Study to optimise Lime and Brick Production in Yemen

The objective of the study was two-fold:

• To optimise the diesel-fired lime production system in the light of enhancing the local economic development/ income generation, and improving environmental conditions.
• To explore potentials and opportunities of existing lime kilns regarding alternative fuels to enhance the local and regional economic development/ income generation, and to improve environmental and working conditions.

Lime production:

The optimisation of lime production in the Shibam area is a sub-component of GTZ’s Shibam Urban Development Project (SUDP) in Yemen. Skat undertook an assessment improvement of the diesel-fired lime production system considering economic, environmental/energy efficiency, technical, social and institutional aspects; target groups; relevance to GTZ’s country strategy; risks and risk management; recommendations for optimisation to improve existing lime production using diesel; and a proposal of how to proceed and next steps.

Brick production:

Existing brick kilns of Zabid area are hardly in use because brick production is no longer economically viable. The existing kilns have been fired mainly with wood. In that light, it has been of high importance to assess the current opportunities for revitalising and increasing brick production in Zabid in order to meet the needs, and thus, to enhance the local economy and income generation. In this context, it has been vital to explore appropriate brick production technologies, and to develop alternative solutions to improve the existing technologies towards more economic viability, environmental friendliness, energy-efficiency, and improved quality of the bricks produced. Skat assessed most urgent needs in the existing brick production regarding the energy-efficiency of brick-making technologies and the sustainable use of natural resources for fuelling, and developed a proposal for further proceedings (project proposal); including a proposal for an environmentally sustainable and fuel efficient technology.