St Marys Cement Bowmanville plant is to install a new wet scrubber

The commissioning of a new wet scrubber at St Marys Cement plant in Bowmanville is expected to result in a significant decrease in emissions. This is the first wet scrubber installed at a cement plant in Canada.  

The water injection technology washes out and scrubs pollutants from the outlet airstream of the plant. St Marys Cement Plant Operations Manager, Jim Storey, stated: "This US$25m investment in technology to improve the plant's environmental performance has proven to be effective in removing sulphur dioxide (SO2) produced in the cement manufacturing process. We are also pleased that the scrubber was assembled on-site and installed by local Ontario contractors and crews during our annual scheduled plant shutdown."  

St Marys Cement Environmental Manager for North America, Ruben Plaza, added, "The environmental benefit of the wet scrubber technology results in more water vapour being introduced into the process and then released as a steam plume, similar to other plants which use this same process technology."

The Bowmanville plant is also the first industrial site in North America to have received the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) ISO 50001 Certification. The plant's management was also recognised with an international award for Excellence in Energy Conservation.