Cement Plant in Nicaragua. Approximate location 11.86067, -86.42416.
Cement PlantNicaraguaCO₂ estimate (modelled)
San Rafael del Sur Cement Plant is a cement plant in Nicaragua. Its listed capacity is 420,000 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 CEMEX SAB de CV. It emits about 93,400 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE, roughly comparable to the annual emissions of 22k passenger cars. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 39% below the national median for this sector.
Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-32438962.
Source data, measured cross-checks and calculated values are kept separate. No confidence percentage is invented.
Same Climate TRACE subsector; closest non-placeholder modelled CO₂e values. Russia and Belarus excluded.
PowerAtlas operating assets, ordered by great-circle distance from published coordinates.
At 420,000 t of cement, San Rafael del Sur Cement Plant is around the median cement plant in Nicaragua (420,000 t of cement). Subsector: cement. As cement plant, it requires high process heat (typically 800–1400°C) for its core industrial operations — heat that must be supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion, and losses through uninsulated vessels and piping represent wasted fuel. Removable modular insulation can cut those losses by 80–96%, surface-cooling equipment to ≤45°C, with payback often under 2 years. 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.
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.
At its reported 93k t CO₂e/yr (Scope 1), San Rafael del Sur Cement Plant carries no domestic carbon price — and as a CBAM-covered product, its 93k t at the EU CBAM rate (€75/t) is €7.0M/yr of exposure on EU-bound exports. CBAM share rises from 2.5% (2026) to 100% by 2034. The fastest decarbonization lever is energy efficiency: eliminating heat loss on hot equipment (removable insulation, steam & waste-heat recovery) typically cuts 2–5% of fuel-related CO₂ — here ≈2k t–5k t/yr, worth €141k–€352k, with payback up to 2 years. No domestic carbon price — but cement, steel, aluminium, fertilizer and hydrogen exported to the EU face CBAM at €75/t (rising to 100% by 2034).
Carbon price: EU CBAM €75/t · EU ETS €79/t, July 2, 2026, refreshed live via Carbon Hub. CO₂: Climate TRACE. Efficiency range: US DOE / ASTM C680 (method). Indicative carbon value, not the cash bill — free allocation applies; not compliance advice. Estimate the saving for this site →
Operated by CEMEX SAB de CV. All facilities by this operator →
San Rafael del Sur Cement Plant sits in a tropical savanna climate zone (Köppen Aw), at 11.9°N in the northern hemisphere.
Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
The local climate sets how fast unprotected steel, protective coatings and the insulation on hot process equipment degrade at this site. It 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 1245 W/m² to ambient — roughly 0.96× the loss at a 20 °C reference; removable insulation recovers about 1183 W/m² of that. 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).
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
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.
Coordinates 11.86067, -86.42416. View on OpenStreetMap.
For a cement plant, the main modular-insulation targets are rotary kiln shell, preheater tower, tertiary air duct & kiln hood, clinker-cooler ducts, valves. Typical hot-surface ranges used for screening: 200–1,000 °C.
60% of cement CO2 is process calcination - NOT insulation-addressable; energy here is the fuel side only.
A first-pass insulation screen suggests about 8,000 MWh/year of recoverable heat-loss reduction and about 2,700 t CO₂e/year of avoided emissions. Screening estimate scaled from installed process-heat projects and surface-temperature reduction data.
See Inzonex Modular Insulation → Run the calculator →
Screening calculation from facility class, capacity and open emissions/energy context. Engineering survey required before procurement.
Start with a thermal survey of valves, flanges, doors and bends. Removable modular insulation keeps maintenance access open while lowering exposed-surface temperature and wasted heat.
For energy-efficiency projects around process heat, likely external funding channels include:
Sources: country climate-finance facilities and public development-bank programmes.
San Rafael del Sur Cement Plant is a cement plant in Nicaragua. 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.
The open dataset lists 420,000 t of cement of capacity for San Rafael del Sur Cement Plant.
The page uses about 93,400 t CO₂e/year from the open dataset It ranks #1 among facilities in Nicaragua by estimated CO₂.
San Rafael del Sur Cement Plant is in Nicaragua at approximately 11.86067, -86.42416.
The operator recorded in the open dataset is CEMEX SAB de CV.
