Page 50 - Hub-4 Magazine Issue 69

PROMOTED CONTENT
Sustainability case study: Processing
contaminated soils
CDE solution behind Posillico Materials’ efforts to clean up Long Island, NY...
Established in 1946, Long Island, New York-based Posillico Inc., a fourth-generation family business, has steadily grown to become one of the premier engineering contracting firms in the tri-state area and a leader in public works projects in New York. Founded by Joseph D. Posillico Sr., the business started out as a small trucking contractor.
Today, following a six-decade-long pattern of reinvestment in the business and underpinned by a commitment to quality and performance, the likes of which has led to the business securing contracts for major civil engineering and construction projects, Posillico provides a range of integrated services from heavy civil work for the public and private sectors, to environmental remediation, paving, drilling, and utilities contracting.
Now approaching its 50th year in business, Posillico Materials, the business unit which specialises in producing recycled sand, aggregates, and clay, has revolutionised the way environmental contractors, construction companies, utility businesses, and engineering firms manage waste on Long Island and in the Greater New York area with the support of state-of-the-art CDE wet processing technology.
Cleaning up the island
Committed to protecting the island, its community, and its resources, Posillico Materials recognised the need to address mounting concerns over ground pollution and landfill capacity.
“There's a big need to clean up the island,” says Thomas Posillico, Material Division Manager.
For many years, Long Island has been troubled by pollution from toxic dumping and industrial pollution, in part due to its proximity to New York City. Ground pollution has the potential to adversely affect the island’s groundwater and drinking water, so the Posillico team recognised the urgency of the matter given that the local water supply is managed via three major source aquifers close to the ground’s surface.
Historically, contaminated soil would be transported off the island where it would be destined for landfill, however with the right technology this material can be processed to remove
contaminants, extract value, and to return land to good use to meet the growing demands of urbanisation.
Soil washing is not a new concept to Posillico, explains Robert Tassey, Facility Manager, but the company’s mission to clean up the island was restricted by the available technology.
“Our history with soil washing goes back over 15 years. We had designed a plant; we called it the Frankenstein plant, because we took a piece of equipment from here, a piece of equipment from there, and we put it all together.”
He says a chance encounter with CDE at CONEXPO-CON/AGG helped Posillico to see how its innovative wet processing technologies could enable the business to accelerate the pace of change and reinforce its commitment to establishing a more sustainable future for Long Island.
“Both Posillico and CDE share a very similar commitment to innovation,” he says. “Neither company is afraid to take a leap, neither company is afraid to push the boundaries of what's possible.”
First-of-its-kind solution
Using its co-creation approach, CDE worked in collaboration with Posillico to understand its requirements and to design and build a wet processing solution that would enable the business to realise its sustainable and profitable vision.
Tassey continues, “We spent about a year and a half on the design. We have various laws and requirements that we have to meet here, and CDE was absolutely willing to help in making any adjustments we needed to the plant to satisfy our regulatory requirements.”
After considering the Farmingdale site’s smaller footprint (about 3 acres) and the customer’s requirements, CDE proposed a tailored wet processing solution to efficiently process incoming contaminated material to produce high-quality washed construction sand and aggregates, all happening in a built-up urban location situated close to the source material.
Installation, Tassey says, was very simple due to the fact that the plant was assembled and subject to factory acceptance testing, “and most of the pieces are modular so it made the install go quickly and efficiently.”
A first of its kind in North America, Posillico’s new recycling system incorporates the R2500 primary scalping screen feed system, AggMax portable logwasher, M4500 with integrated Attrition Cells, CFCU for density separation, EvoWashTM, and full closed-circuit water recycling with the inclusion of an AquaCycleTM thickener and PlatePress.
Michael J. Posillico, Posillico Inc. Principal, says, “When I visited CDE I knew I'd picked the right company to work with and I could see that from the design floor, to the people that were testing the equipment, to the people that were in charge.