Rio Branco do Sul Cement Plant — Brazil

Rio Branco do Sul Cement Plant is a cement plant in Brazil. Its listed capacity is 7,000,000 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 Votorantim Cimentos SA. By capacity it ranks #1 among 31 cement plants in Brazil. It emits about 2,936,031 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 2.1% of the CO₂e from the 130 facilities in Brazil that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 16% above the national median for this sector.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-32437325.

In context: how this facility compares

At 7,000,000 t of cement, Rio Branco do Sul Cement Plant is well above the median cement plant in Brazil (1,080,000 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 2,936,031 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 Brazil

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

Operator

Operated by Votorantim Cimentos SA. All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

Rio Branco do Sul Cement Plant sits in a temperate oceanic climate zone (Köppen Cfb), at 25.2°S in the southern hemisphere.

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

Site climate & environmental severity

This site sits in a corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1327 W/m² to ambient — roughly 1.02× 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 #1 largest of 31 cement plants in Brazil by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• Trombini - Parana Corrugated Cardboard · Pulp & Paper Mill · 22,069 t CO₂
• Balsa nova Cement Plant · Cement Plant · 411,013 t CO₂
• Petrobras REPAR (Pres. Getulio Vargas) Araucaria Refinery · Refinery · 1,456,029 t CO₂
• Gerdau Guaíra Araucária steel plant · Steel Plant · 236,436 t CO₂
• Adrianopolis Cement Plant · Cement Plant · 394,199 t CO₂
• Indústria de Papel Amazonas Ltda Pulp Mill · Pulp & Paper Mill

Location

Coordinates -25.1926, -49.32585. View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions