COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF COAL, FUEL OIL AND NATURAL GAS FOR CEMENT PRODUCTION

ABSTRACT
This study is a comparative analysis of the use of coal, fuel oil and natural gas for cement production noting their physical and chemical properties, cost and availability, impact on the environment and human health. Out of the seven cement manufacturing industries in Nigeria, three industries use these fuels were selected for the study. The industries are NigerCem –Ebonyi state, Dangote cement –Benue state and UniCem -Cross river state. Questionnaires were used to gather information on the three fuels. The likert 3- scale model was adopted, using 2.0 as the cut off mark. Based on the analysis of the study, it was observed out that amongst these three (3) fuels, fuel oil is presently expensive though available, while coal and natural gas are cheap but coal is not available due to the closure of Nigeria‟s coal mine. In terms of environment and health, coal and fuel oil emit much harmful gases to the environment and cause more health problems to cement worker but natural gas emits less of these harmful gases to the environment and cause less health problems to workers. The study therefore shows that natural gas is the best fuel because it is cheap, readily available and creates fewer problems to the environment.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
Certification ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ii
Approval ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii
Dedication ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- iv
Acknowledgement -------------------------------------------------------------------- v
Abstract -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- vi
Table of contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vii