Cementing a greener future

Mannok has launched a new device that can drastically reduce its carbon footprint in the production of cement.

Along with Danish company FLSmidth they designed and implemented a new combustion system that has almost eliminated the use of fossil fuel in the most carbon-intensive stage of cement production.

The new system, Fuelflex Pyrolyzer, will see a reduction of 240 tonnes of carbon emissions per day, while significantly reducing Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

The system allows Mannok to replace 90% of its coal use with solid recovered fuels (SRF), that would otherwise go to the landfill, in the pre-calcination stage of cement production. It is also working towards eliminating the use of coal.

Mannok’s director of operations, Kevin Lunney, explained the significance of the move. “The production of clinker, a precursor to cement, is the most fuel-intensive part of the process, and the pre-calcination phase accounts for the largest portion of fossil fuel use, 60% of all fossil fuels in Mannok’s case. The ability to completely displace this use of coal is undoubtedly a major leap forward for the industry, and for Mannok.”

Damian Reilly, Mannok’s Cement Process Manager explains more about how the new design came about.

“We had some problems with our system, so instead of making a capital investment to build another calciner, FLSmidth got in touch in 2018 and it all worked out. Now we’re celebrating the fact we’re able to displace a large portion of our coal. We used between 30,000 – 50,000 litres of ammonia water a week before implementing this design and now we no longer have a need for this.”

He also elaborated on how it was built in challenging circumstances.

“We’ve been working with them for 30 years, on some smaller projects, but this is one of the biggest collaborations. We worked with FLSmidth and the University of Denmark in Copenhagen, as well as an outreach office of FLS in India. This all happened over Covid so we couldn’t meet up, so we had to share a lot of our work on WhatsApp and we had a weekly meeting on Microsoft teams to update each other on how progress was going.”

While it was an international project, the new Fuelflex system also allows for Mannok to use local suppliers for their production,” he says.

“The SRF we use is supplied by a number of local suppliers including Wilton Waste from Cavan who have been sending us material since the start of the project. Other companies include Panda and RiveRidge, who take it from the Fermanagh area. They have to meet strict environmental targets.”

The invention has the potential to completely transform the cement industry and already has attracted interest from different manufacturers from around the globe.

“We had a group from America and South Korea come over and look at what we were doing. Rather than building large calciner, which can be dangerous, our Fuelflex does the same job as a big piece of equipment at a much smaller cost.”

Damian outlined how designing the Fuelflex system was also done in conjunction with the normal running of the factory.

“There was a lot of time put into it, we had to do our own jobs, as well as implement the new technology. It wasn’t outsourced or there wasn’t a dedicated team, it was done just done by the guys at the plant.”

Lars Skaarup Jensen, FLSmidth’s Research and Development specialist, explained the collaboration of the two companies for the design and testing of the system over the last four years, saying: “When we reached out to Mannok, Fuelflex was still very much at concept stage. We’d performed some testing in our lab in Denmark, but that is very different to deployment in a fully operational cement works.”

He also said that implementing the new design threw up some hiccups along the way when they tried to introduce it on a practical level, but they were able to fix them thanks to Mannok's courage for being open to using them on an active site.

“With the development and testing of completely new technology like this, you can expect it to throw up some issues along the way, and this pilot was not without its challenges. It required design revisions following initial tests to ensure continuous running of the Fuelflex, which involved expertise from both Mannok and FLSmidth.

“These revisions addressed issues which could only be identified through real-life testing, and we are very pleased that the system has now been running smoothly and effectively and has remained in operation for around nine months now. It was a brave decision by Mannok to partner with us in the development of this world first technology, and it took great commitment and expertise on both sides to achieve a successful outcome, which has enormous potential for cement producers globally.”