Low emissions and high quality product delivered
In addition to Holcim- and FLSmidth representatives US officials and members of Congress participated in the event at Ste. Genevieve. The plant is seen as a technological masterpiece by politicians, Holcim and FLSmidth people alike. The plant features state-of-the-art equipment that among other things reduce CO2 emissions generated per ton of delivered cement by approximately 10-15% compared to other cement sources while the plant’s process control system further enables Holcim to deliver consistent high quality cement.
Successful completion delivered
The plant is located on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River. The river’s fluctuations called for an unconventional conveyor belt design for offloading raw materials used in the process such as coal, pet coke and gypsum. The solution was to mount the conveyor on a floating barge at its feed end while it discharges onto another belt on land.
The river was not the only challenge. The plant’s structural foundations are supported by rock, but the plant is close to the 240 kilometre-long New Madrid fault line – and so exposed to seismic activity. To help resist seismic load, many of the plant’s structural foundations are connected to the rock with rock anchors, which resist both seismic uplift and wind load.
However, the FLSmidth team with people from all three FLSmidth project centres in Denmark, US and India respectively overcame these and other challenges and can now look back on a successfully completed project.