Coprocessamento de resíduos em uma cimenteira de Cantagalo, RJ: investigação documental de um inquérito civil do Ministério Público do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.

Abstract

Coprocessing is one of the alternatives to amend the environmental problem from the excessive generation of residues, plus being an advantage for the cement factories employing such technique, reducing costs, using residues as clinker furnace fuel and/or partial substitute of feedstock. However, this technique may intensify the generation of pollutant matter released by the cement furnaces, causing impacts on the environment and population health. This study aimed to classify and analyze the files from the civil investigation (CI) about the environmental and public health damages caused by a cement factory in Cantagalo, RJ, Brazil, in order to ascertain whether the factory showed an effective performance regarding the control of atmospheric pollutants, targeting to recommend or not its Operation Permit (OP) renewal for the coprocessing. A dossier of files present in the CI about the air quality was done; the choice for files related to the air quality is due to the atmospheric pollution be regarded as a characteristic impact in the cement manufacturing, being classified in 7 categories: dispatch office, report, technical advice, technical report and other files. The analysis of the documents allowed to find that even though the factory showed some improvements related to the air quality, it still has deficiencies urging to be fixed before the factory consider an OP renewal, and after fixing these deficiencies, it will be required to perform a deepened study regarding atmospheric emissions with and without coprocessing, which is not included in the CI. This study evaluated, too, the regulatory body of Rio de Janeiro state opinion during this CI, and discussed its malleable posture about the air quality requirements. It is relevant to highlight the methodology used for files analysis, being the major contribution for this work, as it can be an important tool to assist in other processes about environmental issues.