Eco Material Technologies is opening a rail terminal in Queens, New York to transport 50,000 tons of harvested fly ash to replace supplementary parts of carbon-intensive portland cement mix in concrete mixes for local projects.
The new terminal enables Eco Material to enter the metro New York market via the Blissville Rail Terminal. The rail is part of the New York & Atlantic Railway (NYA).
Precision Terminal Logistics (PTL) will partner with Eco Material to operate the Blissville terminal. Decarbonizing the cement sector could help clean up emissions from concrete production which accounts for 7% to 9% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to various reports.
"Eco Materials and PTL have been working on developing this rail transload site in New York on rail lines operated by NYA for several years. PTL is honored to have been selected to work as an extension of ECO Material, providing best-in-class transload operations at the Blissville transload terminal," said Jason Hodge, Vice President of Commercial Development, Precision Terminal Logistics, in a statement.
Much of the fly ash will be sourced from Eco Material's landfill harvesting projects, including its Danville, Pennsylvania facility. The removal includes more than 150,000 tons of coal waste from power plants.
"By strengthening our presence in New York, we can better serve future infrastructure projects with innovative materials that reduce reliance on traditional portland cement and imported steel slag,” Eco Material CEO Grant Quasha said. “Utilizing transportation streamlines delivery and aligns with our mission to advance sustainable solutions for the construction industry."
Eco Materials' plant in Jewett, Texas (see picture and video in link) has produced more than one million tons of "green cement" in the past decade. It also converts fly ash waste from a nearby power plant.
Cement is a key part of concrete mixture for the construction industry. Other materials firms working on decarbonizing cement include Lafarge, Cemex, Furno Materials and Lehigh Hanson.
