Important Milestone Towards Lower Carbon Footprint at the Brookfield Plant

New state of the art Continuous Emission Monitoring System will also help the Dalhousie
University Research Team to better measure baseline performance and monitoring of one year
pilot project.

 

Brookfield, Nova Scotia – Lafarge Canada Inc. has installed state of the art Continuous Emission Monitoring systems at its Brookfield Cement plant at a cost of $830,000. Analyzers are now measuring plant emissions including Sulphur Dioxide, Oxides of Nitrogen (often referred to as NOx), Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen, and Hydrocarbons every ten seconds. This new scientific equipment builds upon existing process measurement tools already capturing opacity (a measure of dust levels), temperatures, and feed rates.

"We are looking forward to using these new analyzers to aid us in optimizing our plant's performance and to enable the research team to better do their work. The 1-year pilot project for scrap tire fuel demonstration will allow us to garner the scientific evidence we need to assure ourselves, Nova Scotia Environment, and the community that the use of scrap tires in place of coal is not only safe but will provide many benefits - just as their use does in Europe and the United States. The scrap tire program at Brookfield is a critical technology for the plant as part of Lafarge's re-tooling for a lower carbon footprint and we look forward to sharing the results with the community when they become available." says Rob Cumming, Environment Director for Lafarge.

"This is a big step in preparing for my team's evaluation of the use of scrap tires in the Brookfield Cement plant" notes Dr. Mark Gibson, Senior Civil/Environmental Engineer, Green Street Environmental, Baltimore, Maryland, US (Former Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Resource Engineering and Director of the Atmospheric Forensics Research Group at Dalhousie University). "We'll be using the coming months while the scrap tire system is being built to further establish baseline plant emission performance so that we can do a thorough analysis of scrap tire use in 2018. Although the combustion tests in my lab have shown significant environmental benefits such as lower emissions, including carbon emissions, the next step is to measure actual performance at scale. These new analyzers will also help my team and Lafarge to optimize its operations to everyone's benefit."

"We strongly believe that not only could scrap tires reduce carbon emissions from the Brookfield plant but many other emissions, including NOx could decrease. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of the plant, not only from an environmental point of view, but also from a socioeconomic perspective is very important to our team.” added Fred Bolduc, Plant Manager. The project took a year to implement since the analyzers first had to pass a rigorous third party testing regime required by Nova Scotia Environment and Environment Canada.

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ABOUT LAFARGE CANADA INC.

Lafarge is Canada's largest provider of diversified construction materials and a member of the global group, LafargeHolcim. With 6,000 employees and 400 sites across Canada, our mission is to provide construction solutions that build better cities and communities. The cities where Canadians live, work, and raise their families along with the community’s infrastructure benefit from the solutions provided by Lafarge consisting of aggregates, asphalt and paving, cement, precast concrete, ready-mix concrete and road construction.

Through LafargeHolcim’s 2030 Plan, Lafarge is committed to providing solutions using sustainable manufacturing practices and improving the environment in and around its operations. The company has a sixty year history in Canada and works continually to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, restore wetlands for native plants and animals, and identify waste materials that can be recycled and used in our operations.

For more information: www.lafarge.ca and www.lafargebrookfield.ca