As part of its aggressive emissions reduction goals, Lafarge’s plant in Bath, Ontario, Canada, began research and testing of new biomass fuels for its kiln in the middle of 2008. Lafarge partnered with Performance Plants, Inc. to develop a string of seeds that are heat and drought resistant and that can grow on otherwise unproductive farmland. The plants, mainly perennial grasses, were planted on twenty-five acres surrounding the plant and tended by local farmers. That ground, too mineral poor to sustain crops for human consumption, was ideal for Lafarge’s plan.
With the initial trial crops a success, Lafarge launched a multi-year life-cycle assessment despite Performance Plants Inc. being forced to withdraw from the project for financial reasons. The plant set aside 2500 acres for this new experiment in four different locations each with a separate soil compositions. This new trial is being conducted in conjunction with Ontario’s Queen’s University. According to Lafarge environmental and public affairs manager Robert Cumming, the trial’s purpose was “[To] try to confirm that we can get at least a 90 percent savings on CO2 by growing these crops. It would be a 100 percent savings if we could use tractors fired by biomass. We’re looking at carbon sequestration while root structures are being established in the first two years.” The harvest was a success with approximately nine-hundred fifty half ton bales being collected.
The next step in Lafarge’s biomass project is underway now. Machinery is being delivered to the plant in order to grind and shred the bales into a powdered material. This powder will then be pneumatically blown into the plant’s kiln along with the coal and petcoke. Tests scheduled for June will test the emissions of straight fossil fuel firings and of the biomass/fossil fuel mix. Lafarge plans to use between ten and thirty percent biomass in any given firing.
The final step for Lafarge is to help push the biomass concept to the industry. Not only does this process create agricultural jobs, but also reduces the need to transport in fossil fuels therefore further reducing truck emissions. Lafarge’s Ontario plant may have developed a viable option for biomass fuels which has benefits beyond the reduced emissions. Chalk one up for Lafarge’s green strategy.