Recycled Material Supplies invest in a new Tyrone International Recycled Aggregate Washing Plant.
The HUB-4 team recently had an invitation to visit this new state-of-the-art plant at the Dagenham site of Recycled Material Supplies (RMS)…
Tyrone International have designed, manufactured, and commissioned this new recycled aggregate washing plant which included a full water treatment system and a 20-metre long Fraccaroli & Balzan filter press.
About the RMS Group:
The London based RMS Group was established in 2007 and has grown rapidly gaining a reputation for customer service and quality recycled products for the demolition, construction, and groundworks industries.
Their focus is on offering complete material supply management, from collection to recycling; sustainable business solutions adopting sustainable and environmentally responsible recycling practices minimising any environmental impact.
The company now operate 5 recycling centres within East and South London and currently have a fleet of 100 trucks.
Their services include the supply of crushed aggregates, washed aggregates, tipper hire, grab lorries, ‘rollonoff’ lorries, skip hire and dust carts.
RMS had a small washing plant on the site but were looking to significantly increase their production and produce a greater range of products and have zero aggregates going to landfill.
After viewing a number of plants, it was suggested that Tyrone International would be the company to talk to and after consultation and numerous site visits Tyrone International were duly awarded the plant contract.
The owner of RMS, commented, “Tyrone took us to a previous installation which we were overly impressed with and on the basis of the build quality and their knowledge we subsequently gave them the contract to supply and install a turnkey solution.
“The whole investment is down to the realisation of the opportunities and a way of dealing with a problem by reducing landfill.
“Additionally, the installation of the water treatment plant and the press is phenomenal. The whole operation would not work efficiently without it; it works effortlessly ensuring the whole system is in harmony. Absolutely first-class service from Tyrone International , a truly knowledgeable team and the back-up is superb.”
He, added, “We were very impressed right from the start and all the way through the build and now the plant is running we are even more impressed!”
A varied plant feed:
The new recycled aggregate washing plant is processing a combination feed of recycled materials containing anything from ‘muckaway’, to utility waste, trommel fines and the quantity of sand and the ratio of the sand/silt fraction completely varies in every bucket load going into the plant. However, the plant has been designed to accept a remarkably diverse feed whilst still retaining throughput.
Specified to process 120tph the plant is currently achieving an average of 140tph.
The Tyrone International plant:
Commissioned in December 2020, the recycled aggregate washing plant with a full water treatment system and filter press was designed by Tyrone International to fulfil the processing criteria for the material feed.
The material is based on an all-in aggregate feed, using a Tyrone International twin-screen scalper which scalps off the +50mm with the -50mm being fed up the primary feed conveyor.
Material passes under a belt magnet and is then fed onto a pre-screen to remove the -5mm sand. The remaining 5-50mm is then fed forward into a twin shaft log washer; a completely new design by Tyrone this incorporates a lot of new design features, including extreme ease of access for maintenance of all parts.
This improved access philosophy is seen throughout the plant and also on the trash and dewatering screen.
Fintan McKeever – Director of Tyrone International, took us through the process, “After passing through the log washer, material is then fed onto a rinsing screen which removes any sand that has been carried through the log washer.
“This gives the stone a final rinse before being fed through a further two transfer conveyors and under a second belt magnet and then onto a 12 x 5 double-deck sizing screen where clean 10/20/40mm aggregate is produced.
Any fine sand collected from the pre-screen, trash screen, dewatering screen and the log washer is collected in a large sump tank which is situated under the log washer. It is then pumped to a Linatex cyclone which removes the majority of the silt; the underflow of this passes down to one side of a high-frequency dewatering screen which is fitted with spray bars. This washes the fine sand with any remaining silt passing through the deck and into a pump tank situated under the dewatering screen.
From here the fine sand is pumped up through a secondary Linatex cyclone which removes the remainder of the silt with the underflow passing on to the other side of the sand dewatering screen. Coming off the end of the dewatering screen there is the facility to blend as much, or as little of the fine sand back into the coarse sand to make any particular grading.“
All the trash material, polystyrene, plastics and small pieces of organics, wood exit the top of this cyclone with the silt and then flow by gravity down to a large high-frequency dewatering screen fitted with stainless steel wedge wire. This removes all the +1mm trash material, (keeping it out of the water treatment system); which is then deposited into a large skip.
