Hanson is spending $32m on a 7-year upgrade of its Ribblesdale cement works in Clitheroe, Lancashire, North West England.
In the first six months $14m will go on improvements to meet new dust emission regulations including $2.5m to replacement filters on two cement grinding plants.
Terry Reynolds, plant manager, said: “The permitted dust level is being reduced by 66% in April, from 30 milligrams per square metre to 10 – the new equipment will perform better than this.”
“Although we have to make the change to continue operating, we always strive to minimise our environmental impact in how we run and maintain the plant zovirax ointment.”
The largest spend, $8m, is on a replacement wet gas scrubber that removes sulphur and odour from kiln gases. The site was the first UK cement plant to use “gas scrubbing” technology in 1998.
Nick Sharpe, environment manager said the scrubber replacement will be one of the biggest changes to the plant since then. Some 75 metres of ducting was replaced during the January shutdown in anticipation of the March installation of the scrubber.
“The ducts dated back to the 1980s so needed to be replaced. They range in in size from three to five metres in diameter and the new lengths prevent fugitive emissions leaks and improve overall efficiency since cold air is not sucked into the process, so there’s a double benefit,” Sharpe said.
Ribblesdale employs 116 people and is supplied by two on-site quarries worked by an 11-man team and a team of contractors managing the loading and hauling of quarry materials.
