And, the company welcomed measures announced in the Renewable Energy Strategy earlier this month that could lead to a further uptake of the material through a time-limited grant scheme to encourage the use of SRF in combined heat and power facilities (see letsrecycle.com story).
Amanda Gascoyne, SRF contracts manager at Shanks, told letsrecycle.com: “We have never said that the cement industry is the long term focus, we are still developing other options in the markets of combined heat and power and electricity generation and, although there was a lull towards the beginning of the year with the recession, there is lots in the pipeline.”
Industry
The comments come shortly after construction company Hanson Cement became the latest major cement plant operator to announce that it would be scaling back operations at its plant in Flintshire by cutting 93 jobs as well as reducing output. The North Wales plant currently burns two refuse-derived fuels produced by Lancashire-based Solvent Resource Management (SRM), which is a sister company to Hanson.
Shanks signed an SRF-supply agreement with Bristol-based Hanson – formerly Castle Cement – for the Flintshire site in 2006 and signed another deal for the delivery of 30,000 tonnes of material each year to Hanson's Ketton cement facility in February 2008. Material supplied under the two contracts by Shanks is blended by SRM before being used in the kilns (see letsrecycle.com story).
Ms Gascoyne claimed that the current mothballing of the Flintshire kiln was “disappointing” but that Shanks had continued to find outlets for material produced by its MBT plants due to existing arrangements with the larger cement companies.
She said: “We are not down in the dumps about the market, obviously there has been a downturn in construction but we have been very fortunate with it so far and been able to work with the cement companies.”
The mothballing of the Hanson kiln follows similar moves by cement giant Lafarge Aggregates, which slowed production at its cement works in Wiltshire in February this year due to the downturn in the construction market. The Lafarge works had been seen as a potential off-taker of SRF from a proposed, 60,000 tonnes-a-year capacity MBT being developed by Wiltshire county council but Lafarge's decision has led to plans for the project being delayed.
Alternatives
Ms Gascoyne said she did not think that the downturn in the market would see cement kiln operators turn away from using SRF where possible, as it was in high calorific value and could be used to replace depleting reserves of fossil fuels.
“I think the emphasis is on cost savings and a big cost is energy, and security on fuel is also prominent,” she said. “So perhaps that helps SRF, as [cement companies] are secure in the product we produce and it is established in their systems.”
The sector trade body, the British Cement Association (BCA), confirmed that the sector was increasing the adoption of alternatives fuel sources, such as SRF, despite the downturn in the market. The most recent data for 2008 showed there had been 27.7% thermal replacement of raw materials, compared with 19.49% in 2007.
David Pocklington, director of industry affairs at the BCA, told letsrecycle.com: “Our kilns are on stop-start policies and this is having an impact on the amount of fuel we are using, so, given that, we are trying to maximise all the fuel we use.”
Kilns
Defra, aware that councils could be dissuaded from adopting MBT due to concerns over the security of outlets, announced in February this year that it would be investigating the markets for refuse derived fuel in a bid to ensure that technologies such as MBT could become a “genuine” option for local authorities (see letsrecycle.com story).
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