Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
Issue link: http://concrete.epubxp.com/i/849790
www.concreteproducts.com July 2017 • 45 COVER STORY MCINNIS CEMENT PRODUCTION "The Port-Daniel – Gascons plant will place us at the industry's fore- front by redefining the way cement is made, and taking a greener approach to the process to reduce the environmental impact for each ton produced and delivered," affirms McInnis Vice President, Market- ing and Sales, USA, Tony Sneska. The operation lies on an 850-acre site in a region of timber, farming and fishing. Across 90 acres, it encompasses a quarry with primary and secondary crushers processing limestone from a deposit with decades of reserves assuming annual extraction of more than 3 million-mt; crushed, graded stone and other raw feed mills, storage and transfer equipment for relay to pre-heater and 250-mt per hour kiln; fuel storage and kiln transfer equipment; two vertical clinker mills and three 40,000-mt clinker silos; four 30,000-mt cement silos; plus, conveyors for marine terminal and rail or truck load out. The plant equipment is state of the art technology. An administration building at Port-Daniel – Gascons houses offices, along with one concrete and two cement labs. Each of the latter has completed audits by the Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory, a joint program of ASTM International Committees C01 and C09, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Portland Cement Association. The concrete lab equips McInnis Cement to test and validate mix designs from producers or contractors throughout the Great Lakes, Maritimes and Northeast regions, and is an integral part of the quality control process. X-ray diffraction and other cement lab equipment supports rapid testing of the quarry's limestone to ensure consistency of raw kiln feed. Optimizing those materials, coupled with real-time adjustments triggered by the use of in-line raw feed and clinker monitoring tech- nology, nets finished cement with high tricalcium silicate and limited lime contents, and low alkali levels (< 0.85 percent). These character- istics translate into higher performing, more consistent cement for customers. Port-Daniel – Gascons production will center on Type I/II low and moderate alkali and Type III cements. McInnis Cement has served as its own general contractor through- out the 2014-2017 plant construction phase, and let nearly 150 site and quarry preparation, foundation, building, plant and terminal equipment contracts—ultimately representing 3.8 million man hours on site. Foundation, column and silo contractors placed more than 60,000 cubic meters of concrete over the three-year window. The remotely located, export-driven plant is nearing commercial de- liveries as U.S. clinker capacity stands at 103.3 million mt and con- sumption approaches 98 million mt, based on the Portland Cement Association figures for 2017. Cement is transferred from the four 30,000-mt silos to the marine terminal loadout through the fully enclosed conveyor on the right; kiln fuel and additives are trans- ferred from vessels to warehouses through the conveyor on the left. SILO, TERMINAL PHOTOS: Concrete Products Continued on page 46