FUEL SUPPLEMENTS: CAPE FIRM CAPITALIZES BY SAVING COAL

Lone Star Industries Inc. of Cape Girardeau, one of the largest users of energy in the area, has converted its coal-burning cement kiln into a system that also will burn shredded rubber and toxic waste fuels.

"We're not at full capacity yet," said plant manager Harry Philip, "but we're still saving more than six tons of coal an hour. The new facility provides a tremendous economic improvement for Lone Star Industries, and when we reach full capacity we'll be saving as much as 12 tons of coal an hour."

At full capacity, "we're licensed to burn 2.4 tons of shredded rubber and more than 1,200 gallons of waste fuel each hour," said Philip. "At the same time this is a great conservation measure; we're burning many materials here which have been banned from landfills."

Philip said the conversion of its coal-burning cement kiln was not "something we just jumped into. We've been looking into burning supplemental fuel for a number of years."

The cost of permits, construction and modification of the plant represents a $3 million to $4 million investment by Lone Star.

"We have to comply with federal and state guidelines," said Philip. "We did a lot of testing last month."

"All the testing has been done, and we're burning toxic waste fuels and shredded tires now," said Norris Johnson, process engineer-control room supervisor at Lone Star. "Right now we're averaging about 20 gallons of waste fuel a minute, which translates into a savings of about four to five tons of coal per hour. We're licensed to burn about 44 gallons a minute."

A cement kiln is a great method to incinerate waste fuel, said Johnson. "Temperatures in the kilns range between 2,000 and 3,000 degrees, and the waste fuels have a stabilizing influence on the kiln," he said.

Johnson said wastes were coming into Lone Star from a wide area, mostly in liquefied form.

"Right now all of our waste fuels are being hauled in on a volume basis of about 5,000 gallons at a time," he said. "We can burn a truck load in about three hours."

The company is burning about a ton of shredded rubber an hour.

"We're licensed for 2.4 tons per hour," said John Burian, director of operations at the plant. "Every ton of tires represents 1.2 tons of coal saved."

Burian explained that the average weight of a tire was about 20 pounds. "That means we're burning about 100 tires an hour right now, and will be burning about 240 tires at full capacity."

Before the switchover, Lone Star was burning as much as 600 tons of coal each day in the production of more than 4,000 tons of cement daily.

"Right now we get tires from all over the United States," said Burian. "We have them sent to Pittsburgh, Pa., and Chicago, Ill., for shredding."

Philip pointed out that the company had made plans to accept shredded rubber locally.

"If, at a future date, a shredder operation is established here, we're prepared to use the shredded rubber," said Philip. "We'd like to see a shredder operation established here," said Philip.

The new process has resulted in several new employees at Lone Star.

"To date we have added an additional 22 people to the payroll," said Philip. "That doesn't include the new engineers, consultants and managers. When we're at full capacity we have added more than 35 new people."

Lone Star officials said they have been looking into burning supplemental fuel for a number of years, and that at full capacity the Cape Girardeau plant will save as much as three million tons of coal a year.