New mill will reduce energy consumption by 30 per cent

A cement grinding mill is being installed at the Padeswood works near Mold in north Wales as part of a £20 million upgrade.

The Loesche vertical roller mill, which will be capable of grinding up to 650,000 tonnes of clinker a year, will reduce energy consumption for this critical part of the cement-making process by around 30 per cent due to the mill design and the efficiency of the electric motors. It will also improve efficiency and reduce emissions.

The Padeswood plant currently has four operational mills, but they are old and inefficient. In addition, they do not have the capacity to grind the volume of clinker made by the kiln, creating a production imbalance and resulting in some of the clinker being transported to Hanson’s plants at Ketton and Ribblesdale for grinding.

Three of the old mills will be mothballed with the fourth kept in service and used as back up for the new one.

The investment project also includes installing new cement silos alongside the existing railway line to load trains for delivery. At present the rail link is used to bring in coal to fire the kilns. In future, up to three trains a week will be despatched to Hanson’s depots at Kings Cross, London, Avonmouth, Bristol or Belshill, Glasgow depending on demand, saving thousands of lorry movements.

The new mill and loading facilities will be operational by 2019.