Page 50 - Hub-4 Magazine Issue 65

Quarrying
Mastering Peak Efficiency It is all in the material handling details.
Achieving peak efficiency levels is an everyday feat of engineering and teamwork at the Geneva Rock Products Point-of-the-Mountain site in Utah, USA. The facility has long been lauded for its commitment to sustainability, energy savings, and safety – which is well illustrated by a unique energy-generating downhill overland conveyor system that was commissioned more than five years ago. This much-touted material handling system (which according to the company had paid for itself in under three years) transfers up to 2,275 tonnes of material per hour from a mountain of upper-ledge rock to ground-level processing operations – while generating
enough electricity to power the entire facility.
As to the latter, most folks would say that Geneva Rock has indeed reached its peak performance; however, the company continues to climb higher and higher with ongoing improvements to each circuit and system, and to every transfer point, belt, pulley, idler, and more. For Geneva Rock, truly mastering peak efficiency is all in the material handling details.
Desegregated recycle stockpiling
One of the facility’s most recent upgrades was revamping material handling methods in their asphalt recycling operations. When specifications for the use of recycled asphalt became far more stringent in Utah, the operation needed to avoid segregation not only in the materials but also in the oil content of the recycled asphalt. “When the rules of the game change, we need to change with them,” says Geneva Rock Aggregates Production Manager Ed Clayson, an industry veteran with more than 45 years of service.
Once again, Clayson says that his company consulted with Superior Industries, a single-source provider of aggregate processing equipment and material handling systems and components. “Superior Industries had designed and manufactured our downhill overland conveyor, which has
performed flawlessly since we put it into operation,” he says.
Superior recommended the use of a 914mm x 48m TeleStacker® Conveyor, a telescoping radial stacking conveyor which eliminates material segregation by stockpiling materials in windrows to ensure that the stockpiled material meets specifications.
“There is quite a variance in the oil content between the chunk asphalt and the milled asphalt that’s hauled into our facility for recycling,” says Clayson. He explains that previous to the use of the new TeleStacker Conveyor, they had used a standard radial stacker to stockpile the recycled asphalt, and then they would try to blend the material with the use of a dozer – and even with additional material handling, there was too much discrepancy in the specs.
“The TeleStacker has eliminated these costly issues as we introduce the material back into our HMA plant,” he says. “We’re getting more uniform gradations in our pile and have not had any specification issues to date. Due to the way the unit is programmed, we get a much better blend of material, and the product is the same on one end of the pile as it is on the other,” says Clayson.
Latest design advancements
Superior Industries designed and manufactured the very first telescopic radial stacker in 1997, and over the years, feedback from the field has led to numerous innovations in their design.
“The latest design advancements to the TeleStacker Conveyor make it the best value for the money,” says Clayson. He adds that his team particularly likes the new FD Auto Level technology, which automatically maintains a level head pulley while in radial travel mode – an important factor since an uneven conveyor structure is one of the leading causes of belt mistracking on radial telescopic conveyors. “In the location where we’re stockpiling, it’s not like we can build a concrete pad or runway to keep it perfectly level, so the auto-leveling feature is a really big deal that ensures the integrity of the belt and structure,” he says.
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www.hub-4.com Nov/Dec 20 - Issue 65