In an innovative move for the UK cement industry, Tarmac is making a positive environmental step by installing a waste-derived fuel processing plant at its Tunstead cement works. The plant is producing ‘Specialised Fuel’ – a unique type of Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) to be used in the cement manufacturing process.
The fuel joins other already established waste-derived fuels (such as end-of-life tyres) in helping Tarmac reduce its use of fossil fuels in the process. These fuels have a lower carbon footprint and enable the company to gain positive energy from waste materials, diverting them from being landfilled, the least attractive form of waste disposal.
Following an extensive study into various UK waste streams’ chemistry and physical properties, a new processing plant has been built adjacent to the cement production plant, giving the company easy and flexible access to the fuel.
Chris Bradbury, Tunstead Cement Plant manager, said: “We are continually looking for ways to minimise our environmental impact. Using waste-derived fuels is well established in the industry but having our own fuel processing plant on site is a first for us. It provides us with the opportunity to maximise the benefits of using this Specialised Fuel. We can adjust the blend and amount we use to suit our process and ensure we have as much available as we need. This in turn means we can increase the percentage of more sustainable, non-fossil based fuels we are using.”
The project is the result of a partnership between Tarmac and its sister company Sapphire Energy Recovery which supports the business by providing alternative fuels and alternative raw materials to facilitate the plants’ goals regarding carbon footprint and future developments. Sapphire is also based at the Tunstead site.
Picture caption: With bags of the new sustainable fuel –
Back row left to right: Dave Hodgkinson ,Tunstead production co-ordinator; John Pickering, Sapphire Energy Recovery business unit manager; Aaron Bothamley, Tunstead Cement manufacturing engineer; Paul Forrester, Sapphire Energy Recovery technical manager; Chris Heyworth, Sapphire Eneregy Recovery site operative; Dan Rock, Sapphire Energy Recovery site operative; Terry Bradbury, Sapphire Energy Recovery site operative.
Front row left to right: David Wilson, Sapphire Energy Recovery commercial manager; Andrea Magro, head of industrial – Cement; Dave Lea, Sapphire Energy Recovery site manager