Displaying items by tag: US

US: The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) of New York state has turned down Lafarge Cement’s application for a licence to burn tyres as an alternative fuel (AF) at its Ravena cement plant. The Times Union newspaper has reported the DEC found that the plant in Albany county was inadequately equipped to burn tyres under the permit for which the company had applied.

Spokesperson Jocelyn Gerst said “We received the DEC’s correspondence and are reviewing it. We will be weighing all available options.”

US: Veolia North America (VNA) has signed a contract for the supply of used blades from onshore wind turbines from GE Renewables. The waste management company will process the blades to produce shredded composite materials for use in cement production, both as replacement for war materials such as sand and clay and as an alternative fuel. As a part of the agreement, blades that have been removed from turbines will be shredded at VNA’s processing facility in Missouri and then used in cement plants across the US. On average, nearly 90% of the blade material, by weight, will be reused as a repurposed engineered material for cement production.

Environmental solutions and services chief operating officer (COO) Bob Cappadona said, "By adding wind turbine blades — which are primarily made of fibreglass — to replace raw materials for cement manufacturing, we are reducing the amount of coal, sand and minerals that are needed to produce the cement.” GE Renewables and sustainability consultant Quantis said that the use of turbine blades in cement production would reduce net CO₂ emissions by up to 27% and water consumption by up to 13%.

US: Geocycle has planted its first crop of perennial native grasses at its Dorchester, South Carolina site. The supplier says that it is trialling the crop as an alternative fuel and future biofuel for the US Southeast region. It sowed giant reed, miscane, miscanthus and switchgrass, which it praised for their ‘low establishment and upkeep costs’ and demonstrated yields of between 12t/acre and 20t/acre.

The company said, “The team is committed to actively participating in the communities’ and state’s bioenergy projects, which aim at developing the circular economy and help achieve net zero future.”

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has named Beumer Group winner of its Chairman’s Manufacturing Performance Award 2020. The award is for economical and sustainable operations. It acknowledges Beumer Group’s alternative fuels and raw materials (AFR) systems business unit’s achievements in supporting cement producers with complete systems to supply calciners and main burners with alternative fuels and raw materials, the main component of which is the pipe conveyor. "I am very honoured to receive this recognition on behalf of Beumer Group,” said Brian Giese, Beumer Corporation Director of Business Development, Conveying & Loading. "It demonstrates our commitment to support cement manufacturers in their efforts to make production greener and more sustainable."

Business development, conveying and loading director Brian Giese said, "I am very honoured to receive this recognition on behalf of Beumer Group. It demonstrates our commitment to support cement manufacturers in their efforts to make production greener and more sustainable."

US: The legislative body of Albany County, New York, has enacted a law ending the establishment of new waste burning facilities. The Times Union newspaper has named LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge North America’s 2.0Mt/yr Ravena cement plant amongst facilities affected. The legislature came to its decision following public outcry after Lafarge North America announced its plans to renew its licence to burn up to 4.8Mt/yr of tyres in January 2019.

Legislator William Reinhardt said, “While most of the attention had been focused on the potential impacts of the law on facilities like Norlite and LaFarge, the real intended point of the legislation is longer term. We want clean air not only today but for the foreseeable future.”

US: Italy-based Buzzi-Unicem subsidiary Alamo Cement Company has signed a contract with Italy-based renewable power supply expert Renergetica for the construction of a solar power plant at its 1.1Mt/yr integrated Plant 1604 cement plant in San Antonio, Texas. Renewables Now News has reported that the plant will have a capacity of 10MW.

US: FCT combustion has announced that it has won an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Titan Cement for the upgrade of its 5000t/d kiln line to 100% natural gas firing. The upgrade consists of the installation of two new burners: a dual-fuel capability Gyro-Therm Mk3 and a back-up natural gas-firing Gyro-Therm Mk3. The company has said that it will also supply accessories, field instruments, burner management system (BMS) and valve train.

US: The debate over proposed clean air regulations which may restrict or halt LafargeHolcim’s tyre-burning plans at its 2.0Mt/yr Ravena plant will take place on 23 December 2019. The Times Union newspaper has reported that councillors will debate whether to lower the maximum permitted pollutant emissions from incineration facilities to a level below that entailed by LafargeHolcim’s alternative fuel (AF) plans.

In mid-2018, LafargeHolcim’s licence from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for the combustion of 4.8M tyres per year expired. It announced ‘preliminary discussions’ with tyre suppliers in January 2019.

US: NuCycle Energy, which processes post-industrial materials, primarily packaging, into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for cement kilns has started work on an upgrade aimed at expanding its Plant City plant’s capacity to 90,000t/yr. WasteAge has reported that Cemex USA, whose South-Eastern operations are supplied with substitute fuel by NuCycle, is considering an expansion to its relationship with NuCycle Energy. “We are exploring replicating this successful experience at the rest of our cement kilns, nationwide,” said Cemex USA corporate fuels manager Eduardo Pons.

Germany: Bilfinger, the civil and industrial construction specialist, is working with the American-based PRTI, whose thermal decomposition technology processes tyres into fuel. The aim of the partnership is to align PRTI’s tyre processors with Dutch safety and environmental standards, making them useable for waste processors and cement companies anywhere in the European Union.