Aggregate Industries’ Colemans Quarry site has become the first asphalt plant in the UK to make the switch to liquid natural gas (LNG).
The 60-year old site is based in North Somerset and provides the construction industry with building materials.
The site uses vast quantities of gas to heat and dry the 250,000 tonnes of asphalt produced every year. Active 24/7 means maintaining a constant, reliable supply of fuel is important for hitting production targets.
Aggregate Industries approached Calor about working together to provide a new heating solution after seeing an opportunity to reduce both emissions and fuel bills.
Plant manager, Simon Evans explained: “We made the switch to LNG because it is a cleaner source of energy.
“We were previously using kerosene, but LNG is a more cost-effective product to burn. It also produces a lot less carbon, and reducing our carbon footprint is very important for Aggregate Industries.”
As well as substantially cutting fuel costs, the project has reduced the amount of CO2 emitted per tonne of asphalt produced at the site by 17% – cutting Aggregate Industries’ annual emissions by 1,800 tonnes.
The asphalt plant is now the second in the world, and first in the UK, to use LNG, and represents Calor’s first turnkey LNG installation in the UK.
The commissioning project began in January 2015 and was completed in May. As well as laying new pipework and converting the site’s 16MW burner to run on LNG, Calor installed a 90 sqm tank and a pair of vaporisers each capable of converting 2,000 sqm of gas each hour.
