10-10-2014, 10:01 AM
I don't know what materials are used to fuel the kilns back east now, but in 2008 when I toured the CEMEX plant in Victorville as part of the NMRA National Convention in Anaheim, they had used coal exclusively in the past. Then the Kaiser steel mill closed in Fontana, and the oil refineries no longer had a market for their coke (what is left over after all of the oils and greases are refined out of crude oil). For a while Cemex was receiving coke for just the cost of shipping, but I think they pay for it now. It is probably still cheaper than coal, and burns hotter than coal as well. They also receive trailer loads of old tires. Up on Highway 99 in Cali's Central Valley, there are mountains of old tires. They were left in piles when no one knew what to do with them for disposal. Cemex runs the tires through the same crusher that crushes both coal and coke, and they burn a mixture of crushed coal, coke, and tires in the kiln.