Cement production is intensive in terms of energy consumption. An analysis of the resources involved in manufacturing clinker needs a corresponding mass and energy balance. This balance may indicate the existence of residual heat flows that are not used. This paper summarizes the development of a protocol for the evaluation of a cement plant rotary kiln to implement an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system for cogeneration. The results show that 19.2% of the energy preheater exhaust gas can be recovered to be used in producing 5.5 GWh/year of electricity and 23.7 GWh/year of thermal energy in the cement plant. The electricity generated would represent annual savings of 1.18 $/t cement. The thermal energy produced in cogeneration, equivalent to coal in the plant itself, represents cement savings of 0.51 $/t cement and emissions reductions of 8 kt CO<sub>2</sub>/year.