Cement maker Lafarge opens low-carbon fuel facility at Alberta plant

Cement producer Lafarge Canada Inc. says it has installed a new facility at its Exshaw, Alta., plant that will use construction waste to reduce the plant's reliance on fossil fuels.

The company, which held a ribbon-cutting for the $38-million facility Thursday, says it will use discarded wood that would otherwise end up emitting methane in landfills to instead produce power for use in its cement production.

It says it expects the use of this alternative fuel source to replace up to 50 per cent of the natural gas typically used for one of the plant's cement-making kilns.

Lafarge has a dedicated commercial company, Geocycle Canada, that specializes in alternative fuels and raw materials. Geocycle is responsible for processing the construction demolition waste into low-carbon fuels and transporting them by truck to the plant.

Lafarge says the technology is expected to divert 120,000 tonnes of construction waste from landfills each year, and cut the Exshaw plant's carbon dioxide emissions by up to 30,000 tonnes annually the equivalent of taking about 9,200 passenger vehicles off the road.

The Exshaw cement plant is one of Lafarge's biggest plants in North America. It is a major supplier of cement for Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.