Page 40 - 2020 Sustainability Report

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP

Our Magnesia Specialties Business

After our cement business, our magnesia specialties We also manufacture magnesia-based products at our
business, which has two plants — one in Ohio and one Manistee, Michigan, facility, which are a relatively
in Michigan — is the second largest contributor to our insignificant source of direct GHG emissions. Notably, our
Scope 1 GHG footprint. This is due almost entirely to products manufactured at this plant help control emissions
the operation of our Woodville, Ohio, plant where we and result in other environmental benefits.
operate six lime kilns of varying ages. The calcination
process at Woodville is very similar to our cement Some of those applications for our products include:
business, except that Woodville processes dolomitic
limestone, which contains a higher CO component than
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the high calcium limestone used in our cement plants.
Purification of drinking water as well as
In contrast to cement, our Magnesia Specialties business
industrial and municipal wastewater
cannot achieve GHG reductions through substitution for
our calcined lime product since both internal and external
customers require that we maintain extremely high purity
Optimization of transformer electricity
to allow further processing.
transmission
Nevertheless, we have seen a considerable reduction
in GHG emissions intensity in our Magnesia Specialties
business in recent years. This is primarily driven through Replacement of hazardous chemicals with
our investments in modernizing the Woodville plant, our non-hazardous magnesium oxide and
most notably construction of a new, more efficient kiln hydroxide products
that was completed in 2012. In 2018, under a consent
decree negotiated with USEPA, the Company committed
to spend an additional +/- $30 million at this site to add
Sulfur oxide pollution reduction
preheaters and other state-of-the-art control technology
to two other large kilns. While primarily designed to
control NOx and SO emissions, we believe this project
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may also result in GHG emission reductions. This project
is well under way. Nuclear waste neutralization
We are currently evaluating systems to achieve additional
reductions through implementation of heat recovery
Improvements in gas turbine electric
systems, improvements in combustion efficiency through
generation efficiency
new product mixes, process changes and upgraded
equipment, and minimizing the generation of fines and
other byproducts.
Reduction of chemical usage in pulp
bleaching and improvements in paper
“Notably, our products grade pulp yield, reducing wood demand,
and fertilizers to maximize crop yield and
manufactured at this plant help
to replenish soil nutrients
control emissions and result in
other environmental benefits.” Reduction of sewer system pollution,

such as hydrogen sulfide gas

38 2020 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT