Continental Cement Co., a subsidiary of Summit Materials, converted 100% of its annual production at its Davenport, Iowa, plant to portland-limestone cement. In 2021, the plant produced 1.1 million tons of cement.
“Continental Cement has been working with our customers and specifiers to commercialize portland-limestone cement in all of our markets, and we are delighted that PLC adoption has progressed quickly,” said David Loomes, Continental Cement president and senior vice president of Summit Materials. “PLC reduces concrete embodied carbon by approximately 10% while delivering resilient and durable infrastructure to our communities. The conversion of our Davenport plant can pave the way for more widespread adoption of PLC throughout our markets and more broadly throughout the United States.”
The Davenport transition aligns with the Portland Cement Association’s Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality. “Given the significant role of cement in society and anticipated infrastructure development, it is critical that the industry comes together and acts now to create sustainable building solutions for decades to come,” said Tom Beck, EVP of Summit Materials.
“The U.S. cement and concrete industries can collectively address climate change, decrease greenhouse gases and eliminate barriers that are restricting environmental progress through the continued adoption of product and manufacturing innovations,” he said.
Continental Cement is an established industry leader in championing lower carbon solutions and the use of alternative fuels, deriving an average of about 40% of its total fuel usage from alternative fuels (based on 2021 usage) across its two cement plants. The Hannibal, Mo., plant processes both liquid and solid hazardous waste as a fuel source, while the Davenport plant uses non-hazardous alternative fuels from surrounding industrial facilities.
The company anticipates that its Hannibal plant will also transition to PLC, although the timing will be determined as market adoption progresses.
