What About Cement Plants?

Michigan - Planetsave.com

Although the CAMR only regulate Hg emissions from power plants significant Mercury emissions emanate from cement plants as well. In this article by John Flesher some interesting facts come out concerning cement plant emissions. I find it particularly interesting that some cement plants use captured flyash purchased from power plants as a raw material in their cement. This sounds like a good way to reuse waste and avoid landfilling this ash, but what is happening is the Mercury in the ash that was captured by the Air Pollution Control Devices at the power plant is now being emitted into the air at the cement plant. This exerpt explains;

...in the mid-1990s Lafarge began adding fly ash from a Canadian coal-burning plant to its raw materials for cement. The ash contains so much mercury, it produces over half the total emitted while making up just 5 percent of the raw material volume...

You can read the entire article here.