Canada: Research shows burning tyres at LafargeHolcim plant promotes sustainability

Research by Dr Mark Gibson of Dalhousie University has demonstrated that LafargeHolcim’s burning of used tyres at its Brookfield plant is more environmentally sustainable than using fossil fuels, the Truro Daily reports.

“The idea is that pound for pound, you get more energy from a tyre and you get less CO₂ and some other gases that end up being greenhouse gases and which are toxic”, Dr Gibson said.

The plant previously applied for permission to burn tyres in 2007, but its application was rejected by the provincial government after a committee – on which Dr Gibson was a member – suggested that using shredded tyres to make roads was a better option. Dr Gibson has since recognised the reluctance of construction firms to act on that suggestion, meaning that burning the tyres at Brookfield “is the second-best option”.

Environmental Director at LafargeHolcim, Rob Cumming, commented: “We’ve become more familiar as an industry with lower-carbon fuels. We’ve reached the point at the Brookfield plant where in order to go from 30 per cent to 50 per cent low carbon fuels we need to use a technology like mid-kiln injection of tyres.

“We’ve also learned to take a more cautionary approach as we move forward. We know the onus is on us to demonstrate that the technology works, that we need to get the results and share them with the public and show that they work before we become a permanent user of scrap tyres.”