BUFFALO, Iowa – Summit Materials is cementing a sustainable future for its Davenport plant here with a massive expansion that will reduce its fossil fuel consumption by turning waste materials into fuel.
Summit Materials, which owns and operates the cement plant at 301 E. Front St., Buffalo, marked the project’s completion with a ceremony and celebration on Tuesday, Sept. 10. Through a space reconfiguration and an expansion, the $38 million project expanded Davenport’s Green America Recycling operations, company leaders said.
The project, President and CEO Anne Noonan said, marks the first global pre-commercial installation of the FLSmidth FUELFLEX Pyrolyzer System. Green America Recycling, a business owned by Summit Materials, will use the technology to recycle non-hazardous waste and convert it into alternative fuel for operating the cement plant’s kilns.
“Our team started this two years ago and working with our partners we designed a vision and installation of this and executed flawlessly on it,” Ms. Noonan told the crowd of more than 150 guests and employees gathered outside the riverfront plant. “At Summit, we have committed to be the most socially responsible, construction material solution provider.”
By expanding the Green America Recycling operation, she said it will allow the plant “to reduce 50,000 tons of other fuel, and replace that with clean, basically, alternative fuels… This is a tremendous example of meeting our sustainability goals but also reducing costs and dropping dollars to the bottom line.”
2nd upgrade in 2 years
Summit Materials is a market-leading producer of aggregates and cement. This expansion comes just two years after the company built a $30 million cement storage dome at the same Davenport Continental Cement plant. They touted then that it was the largest cement storage dome in North America.
Ms. Noonan and other leaders thanked the Davenport and Summit team, the company’s partners – including the project partner FLSmidth & Co., the Green America team and Summit’s own customers for supporting its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.
“As the largest U.S.-based cement company, it’s our responsibility to lead in addressing emission reduction goals in a way that adds value,” she told a crowd that spilled outside the oversized marquee set up to host the celebration. “The FuelFlex investment is a tremendous opportunity to meet our sustainability targets while delivering significant savings to our bottom line.”
Several company leaders stressed the importance of safety not only in everyday operations but throughout the expansion. “At Summit, safety is not a priority – priorities change. Safety is a core value,” Ms. Noonan said, applauding the Davenport plant’s safety record.
The company said about a half a million labor hours went into the project over the past 18 months between the contractors and Summit employees, all of whom performed the work without a reportable injury.
To expand Green America Recycling operations, the project included construction of a new 57,000-square-foot building (built around an existing facility) as well as the installation of new machinery for the recycling process, Tim Noud, Summit Materials’ vice president for manufacturing – Eastern Region, told the QCBJ.
Alternative fuel focus
Inside the new facility employees will “shred raw materials we get from suppliers and feed it into the FUELFLEX system.” Mr. Noud added that alternative fuels will reduce the plant’s use of fossil fuels, including petcoke and coal, at a rate of 55%. Some items to be recycled and converted into fuel include windmill blades, tires, chrome and everyday waste.
Nic Marks, senior vice president of Green America Recycles, said other materials that can be recycled include paper, plastic, rubber and more. All materials will be sorted inside the new facility, shredded and then converted into fuel.
The expansion also created 30 new jobs at the Davenport plant including technicians to sort materials, maintenance technicians, management and sales team members, Mr. Marks told the QCBJ.
Ms. Noonan said green technology also rescues recyclable materials from ending up in landfills or being incinerated. That is a key milestone in Summit’s sustainability goals and supports its Carbon Reduction plan.
According to a 2023 report on Summit’s website, Green America Recycling has operated facilities adjacent to the Davenport plant and in Hannibal, Missouri, and sustainably reused waste materials for more than 30 years. Its Missouri location is one of only 12 cement manufacturers permitted to handle federally regulated hazardous liquid waste materials as a fuel source, and one of only two permitted to handle regulated solid hazardous waste materials.
David Loomes, Summit’s executive vice president of cement, told reporters sustainable technology delivers a number of benefits not only for the company, but for customers and communities where it operates. Besides diverting waste from landfills, he said customers can be more competitive on their bids because they will be using lower carbon density cement.
Technology cutting edge
“We identified FuelFlex as a cutting-edge technology that not only reduces our reliance on fossil fuels but also improves plant efficiencies, material flow and overall throughput,” he added.
Mr. Loomes said the new processes will remove 50,000 tons of fossil fuel from the Davenport plant’s operation and replace it with recycled waste. “We’re off to a great start. (The plant’s) been commissioned and it’s recycling.”
The plant now will get 55% of its combustibles from the new recycling process.
Both Mr. Loomes and Ms. Noonan predicted this Green America Recycling technology expansion will be the first of many by Summit Materials and others in the industry.
Quad Cities Chamber President and CEO Peter Tokar III also told the crowd he was pleased to have the chamber invited back to the Davenport plant for the second time in two years. “It’s an exciting thing, that means we’re growing and expanding. The Quad Cities is thriving,” he said.
In addition to thanking the company for its commitment to the QC, Mr. Tokar said “We also thank you for your commitment to sustainability and the environment.”
Summit’s latest Davenport investment comes as the company has grown to become the largest U.S.-based cement company. Ms. Noonan attributed the milestone to its Jan. 12 acquisition of Argos North America Corp. The $3.2 billion combination added four more cement plants to Summit’s operation for a total of six – doubling Summit Materials in size.
The Denver, Colorado-based company employs 7,500 including 250 at Davenport. Newly acquired plants are in Roberta, Alabama; Harleyville, South Carolina; Newbury, Florida; and Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Summit plans to expand its sustainability efforts across its entire operation in coming years. “We plan to build the appropriate technology for what the plant does,” he told the QCBJ.
