Building materials company Boral reckons its upgraded Southern Highlands-based Berrima Cement Works in New South Wales will reduce carbon in its plant through technology that relies on biofuels but reduces their negative impact.
The plant, which supplies 40 per cent of cement in NSW and the ACT, will now feature chlorine bypass technology that reduces the company’s reliance on emissions-intensive traditional fuels and instead uses waste materials with high biomass content and refuse-derived fuel, with a high content of woodchips and tyre waste headed for the landfill.
The plant will reduce the build up of chlorides and other raw materials will be heated to 850 degrees, which the company said will also lower maintenance cost and the safety risks.
It aims reach a 60 per cent alternative fuel over the next three years. About 35 per cent of the Berrima facility’s scope 1 emissions originate from fuel combustion, while the remaining 65 per cent are emissions from the calcination process.
The company also flagged a pilot carbon capture and storage facility that allows crushed and recycled concrete to absorb the maximum amount of carbon dioxide before being recycled to produce new concrete.
Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen attended the opening ceremony of the upgraded facility, while Boral chief executive Vik Bansal thanked the federal and NSW government for their investment in the facility.
Bansal said the Chlorine Bypass Facility reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the Safeguard Mechanism and would lower impact on the planet.
