Zinc, lead, and cadmium are minor elements that might be brought by wastes to the cement kilns. This work studies the incorporation ratio of ZnO, PbO, and CdO when they are added to the clinker raw material. The cement raw material used in this work was prepared by mixing pure compounds. this choice was made to avoid the effect of other elements and provide a better understanding of the behavior of these metals during the clinkering process. The samples contained additions of 0.05, 0.10, 0.30, 0.50, 0.80 and 1.00 wt.% of a specific oxide (ZnO, PbO, or CdO) to the clinker raw-meal. The chlorine influence in the ZnO incorporation ratio was also evaluated. A device to simulate the thermal cycle imposed on the charge during the clinker production was used to evaluate the incorporation ratio of these oxides as well as thermogravimetric tests. The products of the tests in the simulator device were submitted to X-ray fluorescence chemical analysis or energy disperse scanning (EDS) microprobe analysis. The results led to the conclusions that the evaporation of Zn in cements kilns is due to the chlorine content and the Pb and Cd incorporation ratio stands around 50 wt.%. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.