Pennsy Supply Launches New Product Line of High-Calcium Limestone
Is your dog getting enough limestone in his diet?
HARRISBURG, Pa. (April 4, 2005) -
Pennsy Supply recently completed a $6.5 million investment in a new grinding mill system as well as a $900,000 upgrade to the stone plant at its Hummelstown quarry, which will allow the company to launch a new product line of high-calcium limestone, also known as calcium carbonate, for the industrial fillers, power utility and animal feed markets, including dog food and dairy and chicken feed.
“Calcium carbonate is in huge demand because it is used as a calcium supplement and low-cost industrial filler in a wide range of products and industries,” says Pennsy President Randy Lake. “Since there is a limited number of high-calcium reserves in the northeastern United States, Pennsy is really looking to step in and fill the void for regional customers who would normally have to go much farther afield to procure calcium carbonate.”
The Hummelstown quarry currently mines dolomitic limestone for the production of aggregate construction materials as well as coarse, sized high-calcium products for the cement industry. The majority of the remaining reserves are high-calcium limestone. With the newly upgraded stone plant, Pennsy is now able to transfer a prepared 1 ½-inch minus feed to the mill to be pulverized into various filler products as fine as 45 micron in size. The new grade of high-calcium limestone will be available in May 2005.
“What many people don’t realize is that the average person ingests limestone probably every day,” says Russ Witmer, Manager, High-Calcium Products. “High-calcium limestone is found in everything from processed foods such as cookies, crackers and cereal to pharmaceutical products such as aspirin, antacids and toothpaste.”
While Pennsy will be producing a gray limestone typically not used in the consumer foods and pharmaceutical markets due to its lack of brightness or whiteness, they will primarily be serving the asphalt roofing industry and the animal feed market, where high-calcium limestone is used as a calcium supplement in dog food and other animal feed. Additional markets that Pennsy plans to expand into include the power utility market where calcium carbonate is used to capture sulfur emissions to meet clean air requirements (also known as co-generation) and the industrial fillers market where calcium carbonate is used in a wide gamut of products such as paper, plastics, glass, carpet, rubber, asphalt roofing and a whole range of building materials.
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