by Alan Jacques
IRISH Cement has applied to Limerick City and County Council for planning permission to change the way its Castlemungret plant operates.
The company is now looking to replace fossil fuels at its Limerick works with alternative fuels from materials such as rubber from used tyres as part of a €10 million development plan.
The project, which will create 40 new jobs, will see Irish Cement replace fossil fuel with alternative fuels to improve the sustainability of the Limerick operations, where 80 people are currently employed.
Used in cement plants across Europe, alternative fuels have also been deployed at Irish Cement’s plant at Platin in County Meath for the last five years. According to Irish Cement, the very high temperatures inside the kilns (1450°C) means that these fuels are completely combusted and then recycled into the final cement product, with no ash or emissions released into the atmosphere.
Limerick is currently the only cement plant in Ireland not licensed to use alternative fuels.
