A first for Castle Cement

Castle Cement is the first cement manufacturer in the country to be granted permission by the Environment Agency to permanently burn meat and bone meal.

Castle Cement is the first cement manufacturer in the country to be granted permission by the Environment Agency to permanently burn meat and bone meal.

This follows successful trials at its Ribblesdale works in Lancashire.

It means that this material will become a valuable alternative fuel and will no longer have to be disposed of in landfill sites, as at present.

Castle Cement with up to 50 per cent of heat needed for the cement making process and saved the use of 8,000 tonnes of coal.

Meat and bone meal, also known as agricultural waste derived fuel, is produced by sterilising and grinding abattoir waste.

The fuel is fibrous in appearance and feels like damp sand.

It is a biomass fuel and therefore every tonne burned instead of coal reduces emissions of carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas.

Gareth Price, general manager of Castle Cement's Ribblesdale works, says: "We are very pleased with the Environment Agency decision".

"Once again we are able to safely use the energy content of a waste product to help fuel our kiln".

"It is entirely consumed in the high temperatures of our cement manufacturing process in the same manner as coal".

"There are no emission problems associated with its use and it helps solve society's waste problems while providing an effective and safe recovery of energy".

Castle Cement has also applied for permission to trial the use of the fuel at its Ketton works in Rutland.

Back to top