Whereas in most projects, suppliers will call on affiliated partners to assist with the final pieces of the plant jigsaw, one European OEM and integrated project supplier is proposing a one-stop-shop approach to its washing solutions and water management.
Matec Industries is an Italian company in the water treatment and filter presses sector that offers a complete folio of services and equipment. In launching Matec Washing Systems and its new “ONE” philosophy, Matec is offering producers a single supplier and a point of contact for complete projects – from feed hopper to total water and fines management.
“ONE” offers extractive producers complete closed loop projects including washing, crushing, water management and filter presses — engineered, produced and installed from one single supplier.
In the past three years Matec has developed and offered in-house solutions for washing systems to operators in a range of different countries and sectors. With investments of five million euros ($AUD8.1 million) and expansion of its dedicated team, Matec has built a dedicated 2000m2 facility for production of its Aggretec and Sandtec lines and later this year will expand with another 800m2 of engineering office dedicated to washing. These departments sit alongside the Matec Industries compound in Massa, Tuscany, where four Matec units cover an additional 1000m2.
The growing demand for washed materials while preserving often limited or controlled water resources needs the utmost care in management of water and reclamation of silts. Matec is now equipped to provide complete solutions with a proven washing equipment range coupled with an extensive capability in water treatment, including its latest generation and complete range of horizontal rake and vertical-type thickeners, polyelectrolyte dosing systems, and patented HPT 16-21-30 Bar high pressure filter presses.
While most suppliers in the washing segment rely heavily on third party solutions for at least some of their project elements – usually the water treatment aspect which is often the key to the whole system – Matec can offer numerous first party solutions from the one source. With expertise in water and tailings management, Matec offers everything from in-house design and manufacture: cutting the steel; fabrication; painting and even manufacturing the control systems. This level of integration, evident from initial customer consultations through to project delivery and complete customer care, is something very special and quite unique in the industry.
One of the flagship items in Matec’s washing portfolio is the highly versatile Aggretec modular washing platform. This unit’s modular bolted sections ensure minimal installation time and facilitate ready relocation for future requirements. All Matec Aggretec units come with the option of remote control and telemetry via internet or other networks, enhancing operational efficiency and allowing for remote diagnostics.
The Aggretec ranges from 50 to 300 tonnes per hour (tph) but larger units can produce up to 500 tph. Taking feed material as large as 150mm into its 100cm vertical drum, the plant can produce up to four grades of aggregates and one or two grades of sand. The vibrating screen uses a heavy-duty components overhead drive system with direct-mounted motors to provide multiple speed and stroke combinations in a compact design and with the right inclination, the material spends more time on the deck for optimal cleanliness.
The plant recycles a huge percentage of water in a closed circuit, using a minimal top-up to compensate for moisture leaving the system within the materials that are produced. The Matec “ONE” system includes vertical thickeners offering efficient primary stage water treatment with minimal polyelectrolyte consumption, with the output treated by a Matec filter press. This efficiently closes the wet-processing loop with all equipment designed and manufactured in-house by Matec.
WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT
There are two key stages in handling the water leaving a washing system. In most cases this is tailings water carrying “waste” fines such as silt/clays. This may also be a commercially viable product, perhaps even the main product. The process is, however, reasonably similar across applications.
Stage one starts with the addition of a flocculant agent (polyelectrolyte) to the water. This is achieved via Matec’s Bifloc dosing station, in many projects specified with the Doson system to offer a performance feedback loop, ensuring that the correct amount of polyelectrolyte is used and accommodating fluctuations in the feed material. Once mixed into the wastewater flow the settling agent rapidly encourages suspended solids to bond together into “flocs”. By holding the water in an appropriately specified thickener, these flocs quickly settle towards the bottom of the tank, allowing clean reusable water to be immediately returned to the washing circuit.
The filter press reduces the thick sludge product of the thickener to a virtually dry (typically >80 dry solids by weight) and highly compact form, moreover completely removing the need for tailings dams and reducing the need for make-up water to an absolute minimum. Matec’s ability to feed its filter presses at 16, 21 bar and in some cases even higher is a huge element of diversification from the rest of the washing market. This aids processing of even the most difficult materials such as ultra-fines and clay, with a relatively standard machine, where other suppliers may need to rely on the additional complicity and cost of membrane plate systems or with the addition of further chemical aids.
RAPID PLATE OPENING SYSTEM
Another example of improved performance is the patented TT2 rapid plate opening system design which significantly reduces the cycle time of the equipment, bringing the opening sequence to a maximum of five minutes even for the larger 200 plates machines. This enables a smaller volume Matec unit to outperform (and be more cost-effective than) competitor offerings with longer cycles.
These latest advances in the washing sector are helping operators produce high quality, commercially attractive products, often from previously rejected or underutilised potential resources, from overburden to crusher dust and demolition waste.
Where dry screening was often accepted in the past, due to lack of efficient alternatives or the ability to manage process water, washing and scrubbing systems complimented by Matec’s water management abilities are increasingly attractive to a broad range of producers.
Aggretec “One” packages everything required for the majority of aggregate and sand washing projects into a readily installed and versatile platform. For projects where additional process stages are required, for example clay-bound materials, or building/demolition waste contaminated with floatable lightweight materials (paper/wood/plastic), Aggretec can easily work in-line with Matec’s Scrubtec logwashers, units also based on a modular platform concept.
C&D SOLUTIONS
Logwashers have seen significant growth in sales across Europe, Australia and beyond in recent years due to their inherent ability to combine high levels of attrition with flotation removal of lightweight contaminants. This makes them particularly useful within systems handling construction and demolition (C&D) waste, now one of the industry’s fastest growing sectors. This is a sector where Matec has amassed considerable experience, being involved with projects from the early development stages of the C&D segment.
C&D materials brings different challenges to sand and gravel, and most mining applications, given the high variability of the feed materials. Often the most important aspect of these projects is water management and the filter press in particular. For most of these operators it is an essential device to reduce water requirements and minimise final waste volumes and it is critical that the unit is sized and specified correctly.
Matec’s enviable position as a leader in
water management and its initiative to now bring this experience into wash system manufacture is certain to have an impact on the market. With a growing international footprint offering local advice and service via local entities and offices, from Europe to the US, from Brazil
to Australia and the Asia Pacific region, Matec’s new “ONE” philosophy forms a compelling proposition.
Source: Matec Pacific