Korea Building Materials Sunghori Cement Plant — North Korea

Korea Building Materials Sunghori Cement Plant is a cement plant in North Korea. Its listed capacity is 95,000 t of cement. Cement plants heat limestone to 1,400°C in rotary kilns — one of the hottest industrial processes — and must control temperature precisely across the entire kiln length. It is operated by Ministry of Construction and Building-Materials Industry (North Korea). By capacity it ranks #2 among 2 cement plants in North Korea. It emits about 49,523 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 0.33% of the CO₂e from the 9 facilities in North Korea that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 44% above the national median for this sector.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-42547295.

In context: how this facility compares

At 95,000 t of cement, Korea Building Materials Sunghori Cement Plant is below the median cement plant in North Korea (3,500,000 t of cement). Subsector: cement. As cement plant, it requires high process heat (typically 800–1400°C) for its core industrial operations, supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion. Cement plants heat limestone to 1,400°C in rotary kilns — one of the hottest industrial processes — and must control temperature precisely across the entire kiln length.

Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.

What 49,523 t CO₂e a year looks like

This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:

Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.

Capacity vs largest cement plants in North Korea

Listed capacity (t of cement), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).

Operator

Operated by Ministry of Construction and Building-Materials Industry (North Korea). All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

Korea Building Materials Sunghori Cement Plant sits in a monsoon hot-summer continental climate zone (Köppen Dwa), at 39.0°N in the northern hemisphere.

Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).

Site climate & environmental severity

This site sits in a mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with thermal cycling the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1398 W/m² to ambient — roughly 1.07× the loss at a 20 °C reference. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby sites

The #2 largest of 2 cement plants in North Korea by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• Ch'ollima Steel Complex steel plant · Steel Plant · 20,343 t CO₂
• Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex steel plant · Steel Plant · 1,291,164 t CO₂
• Korea Building Materials Sunchon Cement Plant · Cement Plant · 1,179,824 t CO₂
• Korea Building Materials Puhung Cement Plant · Cement Plant
• Korea Building Materials Pusan-ri Cement Plant · Cement Plant
• Korea Building Materials Kyongamsan Cement Plant · Cement Plant

Location

Coordinates 38.99643, 125.97573. View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions