Burning tyres in the desert
As part of its alternative fuels programme, Holcim México’s Hermosillo plant feeds tyre chips into its precalciner. To effectively carry out the procedure, the cement producer uses a metallic apron extractor supplied by Walter Materials Handling. By L Rieffel, Walter Materials Handling, France.
Holcim Mexico’s Hermosillo plant facilitates the use of alternative fuels with the Walter Materials Handling
patented metallic apron extractor to feed its precalciner with tyre chips
After 18 months of engineering and two years of construction, Holcim México (formerly Holcim Apasco) officially opened its Hermosillo plant on 10 March 2011. Located in the very dry state of Sonora, northwestern Mexico, the Hermosillo works is the company’s seventh cement plant in the country. The greenfield project is designed to produce 1.6Mta of cement and has expanded Holcim México’s overall production capacity to 12Mta.
The state-of-the-art plant was supplied on a semi-turnkey basis by Fives FCB, which was the main equipment manufacturer, responsible for the design, engineering and supply of mechanical and electrical equipment, steel structures and plate work.
Holcim’s Hermosillo plant meets high standards of safety, quality, energy efficiency and environmental performance. The entire facility is a fine example of a sustainable project where environmental impact is minimised across the board. The plant conforms with the most demanding NOx emission standards and achieves specific energy consumption of 3070kJ/kg of clinker and specific water consumption of 0.2m3/t of clinker – the lowest figure amongst the Holcim group.
