Page 40 - HUB-4 Magazine Issue 82

MRF’s & Recycling News
GR Plant have built themselves an enviable reputation across the globe for delivering a variety of environmental engineering projects and trail construction works. Built out of owner Gareth Rees’s passion for cycling, the company has successfully delivered numerous high profile trails courses including Lee Valley for the 2012 Olympics. Whilst the environmental side of the business flourishes undertaking a variety of disciplines, the company is also busy with their crushing and material processing teams on contracts such as Hinkley Point and Celsa. Starting out with a Ford H45 at the age of 22 in 1989 undertaking the construction of mountain bike tracks, Gareth has developed the company to a point where there are over 50 machines on the fleet and a staff of almost 20 operators, and engineers.
The work at Celsa has called for the GR Plant team to look at machinery that is not only reliable, but also capable of dealing with the extreme conditions on site. From the cooling slag to the steel recycling, the list of machines has all been sourced and adapted by Avonmouth based Molson Group. “Gareth has developed a brilliant working relationship with the Molson team over the years and we buy almost all of our equipment through them.” Contracts Manager Rob
Jones commented. “We know that they have a broad range of machines that will fit our requirements exactly and when it comes to some of the kit we run at Celsa, they are able to make any adaptations in- house and deliver us a machine that can go
straight to work.”
The first part of the process for the GR Plant team is sorting and handling scrap steel. For this process they have purchased five Sennebogen 830E material handlers. The wheeled material handlers sort any incoming material removing and contaminants before loading it into a
mobile shear which cuts the scrap into shorter lengths to fit into the furnace. “The Sennebogens are a great piece of kit.” Rob commented. “They are reliable and solidly built giving us very little in the way of issues. Fitted with a 17m reach and 600 litre five-tine grab, the 830E tips the scales at around 38 tonnes. With the steel cut and stacked, it is then transported when required and loaded into the furnace
Moving on to the back end of the recycling operation and once the slag has sufficiently cooled, it is stockpiled allowing it to be pre-screened prior to the final crushing and screening operation. A pair of Hyundai wheeled loaders play a key role in the management of the material both pre and post processing with a 24 tonne HL970A and the largest Hyundai loader, the 31 tonne HL980. Like the Sennebogen material handlers, the wheeled loaders have a key role to play in keeping the back-
end operations running. Moving the material from process to process could be undertaken
with an excavator and truck but with the material and processing points spread apart,
the wheeled loader working a load and carry system is seen as the easiest and most
efficient process.
The cooled slag is first passed over a heavily modified Finlay 693 screen. Modifications to
the screen have included a reinforced and lined hopper, upgraded rip-stop belts,
additional magnets, and protective plates to the external sides of the hopper to
prevent potential damage to the machine. These modifications have been
undertaken as the slag contains large quantities of metals left over from the
steel making process. 125mm hexagonal punch plate has been
installed over the grizzly bars on the
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www.hub-4.com September/October - Issue 82