Hanson to improve Ribblesdale cement plant

During the first six months £11 million is being spent on improvements and maintenance to enable the plant to meet new dust emission regulations. This is the biggest investment programme since the 1990s.

It includes a £2 million replacement of the filters on two cement grinding plants. According to Plant Manager Terry Reynolds, they will run well below the new maximum dust emission levels after the installation.

“The permitted dust level is being reduced by 66 per cent in April, from 30 milligrams per square metre to 10 - the new equipment will perform better than this,” said Terry. 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.”

The largest investment is a £6.5 million replacement of the wet gas scrubber. The site was the first UK cement plant to use ‘gas scrubbing’ technology in 1998. Environment manager Nick Sharpe said that replacing the scrubber will be one of the biggest changes to the plant since then. “It removes the just-struck-match smell that can result in complaints from our neighbours and the Sulphur that comes from the alternative raw materials we use,” said Nick.

The three month scrubber installation starts in March but the ducting that is being replaced around the plant was completed during the shutdown in January. 75 m of ducting was fitted during the £470 000 project, as part of a five-year improvement plan for the site’s exhaust gas handling system. Nick says, “the ducts dated back to the 1980s so needed to be replaced. They range 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.”