CEMEX UK is trialling an industry-first discharge system for cement, which can be fully powered by electricity to substantially reduce fuel use and subsequent emissions. The idea for this new discharge equipment came from Nigel Ponton, national fleet engineer for the UK business. He worked with supplier Gardner Denver to create the system, which is mounted onto the tractor unit and simply requires three-phase connection to pressurise the tank and allow discharge to silo. This means no additional equipment or investment is needed at the customer’s site.
The benefit to the environment of incorporating this equipment into a commercial fleet is considerable. The trial has demonstrated a potential saving of over 4000kg of CO2 in a year, per vehicle using the system, as well as 1500l (330 gallons) of fuel.
Matthew Wild, vice president of Supply Chain and Procurement for CEMEX EMEA, commented: “We have been very impressed with the results of the initial trial of the electric discharge equipment in our cement business. Every single delivery that uses this system to discharge cement, rather than the tanker’s own fuel, saves 13.5kg of CO2. If this equipment was used across our fleet over a full year the difference to our supply chain emissions would be considerable.”
