SUSTAINABILITY CEMENTING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE


Hanson Cement talks to BMJ about what the company is doing to minimise the environmental impact of the production of one of our most important building materials.


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emissions but, in the UK, this figure is much lower at 1.5 per cent due to a more mature economy with lower cement consumption and large-scale investment by manufacturers like Hanson to improve production efficiencies and use alternative fuels.


The production of Portland cement (PC) is energy intensive. It is made by mixing limestone or chalk with silica and aluminates and burning them in a kiln at a temperature of 1,450o During the process CO2


C. is released and, at the


. After burning, the clinker is ground in a mill to a fine cement powder, using more energy.


Stewart Jones, sustainability manager at Hanson, explains: “As a company we take our commitment to sustainability very seriously. We have already achieved a 30 per cent reduction in CO2


same time, the carbon in the fuel used to power the kilns combines with oxygen to give off further CO2


ising emissions are of growing importance to everyone and action must be taken at all levels to reduce the impact and help the UK Government meet its climate change targets. Globally the cement industry accounts for seven per cent of CO2


are from renewable sources so are carbon neutral,” explains Jones. “This will be a challenge as the availability of MBM, one of our main biomass fuels, has declined as a result of market changes and the fact that suppliers are using it themselves for power generation rather than supplying the cement industry.


emissions since 1990 across the business and have set an ambitious new target of a 50 per cent reduction by 2030 from the same baseline. “We are constantly looking to improve energy efficiency and carbon reduction at our cement works, increase the use of renewable energy and waste as fuel, and reduce CO2


emissions from


transport by utilising rail links and investing in more fuel-efficient vehicles.”


Traditionally the cement industry has used coal to fuel the kilns but Hanson’s alternative fuel consumption is now at 52 per cent – significantly better than the European cement industry’s latest figure (2016) of 44 per cent – although this relies heavily on the availability of suitable fuels from waste.


Three main alternative fuels are burned in the cement kilns: solid recovered fuel (SRF) from domestic and industrial waste, meat and bone meal (MBM), which is 100 per cent biomass, and Cemfuel, made from industrial wastes such as solvents and other residues that cannot be recycled.


“Moving forward we want to use proportionately more biomass as these materials


“We are also working with three universities – Reading, Cambridge and Swansea – on carbon reduction projects for our cement and Regen ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) plants, which have the potential to save over 50,000 tonnes of carbon annually.” In addition, Hanson Cement is taking part in a ground-breaking project, funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), to research the potential for hydrogen and plasma technology to reduce carbon emissions through switching from fossil fuels which could lead to cement and lime kilns operating with a net zero carbon fuel mix. The company’s Ribblesdale cement works in Clitheroe, Lancashire, is the site of the trials to demonstrate the zero-fossil fuel operation using hydrogen and biomass fuels in the cement kiln. The project’s results will be shared with UK and global industry to maximise the environmental benefit of the technology, which could save around two million tonnes of CO2


a year if


implemented across the UK cement industry: equivalent to the annual emissions from 266,000 households.


As well as technical improvements and efficiencies, Hanson is also looking at how the products themselves can be improved to increase the lower-emissions components, without detrimentally affecting quality or performance. “We are working towards getting British Standards updated to include lower emissions products,” said Jones.


“One of the most effective alternatives to PC, for example, is Regen ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS). As it’s a by-product of ironmaking, there are environmental benefits to be gained from both its production and its use: replacing one tonne of CEM I with one tonne of GGBS reduces the embodied CO2


by around


820kg on the whole cradle to gate life cycle impacts, conserves natural resources and prevents the slag from going to landfill.”


Merchants can play their part by stocking the May 2020 www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net Ketton solar farm


Hanson is also reducing its carbon footprint through its 13-megawatt solar installation at its Ketton works in Rutland. It was the first of its kind in the UK cement industry and is helping deliver substantial CO2


savings while meeting the government’s preference for brownfield solar development. The 58,000 panels provide 13% of the electricity used by the Ketton plant.


The solar farm is sited on worked-out areas of the limestone quarry, which supplies raw materials used by the Ketton cement plant.


Jones says: “Cement production is energy- intensive, which brings with it a responsibility for us to do all we can to reduce carbon emissions and protect the climate. We have invested a lot of money in recent years to enable greater use of alternative fuels in the kilns and we now have a source of renewable energy to tap into on our doorstep. Large scale solar is perfectly suited to industrial sites like this where all the energy can be used directly by a nearby business.”


products that help deliver energy efficiency and sustainability, such as those containing Regen. Hanson’s low carbon cement, for example, contains 50 per cent Regen, reducing CO2 emissions and offering increased durability through its sulfate resisting properties. The 25kg bag is also fully recyclable as it contains no plastic lining and has been coated with a vegetable- based compound giving it the same strength as a normal paper cement bag.


Other products in Hanson’s packed range also contain Regen.


Providing a choice of sustainable options means that merchants can adapt to their customers’ needs, if environmentally conscious alternatives are required.


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