Let evidence about emissions win
To the editor,
I’ve been reading recent news articles with interest and I recognize there are skeptics out there who don’t want our temporary, full-scale testing of scrap tires as fossil fuel replacement at Lafarge Brookfield to proceed. To this I say, let the science decide.
I believe that climate change is real, that it is intensifying, that it will proceed at an unprecedented rate into the future, and that there is an immediate need to look at all feasible technologies to reduce Nova Scotia’s carbon emissions. I also believe we will continue to need a local supply of cement to meet societal growing demands and scrap tires will be produced for many years to come. Combustion testing in my lab – comparing scrap tires to coal – shows significant emission reductions, including reduced carbon emissions. To validate this finding, let’s move the replacement of coal with scrap tires out of the lab and into a full scale pilot at the Brookfield cement plant.
The questions that have been raised in recent months are good questions, are welcome, and will be answered with evidence and facts as our one-year pilot demonstration proceeds. My team will oversee implementation and testing and will evaluate the results and share our findings. My studies of life cycle research done elsewhere show that tire-derived fuel use in cement kilns results in better carbon savings than the other alternative fuel options available in Nova Scotia, as good as these other options are. Our team intends to conduct a life cycle assessment to compare the use of scrap tires as fossil fuel replacement to other beneficial reuse solutions – all in the Nova Scotia context, and we will gladly share these results with the public.
The recent installation of continuous emission monitors at the Brookfield plant will enable my team to get instant results and to work with the Lafarge team to optimize and fine-tune this new-to-Nova Scotia technology. Lafarge will bring its international experts with decades of experience in using scrap tires in Europe, the U.S., and the rest of Canada to help the plant team smoothly introduce the project and then work with my team to do a rigorous assessment of the results. This will be capped off by an extensive emission testing program where over 90 additional trace level compounds will be assessed, adding to the emission monitors which measure, directly or indirectly, over 99 per cent of the emissions continuously.
To all those interested, keep the questions coming, they will help my team in our studies – and we’ll clear the air with actual evidence as the project unfolds.
Dr. Mark Gibson
Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Resource Engineering Director of the Atmospheric Forensics Research Group at Dalhousie University