Lafarge Canada’s kiln-fuel study in Alberta announced last week will not be the same as the tyre-burning pilot it has applied for at its Brookfield plant, reports The Chronicle Herald. The Alberta study will examine the environmental effects of introducing low-carbon fuels into its Exshaw plant and will not be completed until December 2019.

"It's different processes, it won’t be the same type of process at all," said Rob Cumming, environmental director at Lafarge.

Regarding the Brookfield project, the company is expecting a decision in early March on whether it will receive industrial approval.

"Late summer or early fall is the soonest we’d be able to get a system built and up and running," said Mr Cumming about the potential one-year project.

"We'll be doing other work between now and then, doing baseline testing, the before and after type of thing […] The research team will be preparing evaluations, understanding our current process so that they can then better understand any changes that occur after the use of scrap tyres and more accurately quantify the benefits we are expecting," he said.