In Drs. John Easton’s and Andrew Quicksall’s Environmental Engineering Laboratory and Field Methods class, their students often focus on experimentation and analyses on a variety of topics in lab such as water and air pollution, waste management, microbiology, and industrial hygiene in addition to field work, visiting industry sites and infrastructure. Last week, the class had the opportunity to visit the LaFarge-Holcim Cement Plant in Midlothian, Texas to learn about cement production and air pollution control.
Drs. Easton’s and Quicksall’s class is currently in the middle of their air pollution unit, spending a lot of time collecting data on the North Texas region’s problem with ozone pollution and noncompliance with the Clean Air Act. The site visit to LaFarge-Holcim was a chance for the students to see first-hand an industrial source of this pollution—the cement production process.
“LaFarge-Holcim Cement plant has a mine where they mine limestone, dump it into a kiln, and ultimately produce cement—one of the three ingredients used to make concrete,” Dr. Easton said.
In addition to cement, concrete is composed of two other ingredients—aggregate and water. A simple recipe that creates a material in high demand.
“With the number of road construction projects in Dallas, there is an enormous need for concrete,” Dr. Easton said. “Even though North Texas is not in compliance with the Clean Air Act, we still need these materials.”
The Midlothian Cement plant has very sophisticated air pollution control devices that limit emissions that contribute to poor air quality; these devices include a bag house, regenerative thermal oxidizer, and selective catalytic reducer. Looking at the data they collected, Dr. Easton’s class compared their calculations against the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone under the Clean Air Act.
“This standard is set to support human health, particularly sensitive individuals with asthma, heart and lung diseases, children, and the elderly,” Dr. Easton said.
In addition, the students did an analysis based upon the Accumulation Over Threshold 40ppb (AOT40) standard, which is more important for ozone impacts to vegetation, parks, agriculture, and food. Within this research, students are equipped in data analysis techniques and data science tools which can be applied to evaluating almost any environmental problem and the design of engineering solutions. In the class, they use a special software known as Geographic Information Systems to look at distributions of people, sources of pollution, and pollution concentrations, which proves especially resourceful for this project.
“It’s a big part of environmental engineering,” Dr. Easton said. “They are gaining valuable knowledge about the economics and engineering that enables needed cement production.”
It’s a huge advantage for Lyle’s engineering students to have access to hands-on learning made possible through our industry partners such as Lafarge-Holcim.