Recycling

Is the future of crushing sustainable, cost-effective and urban?

Urbanisation means faster and more numerous construction projects. This is good news for the crushing business, but it also brings new challenges.

Cost structures are changing, which makes it necessary for crushing to take place closer to the construction site. Simultaneously, crushing within cities is becoming more tightly controlled through environmental and safety regulations.

{{image3-a:r-w:250}}According to Juhamatti Heikkilä, a product safety manager for global mobile crushing and screening plant supplier Metso, “sustainability and operational flexibility can be built into the same package. That’s why we made [Metso’s] Lokotrack [plant range] an urban citizen.”

Metso’s rationale is that producers have an increasing need for crushing operations close to densely inhabited areas, even in city centres.

“In fast-growing countries, where cities are quickly expanding and masses of people are moving closer to what would be considered traditional crushing sites, urban crushing is often a necessity,” Heikkilä said. “Urban operations are regulated by environmental permits that vary from country to country.

“When designing the new Lokotrack Urban, we wanted to simplify the answer to some of these key environmental and operational challenges with a single solution.”

ORIGIN OF DISTURBANCES

The main issues for crushing rock close to communities are noise and dust emissions, Heikkilä says. Areas with bad air quality have increasingly tight limitations for dust emissions, whereas long-term exposure to loud crushing noise, both for employees on-site and people living nearby, leads to various health concerns.

“Since noise is one of the key issues, we decided to find the root cause that makes crushing noise disturbing,” Heikkilä said. “To do so, we collaborated with some of our local authorities, research organisations and private companies operating with acoustics and communal design. Our patent-pending solution focuses particularly on the reduction of crusher noise, which makes the whole crushing operation less disturbing.
 

LOKOTRACK URBAN CRUSHING PLANT

The Lokotrack Urban LT106 is a primary crushing plant that can be used as the first unit in a multi-stage crushing process or a stand-alone unit in size reduction applications. The benefits of this crusher’s advanced features are:

• A 60 per cent reduction in the 85 decibels [dB(A)] noise protection distance.
• Significantly reduced noise around the plant.
• Low dust emissions.
• Easier process for obtaining an environmental permit.

{{image2-a:r-w:200}}The Lokotrack Urban series was developed to enable producers to run their crushing operations in densely populated environments, such as city centres. The LT106 is designed to make a producer’s operations easier while minimising the impact for people living and working around the site.

Environmental permits are based on noise. Although 85 dB(A) is the most commonly defined limit for ear protection, the LT106 strives for a reduction of about 60 per cent on the noise protection distance, from 23-25m to 9-11m.

The Lokotrack Urban series includes an advanced dust suppression system. The dust is funnelled inside the mobile crushing plant and a high pressure water spraying system absorbs airborne dust particles.

An excavator or wheel loader feeds material onto the feeder. The two-stage scalping section removes the fines, which can be guided into the main conveyor or side conveyor. The crusher setting controls output material size. The crusher is hydraulic-driven to ensure trouble-free operation.

Metso’s solution was a machine designed for short-term use that had to be both robust and compact. Noise and dust is not the whole story. A common target for most operators is to limit the need for transportation. In the worst case scenario, demolition waste from construction and rock from quarries are transported back and forth. This leads to hundreds of truckloads, increased transportation costs, more traffic and emissions – and even delays in construction projects. Many quarry operators also work in multiple sites, and equipment may need to be moved several times a week.“Since noise protection mechanisms need to be as air-tight as possible, they also help to manage dust emissions. This is especially the case when combined with other dust prevention features, such as a high pressure water spraying system.”

“We decided to utilise proven technology – but to add new noise and dust protection features to build a unique machine,” Heikkilä said. “As the base technology, we chose the LT106, one of our most widely used mobile crushing plants in the market.

“We paid special attention to make it as easy to maintain as possible. If needed, the Urban can be ‘packed up’ for transportation in only 15 to 30 minutes. The compact machine is also easy to move around within the same site. Ideally, aggregates can be used in the same location to completely avoid hauling.”

COMPLYING WITH REGULATIONS

When an operation is planned for a limited period of time, using mobile equipment is often the ideal choice. With mobile plants, however, “it doesn’t make sense to invest in the same added protection mechanisms as with stationary plants. Therefore, it may prove difficult to comply with the environmental permit regulations.”

The Urban LT106 has all the features in-built to fulfil regulations.

“Feedback we have received from the field supports the fact that using the Urban has a positive impact on the permit process, especially when it comes to getting a short-term permit,” Heikkilä said. 

He concluded that urban crushing could change the way infrastructure is built for the best. “Whether crushing closer or farther away from cities, demand will continue to increase for smoother, safer and more sustainable crushing operations. Regulations as well as cost structures are changing, and equipment too must support these developments.”

Source: Metso
 

PORTABLE, COMPACT AND EFFICIENT RECYCLER

The German company Straßen- und Tiefbaugesellschaft mbH Ernst Röwer (Ernst Röwer) is highlighting the key benefits of its new Metso Lokotrack LT96 jaw plant: compact size, efficiency, good fuel economy and easy transport.

{{image4-a:r-w:200}}The company is well known for its professional recycling and road construction activities for nearly 100 years in Germany’s Mecklenburg-Vorpommern province.

Ernst Röwer recycles old industrial buildings constructed in the era of the German Democratic Republic (aka East Germany). The Lokotrack LT96 jaw plant is operated at three locations and is moved between them about four times per year.

“With its compact dimensions and weight of only 30 tonnes, our new unit can be moved without any extra permits,” company managing director and owner Ulrich Nikolaus said. “That enables us to easily transport the Lokotrack anywhere it’s needed.

“We are very happy with our small, but powerful Lokotrack. We crush with it every day, year round, and the unit has proven to be very reliable, with no sudden stoppages.”

Before purchasing its own mobile crushing plant, Ernst Röwer used a contract crusher to do all its jobs. The company was already familiar with Metso because the contractor used Lokotrack equipment.

In early 2016 it was decided the company would purchase its own crushing plant. A suitable LT96 with just a few operational hours was found from the rental fleet of Metso’s German distributor Fischer-Jung GmbH.

During the first four months of operation, more than 45,000 tonnes of concrete blocks with rebar were crushed. A strong magnet separated all metal pieces from the end products, sized at 0-45mm. The clean, crushed and screened concrete is being recycled as base materials at nearby roadworks.

To avoid dust, Ernst Röwer uses the LT96’s dust suppression system, with high pressure water spraying to the crusher cavity and the top of the conveyor. At the recycling plant in Penkun, water can be pumped easily from a nearby well.

After more than 1400 running hours, the LT96 had proven itself an economical crushing plant with low fuel consumption.

Ernst Röwer was also happy with the durability of Metso’s jaw wear plates. The first change of wears is planned after some 80,000 tonnes of crushing.

Ernst Röwer will celebrate its first 100 years of operation in 2019. The company employs 130 people and has 60 trucks in operation.

Source: Metso

 

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