Holcim (US) Inc. Ste. Genevieve Plant
With the completion of this “greenfield” construction project and the beginning of operation in 2009, the Holcim Ste. Genevieve Plant became one of the largest cement plants in the United States. This 12,000-tpd plant is built 45 miles outside St. Louis in the town of Bloomsdale, Mo., located within Ste. Genevieve County. The site was selected many years ago because of the high quality and large reserve of limestone, its strong, central and effective link—the Mississippi River—to the nation’s intermodal transportation system, and a workforce readily available in the area with knowledge of mining and manufacturing skills. Through the transportation system, cement from the plant will be able to reach as far north as North Dakota and as far south as Texas—reaching 19 states in all.
This world-class facility creates a sustainable competitive advantage in the U.S. for Holcim. The company made major commitments to both minimize emissions and protect the air quality, along with the conservation and preservation of natural resources. The majority of the property is set aside and preserved in its natural state. Holcim (US) will maintain most of the plant site’s 3,900 acres as a buffer area. While approximately 1,700 acres is permitted for quarry operations, ongoing reclamation will ensure that only a portion is opened at any given time. Holcim has created or restored more than 60 acres of new wetlands, offering a large habitat resource.
Holcim (US) Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Holcim Ltd., and one of the nation’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of cement and mineral components. Holcim (US) Inc. has about 2,000 employees and operates 13 manufacturing plants and more than 70 distribution facilities in the United States.
Buzzi Unicem USA Festus Plant
With history dating back to 1965, the Festus Plant has been serving the St. Louis market and markets up and down the Mississippi River for more than 45 years. The original plant was a single, long dry kiln operation with a second long dry kiln of equal size commissioned in 1968. The plant operated with these two manufacturing lines until July 2009, when they were decommissioned and the new pyroprocessing line was started.
The River 7000 construction team was challenged with the task of constructing and modifying equipment within a plant in operation. Interruptions were minimized by scheduling around normal plant maintenance outages to perform equipment modification and tie-in to the existing plant. This allowed the Festus Plant to supply its customers with cement without delay during the entire construction project.
Commissioning of the new equipment began in April 2008, when the new 1,000-tph barge-loading system was commissioned. From early 2008 until July 2009, construction areas were systematically completed and turned over to a small team of Buzzi Unicem employees for check-out and commissioning. All programming and automation was completed in-house by Buzzi Unicem, which proved invaluable during check-out and commissioning of the new equipment. At the operations, each individual piece of equipment was selected for its superior design and engineering to create a unique 7,000-mtpd plant while reducing specific energy consumption and emissions.
Buzzi Unicem USA is one of the leading cement manufacturing companies in the United States with eight manufacturing facilities and 29 distribution terminals to support customers in 21 states. With more than 1,400 employees, the company supplies cement and masonry cement to over 3,800 ready-mixed concrete, highway and airport paving firms, concrete block companies, and concrete product firms.
