Rheine. Mayor Dr. Peter Lüttmann and EWG Managing Director Ingo Niehaus visited the Lhoist limestone plant Rheine on Wednesday and were given an insight into the industrial extraction and processing of limestone by Plant Manager Andreas Tepe. For almost 100 years, limestone has been quarried in the south of Rheine and processed into high-quality products for various markets. Today, the limestone plant with its two associated quarries belongs to Rheinkalk GmbH, the German subsidiary of Lhoist, the world’s largest lime producer. The last large kilns in which limestone was once burned here have now been shut down and dismantled. Today, the plant in the rural Münsterland region focuses primarily on products and customers in the fields of drinking water treatment, agriculture and energy supply.
What many people do not know: Lime products are often indispensable and are used in many industrial value chains. For example, in waterworks, in animal feed or for the desulfurization of flue gases, such as in coal-fired power plants: “Our natural products are usually at the beginning of the value chain and are often used when something needs to be cleaned, processed or improved,” explained plant manager Tepe during the tour of the factory. But lime is also an indispensable part of everyday life, he said, from toothpaste to steel for cars and road construction – the natural product limestone is used everywhere.
During his first visit to the lime plant, Mayor Lüttmann was impressed by the technical equipment and processes: “This site, steeped in history, has been contributing to a reliable supply of lime products for many companies in the region for almost 100 years,” he says. Rheine. I learned many more new things today about how extensive the uses for lime are, absolutely fascinating!”
Plant manager Tepe also told Lüttmann and Niehaus about the company’s activities for the protection of species and the environment: “Our work undoubtedly always means an intervention in the landscape, but we keep this as small as possible. Later, these areas will become biotopes, and already today a large part of our former quarry has been shut down and is being further developed in cooperation with the Forest Hills Association for flora and fauna.” The fact that during Tepe’s remarks on the company’s commitment three deer suddenly jumped out of the bushes and ran blithely through the quarry seemed “as if it had been ordered,” Mayor Lüttmann smiled.
Ingo Niehaus, EWG Managing Director, was particularly interested in the site’s energy-related issues: “The fact that such an energy-intensive company uses 100 percent renewable electricity is impressive. The use of combined heat and power plants to supply electricity and heat also underlines the progressive approach of the Lhoist lime plant Rheine”, said Niehaus.
This forward-looking approach is also reflected in the lime industry’s first climate-neutral products, which Lhoist markets under the LEVEL|BLUE brand. In the foreseeable future, these products for the treatment of drinking and process water are also to be offered for the first time on a climate-neutral basis at the Rheine site.