Back in March, in celebration of Earth Hour, Roanoke Cement Company (RCC), a subsidiary of Titan America, decided to switch off the lights on its pre-heater tower indefinitely as part of its plan to reduce energy consumed by the plant. RCC is back in the news again as it takes another step towards reducing its carbon footprint.
Plant manager Kevin Baird is prepping the plant to begin using massive amounts of biomass to help fuel its kilns. The company has already invested in the machinery to use the alternative fuels and is setting November as the date when trials will begin. RCC will be burning waste wood to offset some of its coal consumption and prevent the build-up of organic material in landfills which generates methane when decomposed.
There are two hurdles the company must overcome to be successful in their plan:
The first concern is the moisture content of the wood. To maximize the heat benefit of the waste wood, it must have a very low moisture content. RCC plans on using otherwise wasted heat from the cement production process to pre-dry the wood before firing. The company plans on burning one hundred thousand tons of wood which in turn would emit five thousand tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). However, if that same amount of wood were allowed to decompose in a landfill, approximately five hundred thousand tons of CO2 would be released through methane gas. Taking the biomass approach allows RCC to reduce their coal consumption by thirty percent.
The second hurdle that RCC faces in pursuing the use of alternative fuels is government regulations. Both the EPA and the Department of Environmental Quality have regulations regarding the types of green technologies that can be employed by companies. Baird does not foresee any problems with the installation of the biomass equipment, but feels that the government could be more helpful in pushing green energy. He said, “We need a green regulatory highway to get some of the green technology in place.”
RCC is excited about their upcoming trials and is hopeful that it will make a difference in its community. In the long run, they envision the production and consumption of biomass fuel to sustain an eco-friendly industry where the plant is located.