Our Company
OVER 100 YEARS OF DEDICATION AND EXCELLENCE
The Central Plains Cement Company provides portland cement to our customers in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Nebraska. Our products are used in countless residential, commercial, and government projects, literally forming the foundation of our communities. Our market is served by two cement manufacturing plants and five cement terminals
The manufacturing plants are located in Sugar Creek, (greater Kansas City) Missouri and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Their history dates all the way back to 1907. Their current combined production capacity is over 1.7 million tons of cement a year.
Their success is founded on the efforts of their dedicated employees and their Consistent Eye on Quality. Each plant is committed to being a good neighbor, serving as an active, positive force in the community, and working toward cleaner and more sustainable operations. Our facilities have sponsored numerous local scholars, sports teams, charities and non-profit organizations through direct volunteerism, cash, or in-kind donations.
Our employees are the true living assets of Central Plains Cement. They embody the company’s know-how. Their expertise, motivation and capacity to adapt and develop, as well as their imagination, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit are the keys to our overall success.
Central Plains Cement is a locally managed and operated subsidiary of Eagle Material Inc. Eagle is one of the largest American owned suppliers of materials for residential, commercial, institutional and public works construction in the United States.
CEMENT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Limestone Mining
Cement manufacturing requires consistent and high quality sources of the four primary raw materials: calcium, aluminum, silica, and iron. Both facilities obtain the required calcium from limestone extracted from their own mines.
Unusual for a cement plant, the Sugar Creek plant limestone source is an underground mine rather than on open pit quarry. The “room and pillar” mining technique is used to extract limestone from 700 feet below the ground surface.
The Tulsa plant operates an open pit quarry adjacent to the plant. The quarry also provides educational opportunities for grade school children as well as university students conducting research on advanced degrees.
At both plants, the extracted limestone is crushed and stored prior to the next step in the process, raw milling.
Raw Milling
Other natural and by-product raw materials are delivered to our plants via over-the-road truck. The crushed limestone and other raw materials are weigh-fed and ground in a raw mill. The resulting fine powder is called kiln feed.
Extensive use of x-ray chemical analysis is used to ensure kiln feed consistency and quality. The kiln feed is stored in a homogenization silo where the material is blended to further ensure uniformity prior to feeding to the pyroprocess.
Pyroprocess
At both manufacturing facilities, the kiln feed is fed to the pyroprocess where it is heated to over 2,800 Fahrenheit in a kiln. The kiln feed forms greyish-black nodules called clinker.
When the hot clinker emerges from the kiln, it passes through a clinker cooler. The cooler works by passing fresh air through the bed of hot clinker. The resulting warm air is reused to combust kiln fuel. The clinker can be stored, or ground immediately into the final product.
Both Sugar Creek and Tulsa use a mixture of fossil fuels and alternate fuels including landfill gas, fuel quality wastes, and non-hazardous shredded solids fuels. These alternate fuels replace more than 60 percent of the original fossil fuels used in the pyroprocess. Using these alternate fuels provide a number of environmental and economic benefits to the surrounding communities and Central Plains Cement.
Finish Milling
Clinker and a small percentage of gypsum and raw limestone are fed to a finish mill. A finish mill consists of a steel cylinder partially filled with hardened steel balls. The finish mill grinds into the fine gray powder known as portland cement.
Final Storage & Shipping
The portland cement is pumped to storage silos for shipping and distribution. From here, the cement is loaded onto bulk trucks or railcars to service our markets either directly or through our cement terminals in Omaha, Kansas City, Wichita, Springfield and Oklahoma City.