Glossary

Aggregates are sand and gravel, which are mined from quarries. They give ready-mix concrete its necessary volume and add to its overall strength. Under normal circumstances, one cubic meter of fresh concrete contains two metric tons of gravel and sand.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol that allows Annex I countries to recognize greenhouse gas emission reductions from projects developed in Non-Annex I countries.

Clinker is an intermediate cement product made by sintering limestone, clay, and iron oxide in a kiln at around 1,450 degrees Celsius. One metric ton of clinker is used to make approximately 1.1 metric tons of gray Portland cement.

Fly ash is a combustion residue from power plants that can be used as a non-clinker cementitious material.

Gray Portland cement is a hydraulic binding agent with a composition by weight of at least 95% clinker and 0–5% of a minor component (usually calcium sulfate). It can set and harden underwater and, when mixed with aggregates and water, produces concrete or mortar.

Installed capacity is the theoretical annual production capacity of a plant; whereas effective capacity is a plant’s actual optimal annual production capacity, which can be 10–20% less than installed capacity.

Metric ton is the equivalent of 1.102 short tons.

Petroleum coke (pet coke) is a byproduct of the oil refining coking process.

Pozzolana is a fine, sandy volcanic ash.

Ready-mix concrete is a mixture of cement, aggregates, and water.

Slag is the byproduct of smelting ore to purify metals.