Davenport plant switches to Portland limestone cement production

Summit Materials Inc announces that its Davenport plant, operated by Continental Cement Co LLC, has converted 100 per cent of its annual production to Portland limestone cement (PLC). In 2021, the Davenport plant produced approximately 1.1Mt of cement.

"Continental Cement Company has been working with our customers and specifiers to commercialise Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) in all of our markets, and we are delighted that PLC adoption has progressed quickly," commented David Loomes, Continental Cement president and senior cice president of Summit Materials. "PLC reduces concrete embodied carbon by approximately 10 per cent while delivering resilient and durable infrastructure to our communities. The conversion of our Davenport plant can pave the way for more widespread adoption of PLC throughout our markets and more broadly throughout the United States."

Continental Cement is an established industry leader in championing lower carbon solutions and the use of alternative fuels, deriving an average of about 40 per cent of the company's total fuel usage from alternative fuels (based on 2021 usage) across its two plants located in Davenport, Iowa, and Hannibal, Missouri. 

The company's Hannibal cement plant processes both liquid and solid hazardous waste as a fuel source, while its Davenport Cement plant uses non-hazardous alternative fuels from surrounding industrial facilities. Continental Cement’s subsidiary, Green America Recycling, LLC, is a crucial component for sourcing, securing, and implementing the company’s alternative fuel strategy. As such, Green America is in the process of expanding its Hannibal facility. The company also expects that its Hannibal cement plant will also soon transition to PLC, the timing of which will be determined as market adoption progresses.