Holcim’s Hagerstown, Md., plant is investing $11 million to expand its alternative thermal energy capacity to 45%, representing 58,000 tpy of engineered fuel.
The project will improve the plant’s sustainability profile by replacing traditional fuels with alternative thermal energy, engineered from materials at their end of life, which would otherwise be landfilled (e.g., non-recyclable paper, plastics and fibers).
“Expanding our alternative thermal energy use to 45% provides multiple environmental and economic benefits, from lowering the net carbon intensity of our cement to reducing our consumption of traditional fuels,” said Michael Nixon, senior vice president of manufacturing North for Holcim US. “Importantly, it enables us to play a role in the circular economy, offering a highly safe and ecological solution for unused materials.”
The alternative thermal energy will be sourced from non-recyclable commercial and industrial materials. The bulk of these will be pre-processed by Geocycle, a wholly owned subsidiary of Holcim US, at its new facility in Cumberland, Md. The facility is permitted to process up to 75,000 tpy of materials and will serve the needs of regional industrial manufacturers.
Other sustainability initiatives at the Hagerstown plant include a solar field that generates up to 18,441,610 kilowatt hours of renewable power, supplying more than 28% of the plant’s electricity energy.
