Skip to main content

Sennebogen’s 830 Crawler and the sweet smell of success in Germany

Since 1942, the company Hermann Trollius has been processing limestone and dolomite in the Bavarian town of Lauterhofen and refining it for agricultural use, as well as in the building and industrial sectors. Trollius is now for the first time using residue from washing crushed dolomite, thanks to a Sennebogen material handler. The oft-discarded viscous mass is pumped out and then used as fertiliser. Manager Hermann Trollius - the third generation to run the family-owned company of 60 employees - says th
January 4, 2016 Read time: 3 mins
Sennebogen: suction excavator pumping dolomite grit
Since 1942, the company Hermann Trollius has been processing limestone and dolomite in the Bavarian town of Lauterhofen and refining it for agricultural use, as well as in the building and industrial sectors.

Trollius is now for the first time using residue from washing crushed dolomite, thanks to a 2924 Sennebogen material handler. The oft-discarded viscous mass is pumped out and then used as fertiliser. Manager Hermann Trollius - the third generation to run the family-owned company of 60 employees - says that he constantly strives to combine tradition and modern methods to create value for man and nature; It's “total resource utilisation", he says.

Washing the crushed dolomite rock produces a slurry by-product composed of extra-fine dolomite dust. This mixture of water and dust, which previously had no use and was dumped in large quantities, is now included in a natural recycling loop as fertiliser.

"We've been looking for a way to use valuable raw dolomite material for a long time,” he says. “Limestone has been used as fertilizer for a while now – why not use the dolomite slurry in the same way? After extensively sampling and testing slurry extraction, we decided to implement the project professionally. The solution ultimately was to use a Sennebogen material handler with a powerful suction pump."

A progressing cavity pump moves the material through a pipe and into a conventional manure tank. The dolomite is ultimately taken out to the fields where it is sprayed as manure.

The Sennebogen 830 crawler, provided and supported by sales and service partner IBS Baumaschinen Service, is the carrier for the progressive cavity pump and extensive piping. The machine houses the pump drive and the controller for the tube arm. The hose lines and piping were largely developed and constructed by Trollius. The Sennebogen material handler has a crawler undercarriage and 164kW diesel engine that would usually be used at scrapyards or ports. The deciding factor for choosing the Sennebogen 830 was its 17m reach for positioning the pump at the edge of the landfill basin. With this solution, operator Bernd Kuhn has centralised control of all components and an ideal view of the pump and work area from the Maxcab comfort cab, which can be extended up to 2.7m.

It takes just four minutes to fill the manure tank, which has been driven into the quarry several times a day for the past several weeks by contractor Tobias Guttenberger. It is then taken to the surrounding fields where the liquid dolomite dust is sprayed as fertiliser.

With a particle size of just 0.007mm, the dissolved dust is 10 times thinner than a human hair, allowing it to penetrate the soil in the form of fertilizer and also be absorbed directly by plants.

Guttenberger is also putting his money on the pale yellow liquid for manure refinement. A mixture of only 10% dolomite to manure reduces the odour of manure dramatically.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Versatile and efficient, Sennebogen’s new port crane offers high performance
    March 27, 2013
    Sennebogen’s 875 E-Series crane is said to offer a high materials handling capacity, with low energy requirements and operating costs. Efficiency has been increased due to a new energy recovery system. Various gantry or pylon solutions and variable cabin elevation features are available. This materials handling machine has an operating weight of up to 150tonnes and is suited for port handling and industrial applications. A newly developed energy recovery cylinder is being implemented for the first time. The
  • Advances in bitumen technology will boost surface wear life and quality
    September 19, 2012
    From chip fat to banana bags, the race is on to find new bitumen additives which will solve two problems with one solution: replace diminishing petrochemical-based products and make use from waste rather than landfilling it - Kristina Smith reports It is not just the desire to preserve our environment which is driving the industry’s search for products which don’t eat up raw materials. The hunger of emerging economies – particularly China – mean that resources can be hard to come by, so it makes sense for s
  • Bitumen technology ideal for road repairs
    July 4, 2012
    Mike Woof discusses some novel developments relating to bitumen In the developed countries of Western Europe there is an increasing shift away from new highway construction to maintaining and rebuilding existing roads. In Germany alone, a network of asphalt roads extending more than 600,000km will have to be maintained or repaired. Highway maintenance techniques do vary between European countries but some commonalities exist. There are techniques that have been sidelined in the last few years but which now
  • Cleaner asphalt plant from Lintec & Linnhoff Holdings
    November 29, 2018
    The latest asphalt plant from Lintec is said to benefit customers with its ease of installation as well as its low emissions.