The silt fraction and the water flow into the centre weir of the thickener tank where flocculent is added. Here the silt particles bind together and settle at the bottom of the thickener where a large rake is situated. Rotating slowly this rake incorporates large ploughs which pull the silt particles towards the centre. Because the ploughs are large a very thick high-density sludge is achieved.
Fintan, added, “The rake can be raised and lowered to eliminate any issues with blockages and allows full control of the density of the silt. If the silt gets too thick the rake can plough back down through it allowing ultimate control of the density.”
A positive displacement pump to extract the sludge out of the centre of the thickener is then pumped across to a large sludge holding tank where two stirrers keep the silt in suspension. From here a twin centrifugal pump fills the press and when the filter press is full the system automatically switches from the centrifugal pump to a piston pump which uses significantly less energy than the centrifugal pump and contains no wear parts compared to the centrifugal pump hence an exceptionally low operational and maintenance cost.
When the water has filtered out of the cakes in the press then the pumps will stop and then the press will automatically open and discharge ten cakes at a time.
The Fraccaroli & Balzan (F&B)over beam filter press:
The Fraccaroli & Balzan overhead beam filter press at RMS offers so much more than other presses in the marketplace.
Fintan gave us the facts. “The Fraccaroli & Balzan overhead beam filter press at Dagenham has 210 - 2 x 2 metre square plates which is the largest over beam press installed in the UK Aggregate Recycling Industry!
“The key thing about this press is that the overhead beams sit to the side which allows full access to everything on the top; unlike traditional overhead beams where everything sits in the middle and include a chain drive mechanism and hooks on the chains to open the plates.
“Eventually all those hooks and the chain wear out and if you get a press ‘blow out’ sludge will cover all the mechanism making it extremely hard to access and maintain everything. On the F&B press, maintenance is super easy as everything sits to the side and there is full access round all sides of the press.”
Fintan, continued, “There is a robot mounted on top of the press which has three functions – it opens ten plates and then shakes them and discharges ten plates at a time which other overhead beams don’t do and also operates the automatic washing system which washes from the top down. This is completely different as alternate systems wash from the bottom up.
“It’s an extremely fast system and the only press in the country that has a completely flush floor so when the ‘bomb doors’ close up it is completely flush allowing you to actually walk through the plates making it extremely easy and safe to change the filter cloths, whereas on other presses it is more challenging to access everything.
“The whole system is automated, we have full remote access to all the control on the plant so if there are any alarms, operator problems or issues we can remotely dial into the plant and can access all the alarms and the history and can then offer advice to the plant operator as to what he needs to action.
“The whole design philosophy of this plant is making everything as easy as possible, easy to access, easy to maintain, easy to service which has been a total success.”
Remote access for the plant is from Tyrone and for the press, F&B in Italy.
Ensuring an effective plant on a daily basis:
The plant is fitted with a belt weigher to monitor the tonnage fed into the plant; additionally, remote data management can determine what time the plant started and stopped, including how many minutes the belt runs empty, what time the operator started to put material into the plant, which is basically to encourage better utilisation, better throughput of the plant.
All the components of the plant have been designed using top quality components that are available in the marketplace and all structures are galvanised, all paint is marine specification due to the location of the plant next to the Thames so the plant should be as good as it is now in five-years’ time.
“Delivered in the striking company red and white this state-of-the-art plant is something rather special and marks a significant step forward in plant design and Tyrone International are to be applauded for this versatile and efficient processing system, said John Edwards-Editor HUB-4”.
About Tyrone International:
Tyrone International are based in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, N Ireland and are suppliers of premium recycled aggregate washing and water treatment plants. They supply single sand plants to complete turnkey installations all driven by an expert and time-served team.
Wash Plant solutions include, Wet Classification, Water & Sludge Treatment, Screening & Scrubbing & Attrition.
A range of applications include Sand & Aggregates, C&D Waste Recycling, Mining, and Industrial Sands.
Fintan McKeever – Director, commented, “We are currently in the process of launching a number of innovative new products which will maximise customer production whilst reducing the cost of ownership. As a company we bring years of industry experience to supply innovative bespoke aggregate washing and water treatment plants which have a clear focus on customers’ needs, plant efficiency, ease of maintenance and after-sales support.”
