NEW PORTABLE CONE PLANT HELPS CONTRACT CRUSHER MEET URBAN RECYCLE DEMAND.
By Carol Wasson
Ever-growing epicenters for asphalt and concrete recycle crushing lie just beyond the outskirts of many American cities – a trending phenomenon due to regulations that curtail urban quarry operation; the cost-prohibitive transportation of virgin aggregate; an over-abundance of demolition material; and waste disposal bans.
Consequently, the use of recycled materials in highway construction is at an all-time high.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are in full support of its increased use in an effort to reduce waste, preserve the natural environment, and provide more cost-effective highway construction. The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) reports that in 2011 alone, recycling America’s roads saved more than 21-million barrels of liquid asphalt binder, saving taxpayers some $2.2 billion.
Similar to most state governments, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has long issued waste-disposal bans on many of the materials generated during construction demolition, including Asphalt Pavement, Brick and Concrete (ABC). Consequently, there are a growing number of recycle crushers in this region.
One of them is P.A. Landers, Inc., a provider of aggregate products and construction services covering all of southeastern Massachusetts. Preston A. Landers founded the company in 1978 with just three people and a backhoe. Today, P.A. Landers is one of the largest contractors in the Northeast. Its corporate office is located in Hanover, Mass., and it also maintains divisions in Plymouth and Forestdale.
P.A. Landers conducts its 500,000-tpy asphalt and concrete recycling operation at its 68-acre Hanover site, about 20 miles from the Boston metropolitan area. “It’s very difficult to find a dump site or recycle yard in the greater Boston area, so that’s why we have expanded our processing operations at this facility,” said Landers, who recalls that when he started his business some 36 years ago, aggregate reserves were within 20 miles from Boston. “Now they are 60-or-more miles away,” he said.
New Plant
To achieve greater processing capacities, Landers purchased a new Telsmith 44SBS-H-CC portable cone crushing plant in 2013. He said he chose the compact, closed-circuit, self-contained plant for its low-profile design and its production capabilities.
“It’s a high producer for its size and that’s what we wanted – and its portability allows us to easily relocate it to our Forestdale location when we need to. Also, we wanted a cone, as our abrasive material is a little unforgiving to an impact plant. You get far better wear life out of this cone versus the blow bar wear in an impactor,” said Landers.
As to material flow, the operation uses a crawler jaw as a primary crusher. Depending upon product needs, the jaw moves from pile to pile, reducing material to 6-in.-minus. “We built a vibrating feeder for use with the portable cone plant. As a secondary circuit, the cone reduces material down to 3/4-in. for the bulk of our products,” said Landers, adding that the plant is equipped with a magnet to separate out any steel debris.
The Telsmith plant is equipped with a 6- x 20-ft. triple-deck, triple-shaft horizontal screen. “It’s set up to give us quite a bit of flexibility. If we want to, we can open a side panel on the screen box and pull an additional product out onto a side discharge conveyor,” said Landers. As to the plant’s six on-board conveyors, Landers said that Telsmith engineers customized the conveyor configurations to best meet his applications.
Ease of Maintenance
Site Supervisor Chuck Merritt said he’s pleased with the customization of the plant, as well as its ease-of-maintenance. “We have easy access around the screen for fast media changeouts,” said Merritt.
He goes on to say that it’s a quick one-man operation to clean out any potential debris buildup. “At the end of the shift we open up the access door to check for any buildup. There are two spillage points, so if the cone fills up, material exits the spillage chutes and falls back on the belt. This is a big timesaver. On our previous cone, a jam-up would cause material to spill up and over the cone, and out onto the catwalks, causing downtime for cleanup,” he added.
Additionally, Merritt said that it’s easy to adjust the cone. “It’s operator-friendly with digital readouts that indicate the current settings while also allowing us to track liner wear life,” he said.
According to Telsmith engineers, the 44SBS Cone is designed with one simple power unit for all its hydraulic systems, which include overload protection, dynamic adjustment, hydraulic lock and clearing, and an anti-spin system. In most installations, an anti-spin system will provide longer manganese life and promote a more cubical product.
In the Telsmith design, a small hydraulic motor is attached to the shaft preventing the head from spinning when running with intermittent feed. Also, the Telsmith hydraulic systems utilize a pressure-compensated variable displacement pump to provide the correct hydraulic flow and pressure at all times. To reduce maintenance and downtime and to ensure a more consistent pressure, no accumulators are used.
Most importantly, Merritt and his plant operator stress that the plant delivers considerable production capacity and versatility. “The plant gives us our targeted capacities and we can change from one product to another at the drop of a hat. As fast as we can empty out the feeder and move material off the finish belt, we can go on to another product without any modifications,” he said.
About the Author
Carol Wasson is a Fort-Wayne, Ind.-based freelancer.
Big Picture
Preston A. Landers, founder of P.A. Landers, Hanover, Mass., said that he has a market for all the material that his company recycles. “We make good, clean aggregate with this plant and we maintain a fleet of 100 dump trucks to transport material from our facility and deliver it for use in the greater Boston area. Also, over the last 15 years we have increasingly used our recycled material in our DOT work,” he said.
“As to the big picture, our investment in the plant is where it needed to be to ensure profitability right from the start,” said Landers. “But it’s not all about price; it’s also the factory support that’s important. The Telsmith engineers and service technicians have addressed all of our needs. They are right there for us when we need some help. They have stood behind this plant 100-percent of the time. It runs like a Swiss watch,” he said.
The continued design innovations of compact portable plants are integral to the success of expanding recycle crushing operations and the expanding market for their products. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, recycled aggregate can compete with natural aggregates on price and quality in some applications – making the marketing of these materials very economically viable.