Souselas Cement Plant

Souselas Cement Plant is a cement plant in Portugal. Its listed capacity is 3,500,000 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 InterCement Portugal SA. By capacity it ranks #1 among 5 cement plants in Portugal. It emits about 953,806 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE, roughly comparable to the annual emissions of 222k passenger cars. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 25% below the national median for this sector.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-32439040.

In context: how this facility compares

At 3,500,000 t of cement, Souselas Cement Plant is well above the median cement plant in Portugal (1,450,000 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.

What 953,806 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 Portugal

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

Operator

Operated by InterCement Portugal SA. All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

Souselas Cement Plant sits in a warm-summer Mediterranean climate zone (Köppen Csb), at 40.3°N in the northern hemisphere.

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

Site climate & environmental severity

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 marine corrosion the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1345 W/m² to ambient — roughly 1.03× the loss at a 20 °C reference; removable insulation recovers about 1278 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.

How it compares & nearby sites

The #1 largest of 5 cement plants in Portugal by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• Lactogal - Produtos Alimentares, S.A. - Tocha (Ci) · Food & Beverage
• Figueira da Foz BEKP Pulp and Paper Mill · Pulp & Paper Mill · 309,171 t CO₂
• Sumolis Gm - Pombal (Ci) · Food & Beverage
• The Navigator Company - Cacia Pulp Mill · Pulp & Paper Mill · 173,570 t CO₂
• Leirosa Bleached Eucalyptus Pulp Mill · Pulp & Paper Mill · 59,665 t CO₂
• Avisabor - Indústria Agro-Alimentar, Sa (Ci) · Food & Beverage

Location

Coordinates 40.28898, -8.41818. View on OpenStreetMap.

Heat loss & insulation profile

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.

Indicative recoverable energy

A first-pass insulation screen suggests about 14,000 MWh/year of recoverable heat-loss reduction and about 4,900 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.

Safety & the no-regret first step

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.

EU policy pressure on this sector

Obligation

This facility is inside the EU. For thermal equipment, insulation upgrades can support ETS exposure reduction and energy-efficiency compliance.

Sources: EU ETS, CBAM and national energy-efficiency schemes.

Frequently asked questions