New technology at Wildegg plant to reduce pollutants and increase use of alternative raw materials
Jura Cement, a CRH Company in Switzerland, is currently installing an afterburner plant – the first of its kind in Europe – to reduce emissions from its Wildegg plant.
With its innovative new filtration system, this afterburner plant will allow for polluted materials, such as contaminated soil from former landfill sites, to be used in cement production. In this way, the afterburner plant will contribute to the circular economy and help preserve scarce landfill space in Switzerland.
Because of the enhanced filtration offered by the afterburner plant, the Wildegg plant will also be able to increase its use of alternative raw materials that it could not use previously, such as debris from communal street cleaning which would otherwise go to landfill. In turn, this will reduce Jura’s reliance on virgin raw materials from its own quarry.
With the completion of the new afterburner plant in January 2022, Wildegg will reduce its output of Total Organic Compounds (TOCs) by around 50%, and its Carbon Monoxide emissions by around 96%, while also complying with emissions limits on pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and dust.
Through innovations such as this, CRH aims to achieve carbon neutrality along the cement and concrete value chain by 2050.
