High-tech plant delivers huge savings for civil engineering firm

A civil engineering company has reported significant savings on electricity since bringing in a new hi-tech screener.

The Ashcourt Group, based in Hull, took delivery of a Terex Finlay 873 Spaleck supplied by Finlay Plant Northern last July.

The plant feeds new biomass boilers installed last year to provide sustainable energy for the company, which provides student accommodation in the city in addition to construction, haulage and aggregates services.

Site manager Paul Dobson says electricity bills have been reduced as a result of the move and revealed plans to extend the use of the machine to other areas of the Group’s business.

He said: “The plant is working exceptionally well on the job and producing an end product that is perfect for what we need.

“We’ve seen massive savings in electricity for our student accommodation so we plan to roll out this model to others areas of the business and the 873 will play a key part in that.”

The machine, fed with wood brought to site by the local authority, is producing an over-size and mid-size material used for supplying the biomass boilers along with fines, which are reprocessed for animal bedding, at a rate of 3,600³ an hour.

The Ashcourt Group brought in a Terex Finlay 883+ Spaleck from Finlay Plant Northern last year. But the company has now added the 873 machine to its fleet to both keep up with work on site and meet increased demand for hire.

Ideally suited to working in aggregates, sand and gravel as well as top soil, construction demolition and recycling applications, the versatile plant can be fed either by a tracked mobile crusher, shovel or excavator.

The 883+, which will also be hired out by the company, is fitted with a 16’ x 5’ top and bottom deck that boasts nearly blockage-free screening as well as a belt feeder to ensure weight is kept down and transportation is easy.

It is also fitted with a head drum magnet to extract nails from the wood during the process.

Mr Dobson added: “We’ve been dealing with Finlay Plant Northern for about four years and this is the seventh machine we’ve had from them.

“The support from Martin as well as the service and back-up is brilliant and we’ve always found the machines to be a top-quality product.”

Martin Nairn, of Finlay Plant Northern – part of the Finlay Group of companies, said the aggressive nature of the Spaleck technology makes it the perfect choice.

He added: “The plant is ideal for the Ashcourt Group because it can process difficult material and screen small sizes meaning it doesn’t struggle to remove fines from the mid-size product fed to the biomass boilers - otherwise they would become choked up.

“Whatever the material, whether it is wood, compost, topsoil, metal or glass, the processing and separation capabilities of the Spaleck product make it the ideal solution for this type of application.”

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