Aggregates and Roadbuilding March/April 2013 : Page 12Weir Minerals is focusing on helping companies achieve better classification in the wet part of their plants, which allows them to both reduce loading in downstream parts of their plants and meet tighter specs. with a variety of equipment sizes. Typically, each plant is custom-designed, says Wendte. Madara at McLanahan also agrees that the use of separators/cyclones and dewatering screens provides a much more efficient way of processing sand and provides a drier product, which has proven to be extremely important in today’s market. Industrial sand is in the middle of a sales boom, Madara confirms, with high demand for frac sands in some regions. Frac sands must meet many specifications (relating to things like particle shape, particle soundness and a tight product gradation) and to meet them, Madara says, selecting the right equipment and process is critical. “Proper equipment, plant lay-out and ‘mass water balance’ all need to be accu-rately selected in order for the producer to make as much product as possible,” he says, “while staying within the strict product specifications and maintaining low operating costs.” He notes that having the ability to supply both traditional and high-efficiency wet process equipment al-lows McLanahan to offer customers a variety of solutions and guidance. Its Aggregate Process Division’s team of process engineers can design and recommend equipment that will provide maximal efficiency. McLanahan has also taken notice of the millions of gallons of water used by an average plant over a year, and has started offering com-panies better ways to handle waste effluent. “With limited pond space and the need to reuse plant water, McLanahan has invested in de-signing and manufacturing a line of plate filter presses,” says Madara. “This technology has been widely used and accepted in other coun-tries.” He says McLanahan’s line of plate filter presses, used in conjunction with a deep cone thickener, can provide a much drier product, and operate with far less chemicals and oper-ating costs compared to systems using a belt filter press. “Handling a plant’s waste stream is a crucial part of any plant that incorporates wet processing,” Madara explains. “Plate fil-ter presses can eliminate the use of an efflu-ent pond and drastically reduce the operating costs of maintaining the waste stream.” McLa-nahan now has many of these units operating domestically, and Madara says inquiry levels continue to be high. “We anticipate this tech-nology to be common practice in any process concerned with water management,” he states. TWS also offers a range of equipment that allows water to be recycled. “The use of our deep cone thickeners, small amounts of floc-culent dosing and high-pressure filter presses,” notes Donaghy, “are allowing quarry operators to recycle up to 80% of water in washing ap-plications.” n For more articles and updates on aggregates,visit www.rocktoroad.com Chew through mountains Super-efficient, flexible-use mobile impact crushers Pile it on. The MR110 ZS can crush whatever you feed it, ideal for the recycling of asphalt and concrete, this machine rolls out precisely measured aggregate. It has a fuel-efficient diesel electric power plant, an easy to use touch screen control panel, and a fully automatic crusher gap setting that can be adjusted on-the-fly. Add to that a new-concept overload protection system, longer-lasting rotors, our legendary after-sales service and, you’ve got a machine to be reckoned with—a mobile impact crusher that will, ultimately, pay for itself. toll-free: 877-469-2529 | www.wajaxequipment.com 12 / March-April 2013 / Aggregates & Roadbuilding Wajax |
