Boosting quarry efficiency by cutting fines

The Norwegian quarry firm Feiring Bruk reports an 88% reduction in fines following the commissioning of its new wet processing plant. The firm operates primarily in eastern Norway and has 10 sites extracting and producing crushed stone, gravel and asphalt.
June 4, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
Using a new wash plant is helping boost efficiency for a Norwegian quarry firm

As well as its multiple sites in the east of the country, Feiring Bruk works across Norway for key clients, using mobile crushing and screening plants. Having amassed fines stockpiles at Lørenskog quarry alone, Feiring Bruk was keen to identify a solution that would allow the material to be processed and valuable product recovered.

Modularity and mobility are at the core of equipment designed by CDE and this was an important factor for Feiring Bruk as its operations rely on portability. The firm said that it had a massive amount of material it had been unable to exploit, and which previously would have been deposited. But with the new facility it can now extract washed out particles of zero size and can recover a range of new products the previous system was unable to process.

The washing plant at Feiring Bruk’s Lørenskog quarry comprises an M2500 E5X mobile washing plant with integrated hopper, feed conveyor and P3-75 Infinity Screen and EvoWash sand washing plant. For water processing there is an AquaCycle thickener with automatic dosing station, AquaStore water storage tank and a secure control station. Laboratory tests by Feiring Bruk show that the system washes out 88% of the fines. Before washing, the material contains 65kg of fines per tonne, whereas the washed product has just 8kg of fines/tonne. In fraction 0–20, they have measured 6.5% fines before washing. After washing, the fines content is reduced to 0.75%.

Using its new washing plant, Feiring Bruk is able to make use of a large proportion of the excess product. The wash plant systems are designed to recirculate up to 90% of water, helping to reduce the volume of fresh top-up water required. In addition, the Feiring Bruk plant has been placed on a sloped asphalt surface which allows water to flow into the water basin used as a reservoir.

Products extracted using the new washing plant are attracting the attention of new customers in Norway for their improved grading accuracy. The firm says that its customers want drainage gravel in fraction 8–16 to avoid fines. Now the company can supply drainage gravel in fraction 4–16 that has been washed and is free of fines. The uses for the washed material include asphalt and concrete production and paving stones.

Materials

Related Content

  • Superior gets into the Spirit at Hillhead
    November 6, 2018
    US-based Superior Industries says its new modular Spirit Sand Plant – shown at this year’s Hillhead exhibition in the UK - boosts performance while lowering wear The Spirit merges the manufacturer’s Helix Cyclone, Dewatering Screen, sump tank and slurry pump into a single plant capable of sand production, fines recovery and dewatering. It has a more geometrically efficient inlet to boost performance and lower wear to internal components. In addition, all wetted surfaces are lined with cast polyurethane f
    Read More
  • UK contractor operating sophisticated Benninghoven asphalt plant
    April 27, 2015
    A sophisticated Benninghoven asphalt plant is now in use by a UK contractor close to London - Mike Woof writes UK contractor FM Conway is now operating a second highly advanced asphalt plant in the London area. As with the first unit supplied a few years ago, the plant was designed and constructed to FM Conway’s specific needs by leading producer Benninghoven. This latest plant is located to the west of London (the earlier plant is to the east of the city) and close to Heathrow Airport. Being situated
    Read More
  • Advances in asphalt plant production
    November 27, 2012
    Leading asphalt plant manufacturers have recently unveiled their latest products aimed at customers looking for significant efficiency gains through the use of durable and lasting technology. Guy Woodford looks at some of the new batch Benninghoven showcased a wide variety of its new and innovative asphalt plants and individual plant components during its week-long Open Days event last month at the German firm’s HQ in Mülheim. Launched earlier this year, the MMX80 Continuous Asphalt Plant is capable of prod
    Read More
  • MTVs help transfer material efficiently
    June 20, 2016
    Mention the letters MTV and most people will think you’re referring to Music Television, the firm that revolutionised the music video. But in the road construction sector the letters have another meaning: Material Transfer Vehicle. Roadtec pioneered the MTV concept with its Shuttle Buggy, which it introduced in 1989. The concept was a novel one, providing a transition between the truck hauling the asphalt to the site and the asphalt paver. The idea of the machine was that it would provide a buffer system
    Read More

Highlighted Content