MJ Teale Recycled Sand & Aggregates invest in a new Tyrone International Recycled Aggregate Washing Plant.

The HUB-4 team recently visited this new state-of-the-art plant at their site close to Blackpool.

Tyrone International have designed, manufactured, and commissioned this new recycled aggregate washing plant which includes a full water treatment system and a large overhead beam press manufactured by Fraccaroli & Balzan.

About MJ Teale:
MJ Teale is a family run business established for over 50 years. During this time, it has gained a reputation for customer service and quality recycled products for the demolition, construction, and excavation industries.

Their focus is on offering complete material supply management, from collection to recycling and sustainable business solutions adopting sustainable and environmentally responsible recycling practices minimising any environmental impact.

Problem solving:

MJ Teale was finding that a lot of material coming into their site was not suitable for dry screening and crushing and had to be sent direct to landfill which did not equate with their long-term business model of sustainability and the circular economy.

Looking to future proof their business, increase their production, produce a greater range of products, and have zero aggregates going to landfill MJ Theale viewed a number of plants and it was suggested that Tyrone International would be the company to engage with and after consultation and numerous site visits Tyrone International were duly awarded the plant contract.

Josh Teale, commented, “Tyrone took us to a previous installation which we were very 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.

“In particular, we were impressed by how easy the plant was to maintain. Everything was well laid out and easy to access and the design of the filter press is the most impressive we have ever seen.

“We needed a plant that could meet our current needs for material processing but one that could be easily expanded to increase production in the future. This was achieved by sizing the main components to meet our future requirements and installing a filter press whose capacity could be increased by 30% in the future with the simple addition of more filter plates into the existing frame.

He added, “We were very impressed right from the start and now the plant is running we are even more impressed by the quality of the products and the reliable production capacity!”


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 60tph with up to 30% silt in the feed material the plant is currently achieving an average of 70tph and can be increased to 80tph by adding more filter plates to the existing filter press.

The Tyrone International plant:
Commissioned in June 2022, 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 the customers’ existing scalper which scalps off the +50mm with the -50mm being fed up the primary feed conveyor. The plant has been future proofed with the electrical control system and wiring installed to add a fully electric drive scalper next year.

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 and sizing screen which removes any sand that has been carried through.

“This gives the stone a final rinse before and utilising a double deck screen to size the material into clean 10/20/40mm aggregate.

Any fine sand from the pre-screen, trash screen and sizing screen 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 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 deep, 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 extracts the sludge out of the centre of the thickener which is then pumped across to a large sludge holding tank where a stirrer keeps the silt in suspension. From here a twin centrifugal pump fills the press and creates the pressure required to force the water out of the sludge through the filter cloths attached to each filter plates.

When the water has filtered out of the cakes in the press the feed pump stops, and the press opens automatically and rapidly discharges ten cakes at a time.

The Fraccaroli & Balzan (F&B) over beam filter press:
The Fraccaroli & Balzan overhead beam filter press at MJ Teale offers so much more than other presses in the marketplace.

Fintan gave us the facts. “The Fraccaroli & Balzan overhead beam filter press at MJ Teale has 100 - 2 x 2 metre square plates. The capacity can be easily increased in the future by simply adding 30 more filter plates into the existing press frame which gives our customer an inexpensive way to future proof their business and meet increased demand as their business continues to grow.”

“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 includes a chain drive mechanism and hooks on the chains to open the plates.

“There are very few wear parts on this press compared to other systems which ultimately results in a lower cost of ownership. 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 do not do, and it 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 is an extremely fast system and incorporates a mobile walkway which follows the wash robot to collect the dirty water and return it to the thickener system. The mobile walkway also allows the operator to safely access the filter plates to quickly change the filter cloth when required, 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.”

We delivered this plant in the customers’ company colours which we think look striking. We would like to sincerely thank MJ Teale for putting their trust in us and look forward to a long working relationship with their team”