Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/594078
AGGREGATES MANAGER November 2015 14 by Kerry Clines, Contributing Editor R omeoville Quarry, a Lehigh Hanson crushed stone operation located in a suburb southwest of Chicago, opened as a Material Service quarry in the 1930s. It was originally owned by the Crown family of Chicago, and was sold to Lehigh Hanson in 2006. The quarry recently made a name for itself by reducing its energy consumption by more than 10 percent within the last two years to become one of a hand- ful of aggregates operations to achieve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Challenge for Industry. Earning a star "Our Energy Star was earned for 2013," says Chris Pronoitis, plant manager, explaining that several things contributed to the operation's reduction in energy use. "We relined our crushers and got better throughput. Liners wear out and become less efficient, and when they're less efficient, they make more oversize material. The oversize has to be recirculated, so it uses more energy to crush it again. In making more of the right size product, we ran less and reduced our energy usage." Pronoitis points out that they reduced op- erating hours at the plant, which played a big Lehigh Hanson's Romeoville Quarry demonstrates energy efficiency in more ways than one.