Alternative Fuels in Boral® Brick Production


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires large landfills to capture their methane emissions and either burn them off in a safe, environmentally responsible way, or find alternative uses for these emissions. Many scientists believe that methane emissions contribute to man-made global warming. If not burned as fuel, methane is four times more problematic as a greenhouse gas.

The 165,000-square-foot Boral Bricks manufacturing facility in Union City, Oklahoma, which opened in March of 2006, is fueled using a combination of methane and natural gas. Methane is a clean-burning gas that is produced during the decomposition of plant, animal waste and garbage.

The methane used to fuel the Union City plant is captured from a landfill managed by the Oklahoma Environmental Management Authority. Boral made a $2 million investment to develop 20 wells at the landfill to collect the methane gas. The methane is then piped two miles to the brick manufacturing facility, where it is used as an energy source for the production of Boral Bricks. By recycling methane as an energy resource, Boral has relieved the Union City landfill of the challenging responsibility of methane gas disposal.

As a leading U.S. company committed to cutting-edge, energy-conscious fuel alternatives for manufacturing, Boral broke ground on a second methane-fueled facility November 1, 2006. The site of the facility, located in Terre Haute, Indiana, was selected specifically because of it’s proximity to two landfills; the Victory Landfill and Sycamore Ridge Landfill.

Methane will be piped from these nearby landfills to supply energy needs for the plant, which is scheduled to open in December of 2007. By using methane to fuel the plant, an otherwise precarious gas is consumed in the production of a usable product. The methane produced by the landfills can provide enough fuel to power the brick facility for 25 years.





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