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.