Increased safety and uptime for Texas Materials with Poly-Cer liners
Austin, Texas, USA, is experiencing a surge in infrastructure projects to keep up with a growing population. For over ten years, one of the local aggregates producers, Texas Materials, has been relying on Metso’s solutions to meet this growing demand in addition to managing a new vein of hard rock.
Growing demand in infrastructure projects
Texas Materials produces aggregates mainly for construction purposes. Their end products are fine aggregates, manufactured sand, gravel, and stone, shipping primarily to the Central Texas market, including Austin and Houston. With an economic emphasis on infrastructure, this has created great demand for Texas Materials’ various aggregates products.
One site worked by Texas Materials is Marble Falls Quarry. It’s a 1,200-acre, open-pit limestone quarry that has been in operation since the 1940s. Today, it employs nearly 100 people.
The aggregates production process begins with Metso’s Nordberg® C160 jaw crusher. Tertiary crushing is done by two Metso HP500s. Currently, Texas Materials has five crushers in operation.
Ceramic liners to keep up with their new hard rock production
Recently, Texas Materials needed to adapt to a sudden change of mineral content in the rock they were processing.
Since Texas Materials does not own the land where they operate, the land owner contracts where Texas Materials can quarry. Therefore, it was as a surprise when the mineral content at Marble Falls Quarry suddenly went from 1 – 2% silica to 20% silica, meaning much more abrasive rock. Since abrasiveness has a direct impact on crusher liners, quick action was needed.
“We were taken by surprise,” says LG Lindsey, Plant Maintenance Manager at Texas Materials. “It happened overnight. We didn’t know we were butting into that much higher abrasive material. Considering the impact on the old liner, that’s when we knew we needed to change our liner.”
Texas Materials turned to Metso for help. The main issue was the high tonnage processed impacted the steel liner in a target area, which caused problematic wear points. To resolve these challenges, Metso field engineers recommended a rubber ceramic liner. The rubber in the liner absorbs the energy from the brutal impact of the material. The ceramic in the liner has abrasion resistant properties, minimizing wear from the crushed material.
Local distributor Crisp Industries, one of Metso’s aggregates consumables distributors in the US, provided a Metso Trellex Poly-Cer liner, designed for this type of hard rock.
The Metso Trellex Poly-Cer liner allows Texas Materials to maximize the operational life span of their HP 500 crushers by protecting the inside steel liners from premature wear due to the abrasive product being processed. This allows the plant to maximize production while preventing potentially costly breakdowns.
"So far, we’re happy with Metso’s ceramic liner. It’s a fantastic solution. The wear is non-existent; there is no wear in the ceramic itself. The install on it is fantastic!"
“A fantastic solution”
Previously, the sited used mild steel plates, which would only last two months. Since switching to Metso Trellex Poly-Cer liners, in use for four times as long already, there are only little signs of wear.
Texas Materials is very happy with the performance of the liners, which have prevented shutdowns every two months for changeouts. Not to mention, the noticeable reduction in noise from the material impact area.
“So far, we’re happy with Metso’s ceramic liner,” LG continues. “It’s a fantastic solution. The wear is non-existent, there is no wear in the ceramic itself. The install on it is fantastic!”
Installing any liner is challenging. It must be positioned in an exact manner. Providing a safe work environment is also important for any aggregates provider and installation. Not only did Metso take into account safety, but also the need for a simple and easy-to-install design. The new liner design only requires installation by one or two people. Installers frequently remark on how easy the liners are to position and secure.
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