Location:
- Grid reference: NX968155
- x=296800
- y=515500
- 54°31'27"N; 3°35'40"W
- Civil Parish: Hensingham, Cumberland
Clinker manufacture operational: 1955-1976
Approximate total clinker production: 4.4 million tonnes
Raw materials:
- Anhydrite (Permian: St Bees Evaporite Formation: 260-268 Ma) from mine. The product drift emerged at 296492,515352 (Sandwith parish) and ran south-westwards beneath St Bees Head. Two seams were worked – 5 and 8 m thick, separated by 2.5 m shale, dipping to a depth of 300 m off the coast. A room-and-pillar system was used, with 60% yield.
- Shale (Permian: St Bees Shale Formation: 252-260 Ma) from quarry at 296100,515900 and later mainly mine inter-burden.
- Sand: source?
Ownership:
- 1955 Marchon Products Ltd
- 1955-1976 Albright and Wilson Ltd
Sometimes called Solway Works. The plant was constructed to produce sulfuric acid, principally to feed the Marchon phosphoric acid plant, which was primarily for the production sodium tripolyphosphate, for use in detergents. Marchon used their central European connections to obtain IG Farben technology, rather than that of ICI, which had been offered to them at an inflated price. Because of its use in an expanding niche market, the Whitehaven plant continued to expand in a manner not shared by the other Anhydrite Process plants. The anhydrite mine opened on 11/1/1955, and the acid plant started on 14/11/1955. For a while in the early 1970s, it became the largest sulfuric acid plant in the UK, making about 13% of national production, and it was by far the largest Anhydrite Process plant ever built. The cement was always distributed by Blue Circle, and after kilns A4 and A5 were installed, the surplus clinker was sent by rail to Widnes and Wishaw for grinding. The plant had the lowest local domestic market of any plant in this study, but benefitted from the use of the Blue Circle rail-fed depots for its distribution, and the local nuclear industry absorbed much of its early output. SO2 production by burning liquid sulfur imported from Texas began in 1973, and completely displaced the cement kilns in 1976. The kilns were removed in 1988 and the area was re-used. The Marchon site closed in 2005, and apart from the anhydrite adit, the cement plant has been obliterated.
Power supply
The entire plant was electrically driven, using power purchased from the grid from the outset.
Rawmills
Ball mills were used. The original installation had two Edgar Allen 635 kW rawmills. A third mill was added in 1967 - size and supplier unknown but probably Vickers Armstrong. Supplementary heat was used for raw material drying while using quarried shale (15% moisture) but possibly not when using interburden (2% moisture).
Five rotary kilns were installed:
Kiln A1
Supplier: Edgar Allen
Operated: 14/11/1955-1/3/1973
Process: Anhydrite
Location: Hot end 296661,515493: Cold end 296635,515558: unenclosed.
Dimensions: 230’0”× 11’0¼” (metric 70.10 × 3.359)
Rotation (viewed from firing end): anticlockwise
Slope: ?
Speed: ?
Drive: ?
Kiln profile: 0×3359: 70104×3359: Tyres at 8534, 26213, 44653, 64160: turning gear at 29870.
Cooler: rotary 73’0”× 7’0” (metric 22.25 × 2.134) beneath kiln.
Cooler profile: 0×2134: 22250×2134: Tyres at 5791, 17678: turning gear at 14630.
Fuel: originally Coal: Oil was used from 1962 or earlier.
Coal Mill: ?
Exhaust: suction provided by acid plant blowers and scrubbed by acid plant gas cleaning.
Typical Output: 219 t/d
Typical Heat Consumption: 8.4 MJ/kg
Kiln A2
Operated: 1955-1973
Location: Hot end 296672,515497: Cold end 296646,515562: unenclosed.
Identical in all other respects to A1.
Kiln A3
Supplier: Vickers Armstrong
Operated: 5/1962-28/11/1975
Process: Anhydrite
Location: Hot end 296688,515500: Cold end 296660,515568: unenclosed.
Dimensions (from cooler ports): 240’0”× 13’0”B / 11’0”CD (metric 73.15 × 3.962 / 3.353)
Rotation (viewed from firing end): anticlockwise
Slope: ?
Speed: ?
Drive: ?
Kiln profile (from cooler ports): -610×3353: 6401×3353: 9144×3962: 26822×3962: 29566×3353: 73152×3353: Tyres at 5486, 30480, 40538, 65227: turning gear at 62941.
Cooler: Reflex “Recuperator” planetary coolers: number and size not known.
Fuel: Oil
Exhaust: suction provided by acid plant blowers and scrubbed by acid plant gas cleaning.
Typical Output: 248 t/d
Typical Heat Consumption: 8.5 MJ/kg
Kiln A4
Supplier: Vickers Armstrong
Operated: 7/1/1967-5/1976
Process: Anhydrite
Location: Hot end 296701,515509: Cold end 296674,515574: unenclosed.
Dimensions: 230’0”× 12’0” (metric 70.10 × 3.658)
Rotation (viewed from firing end): anticlockwise
Slope: ?
Speed: ?
Drive: ?
Kiln profile: 0×3658: 70104×3658: Tyres at 3200, 24384, 41453, 60655: turning gear at 57836.
Cooler: rotary ?110 '× 7' (metric 33.53 × 2.134) beneath kiln
Cooler profile: ?0×2134: 33548×2134: tyres at ?7620, 22860: turning gear at ?21336.
Fuel: Oil
Exhaust: suction provided by acid plant blowers and scrubbed by acid plant gas cleaning.
Typical Output: 255 t/d
Typical Heat Consumption: 8.2 MJ/kg
Kiln A5
Operated: 21/5/1967-5/1976
Location: Hot end 296712,515514: Cold end 296685,515578: unenclosed.
Identical in all other respects to A4.
Sources:
- Primary Sources:
- "Electrical Equipment of a Sulphuric Acid and Cement Factory", The Engineer, 200, 16 December 1955, p 877
- “Sulfuric Acid and Cement Plant at Whitehaven”, Cement and Lime Manufacture, 41, March 1968, pp 34-35
- D. W. F. Hardie, J. Davidson Pratt, A History of the Modern British Chemical Industry, Pergamon Press Ltd., 1966, pp 124-125
- D. S. Ashburner, “Production of Cement and Sulfuric Acid by the Marchon Process”, in Proceedings of the 18th Annual Meeting of the Fertilizer Round Table, Washington, D.C., pp 72-77
- Alan W. Routledge, Marchon: the Whitehaven Chemical Works, Tempus, 2005, ISBN 0-7524-3572-8, pp 30-31, 36-39, 49, 53-54, 65-66, 95, 121-123
- Cumbria Industries website
- Durham Mining Museum - this contains a number of pictures and plant descriptions
- Ordnance Survey 1:2500 mapping
- BGS mapping and monographs
- Confirmatory Sources: