representation in the Company sheet is not feasible (in the Protocol Spreadsheet).

Additional Questions

If you have questions, please carefully read the answers to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Additional questions on the Cement CO2 and Energy Protocol Spreadsheet can be addressed to gnrpmc@gccassociation.org.