Skip to main content

Glass ceiling breakthrough for Ammann in Australia

An Ammann ABP High Recycling Technology (HRT) asphalt mixing plant is a key part of an Australian recycled glass-for-asphalt scheme.
November 18, 2019 Read time: 3 mins
Business is a beach: Alex Fraser Group’s recycling plant is turning glass waste into high-quality sand

An Ammann ABP High Recycling Technology (HRT) asphalt mixing plant is a key part of an Australian recycled glass-for-asphalt scheme.

Alex Fraser Group’ state-of-the-art glass recycling plant in the state of Victoria is processing glass waste and turning it into high-quality sand. The product is then used by the adjacent Ammann ABP HRT plant to produce asphalt.
 
In addition to supplying the Ammann plant, the recycling facility provides road base, aggregates and sand for road and rail projects.

The plant can recycle up to 4 million bottles and produce up to 800tonnes of high-specification sand each day. According to the company, the source materials come from “problematic” glass waste streams that were previously stockpiled or landfilled.

“Our new glass recycling plant is capable of producing 200,000tonnes of recycled glass sand every year – equivalent to a billion bottles, effectively putting an end to glass waste stockpiles and landfill in Victoria,” said Peter Murphy, managing director for Alex Fraser.

The Ammann ABP HRT asphalt plant is designed to incorporate recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) and other recyclable products as the main stream materials that can produce more than 500,000tonnes of asphalt annually. It includes Ammann’s proprietary as1 EcoView control system software which monitors energy consumption and emissions, a foaming system for warm-mix capability and hot asphalt storage up to 72 hours.

153319
The Ammann ABP HRT asphalt plant can produce more than 500,000tonnes of asphalt annually

“The Ammann plant complements the other aspects of the Alex Fraser business,” said Paul Vandersluis, managing director of Ammann Australia. “Not only is the Ammann plant equipped with technology for today, but it can also accommodate future introductions of other types of recyclable materials – be  filler, binder or aggregate substitutes.”

“This energy-efficient plant is capable of producing high-quality asphalt mixes, made almost entirely of recycled materials,” Murphy said Ammann Australia’s . greenest asphalt mixes, such as Glassphalt, which includes recycled glass, and PolyPave, which includes recycled plastics, are being produced in Victoria state to supply a multitude of projects.

The large quantities of problem glass waste - known as CSP – are being taken to landfill at high cost. Made up of fine particles of glass co-mingled with other waste, including paper, plastics, metals and organics, this waste stream cannot be traditionally recycled back into the production of bottles or jars.
 
Murphy said the company combined years of recycling experience with the latest technology from around the world to design this innovative glass recycling plant. The new set-up uses a range of technologies to produce high-quality construction sand from the waste materials.

“Our new glass recycling plant separates the glass from the impurities and processes it into recycled sand, which complies with VicRoads (the governmental transportation agency) specifications,” said Murphy. “It directly replaces quarried sand and reduces the need for trucking virgin sand long distances into Melbourne which means fewer heavy vehicle movements on congested roads.”

 “The use of this material will have significant commercial and environmental savings, including the reduction of glass as landfill, vehicle movements and the carbon footprint of new projects, by up to 65%.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Mixing recycled and fresh asphalt reduces costs
    February 14, 2012
    An innovative asphalt plant is allowing the use of recycled materials and achieving major cost benefits - Mike Woof reports. UK construction firm FM Conway is seeing the benefit of the €11.5 million (£10 million) it has invested in its asphalt production facilities at Erith in Kent, close to UK capital London, since buying the site in 2005. The biggest single investment in the facility has been a new Benninghoven asphalt plant, which was commissioned in June 2010 and is now the core of the Erith operation.
  • Plant advances for asphalt production boost efficiency
    May 30, 2018
    Advances in asphalt plant technology will boost efficiency for producers, while increasing the percentage of recycled materials that can be used in the mix - Mike Woof writes. Asphalt plant technology continues to advance as the rival firms fine-tune their technologies for greater performance. New plants can give higher quality output due to new control technologies, while also allowing for recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) to be used more efficiently, while still ensuring tight mix specifications are met. A
  • Resilient roads: cooperation is key
    June 14, 2021
    Now is the time for national road agencies and the private sector to cooperate on building more climate resilient roads, urges Dr Erik Denneman
  • Road recycling with Ammann in China
    February 27, 2019
    A Chinese road builder is planning to add recycling capabilities to its existing asphalt-mixing plants to meet new environmental guidelines. Another benefit of this approach is that the firm will also be able to substantially reduce its costs CSCEC Road & Bridge is a highly successful business in China and utilises Ammann Uniglobe Asphalt-Mixing Plants for its operations. The firm says that the results have been impressive and during one key road expansion project, one of its Uniglobe plants produced 700