Plant tour: Italcementi’s Calusco plant

World Cement toured Italcementi’s Calusco plant in July 2013. The written version of the plant tour is available in the August 2013 issue. The following is a few highlights from the article.

Italcementi’s Calusco plant is clean. It’s the first thing I noticed when I toured the plant with Plant Manager Giovanni Bottinelli and Maintenance Manager Giacomo Bordoni in July 2013. “It’s very important to us,” Giacomo told me. “We have coated the plant floor with TX Active^® (one of Italcementi’s specialist photocatalytic cement products) and that makes a big difference.” Certainly, there was little dust to be seen.

Innovative materials handling

The Calusco plant has a limestone quarry some 10 km from the plant and a marl quarry about 2.5 km away. The challenge is that in between the quarry and the plant is the town, including a lot of housing. Originally the raw materials were transported by two aerial ropeways, but with the revamping of the plant the idea was borne to move transport underground. Apart from avoiding the eyesore of aerial ropeways, this measure has significantly reduced traffic through the town by some 10 000 trucks per year.

Quarry restoration

For every area of land that is claimed for quarrying, the company reforests an area twice the size.

Alternative fuel utilisation

The plant’s permits restrict RDF substitution to 14%, equivalent to 100 tpd or 4.16 tph. The plant is not permitted to store RDF onsite. Instead, the dry municipal waste must be delivered by truck, which amounts to 3 – 4 trucks per day. It arrives pre-processed but is then put through a biofilter that uses bark to deodorise the fuel.

Being good neighbours

“Living side by side with the town, it is very important to build a solid relationship with the local community,” Giacomo explained. “We take sustainability very seriously.”

Onto the next!

The modernised Calusco plant was opened as Italcementi celebrated its 140th anniversary. Next year, the revamped Rezzato plant will begin operations in time to mark the Group’s 150th anniversary. World Cement looks forward to visiting Italy once again and bringing news of the latest developments from this leader in the cement industry.

Written by Katherine Guenioui

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Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/31122013/plant_tour_italcementi_calusco_plant_9/