Welcome to Palm Springs

This year’s conference is again dedicated to cement industry professionals. The 2009 conference in Palm Springs provides topical educational tutorials as well as informative technical papers. The conference will be held at the Desert Springs, a JW Marriott Resort & Spa, Palm Desert, California/USA.
This year’s conference will include a special Environmental Workshop to address a number of significant environmental issues and their impact on the cement industry. This special program will be held concurrently with the technical presen­tations scheduled for Tuesday morning. The program will start just after the opening presentation by Ed Sullivan, PCA Chief Economist and Staff Vice President of Economic Research. It will cover the topics
­–    Toxicology of hexavalent chromium and mercury
–    AB 32, CO2, climate change and the cement industry
–    SNCR and SCR and their implications for NOx reduction in the cement industry
–    Mercury speciation, evolution and ultimate fate in cement manufacturing
­–    NESHAP Update

A plant visit is scheduled for Thursday June 4th to Texas Industries, Incorporated in Oro Grande, California. This facility is a new state-of-the-art five stage preheater/precalciner operation (Figs. 1 and 2). Join this tour for a look at some new and exciting technology as well as some historical vertical shaft kilns.