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Waste to replace raw materials in cement mix

Lafarge Cement UK has set up a company which will process waste materials so that they can be used as alternatives to raw materials in cement mix.

Lafarge Cement UK and Switzerland-based Geodur International AG have set up a company called Glacier ARM, which will prepare and supply alternative cement making materials made from by-products of other industrial processes. Geodur International selects waste materials for re-use and makes alternative materials for the cement and construction industry and for recycling of heavy metals.

Glacier ARM is based at Lafarge Cement UK's Cauldon Works in Staffordshire and the company has a pilot
production plant at Hillsborough in Sheffield. In three years, Glacier plans to supply over 500,000 tonnes a year of alternative raw materials (ARMs), primarily to Lafarge Cement UK's works. The materials will be prepared to strict specifications using a high-tech analysis and blending system which enables specific secondary materials to be used to produce alternatives to the alumina,
silica, iron, and shale traditionally used by cement makers.

Greg Smith, general manager of Glacier, said: “Glacier is another industry leading environmental innovation by Lafarge. Increasing the use of alternative raw materials will be beneficial both to the business and the environment. Not only will it reduce the amount of raw material we have to purchase or quarry it will also make use of materials
that would otherwise be disposed of in landfill sites.”

Last year Lafarge Cement set-up a Sapphire Energy Recovery, a with Michelin Tyre to process used tyres for use as a kiln fuel. Lafarge Cement's environment manager, Danny Lawrence, said: “Setting up this new business enables us to take a further step in moves towards sustainability. As a business we are developing a significant role as a user of society's wastes and industrial by-products. Within five
years it's easy to see Lafarge Cement will be using over 100,000 tonnes of tyres
supplied by Sapphire and 500,000 tonnes of alternative raw materials
supplied by Glacier.”

Wolfgang Schwetlick, chairman of Geodur
International said: “We have been developing and producing tailor-made alternative raw
materials out of waste materials since 1996. Through Glacier we will be in a
position to apply some of these cutting edge solutions to waste problems throughout
the United Kingdom. Our approach, using integrated software support for
material flow, production planning, mixture calculation, processing and
quality control, enables the re-use of valuable resources in clinker
production at a level of sustainability not achieved by more traditional
methods.”

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