MPH Group add a McCloskey Wash Plant to their portfolio.

The HUB team recently attended an open day hosted by Max Innovate (MI) and McCloskey Washing Systems (MWS) which was held at the Monk Plant Hire (MPH) site.

Based in Hockering, near Norwich the MPH Group is a successful family run business that have been involved in the recycling and demolition industry for almost 20 years. MPH offer the supply of crushed concrete, brick rubble and road planing’s along with screened top soil in to the local construction market. They are also able to offer site clearance and muck away services within a 60-mile radius of Norwich.

Recently the company has invested in a unique and innovative McCloskey AggStorm™ Modular Wash Plant which has been supplied by MI. Based in Coventry, MI are a specialist provider of Aggregate Washing Plants, Water Treatment Systems, Material Processing and Handling Equipment for the Quarrying, Recycling and Waste Industries and the official dealer in England, Scotland and Wales for MWS.

Environmental compliance:
One of the key drivers for MPH to install a wash plant was the complete absence of tips in Norfolk for the disposal of inert muck away, C&D material or utility waste.

This is becoming more of a problem throughout the UK and the solution is to wash this material and produce reusable aggregates.

Two-day open event:
To coincide with the launch of the plant, MI and MWS held a two-day event to demonstrate and familiarise both new and established dealers and customers with the versatility and productivity of MWS latest products.

This highly successful event attracted more than 200 attendees who were taken on guided tours to inspect and view the plant in operation with the opportunity to discuss with McCloskey technical advisors. The event highlighted new washing and classifying equipment for both quarrying and recycling applications.


The MPH operation:
The washing system at MPH has been in operation for 3 months and processed approximately 60,000 tons of material creating clean drainage aggregates & concrete sands. Prior to this the material would have been crushed and sold as a low cost sub-base material.

MPH are currently producing 6 sellable products, 3 aggregates, 2 sands and a clay from the filter press. This material was previously taking up valuable space on site prior to the new system being installed. In addition, the customer was missing out on a significant revenue opportunity that could be realised through the introduction of an effective washing system.

The new MWS wash plant along with the water treatment plant installed at MPH has addressed both issues and resulted in the customer being able to maximise returns from their operation.

The AggStorm™ modular wash plant:
The unique and innovative AggStorm™ modular wash plant brings together rinsing, scrubbing & screening capabilities on a single transportable chassis. Primarily designed for the processing of construction & demolition waste, the AggStorm™ at MPH is producing three grades of  40mm, 20mm and 10mm aggregate along with pre-screening a 0/2mm and 0/5mm sand product.

The McCloskey specification included a dual power R105 scalping screen which feeds a minus 40mm into the Aggstorm™ 150 log washer to produce a clean product which is split into three aggregate fractions. The -5mm sand is processed through the Compact Sand Plant 120 creating two grades of sand.

In particular the Aggstorm™ 150 log washer has many features that make it stand out from other similar products in the market, including the variable speed drive for the shafts that allow you to alter the retention time. However, one feature that really seemed to capture the attention of all at the event was the MWS patented side door access system.

This advanced engineering breakthrough makes it the only log washer in the industry that has been designed with absolute focus on the machine operator for ease of maintenance.

Ben Frettsome - MWS Sales & Applications Manager, commented, “The system has been designed to allow the operator access to the hull from a standing platform when carrying out maintenance tasks such as the removal of rope, rags or wire from the shafts and blades which is a common occurrence within this sector. Previously operators would be required to lay on top of the hull face down to carry out this process, which posed issues both with health & safety, along with a much longer downtime for the operator.”

The wash plant at MPH also includes a full water management system incorporating a 9-metre diameter low-level rake thickener along with a filter press. This enables the customer to recycle more than 95% of the water used in the washing system. For this application MPH are utilising a 1500mm x 1500mm x 130 plate filter press for the slurry dehydration which is produced from the rake thickener.

The filter press produces a dry solid ‘cake’ with a residual moisture content of below 22% which allows for this to be transported immediately. This is in complete comparison to other methods such as centrifuges or traditional tailings ponds which require multiple handling and days to dry. This is also a huge benefit as it allows a separate revenue stream to be created through the sale of this ‘by-product’ to several local industries.

Mark Monk -Director at Monk Plant Hire, commented, “At a time when operators are focused more than ever on maximising efficiencies within their sand and aggregate processing operations, our plant at MPH provides evidence that there are significant opportunities to be taken advantage of with the processing of recycled waste.”

The over beam filter press:
One element of the plant that was specified by MI was a Fraccaroli & Balzam overhead beam filter press.

Fintan McKeever - MD at Max Innovate gave us the facts. “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 these 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 very hard to access and maintain everything. On our press maintenance is super easy as everything sits to the side and the MPH press also features a robot that runs down the plates.

Fintan, continued, “Operationally the robot does three things – it opens the plates, five at a time and shakes them, 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 a very fast system and the only press in the country that has a completely flush floor so when the ‘bomb doors’ close up it’s completely flush so you can actually walk through the plates making it very easy to change the filter cloths; whereas on other presses it’s very difficult to access everything. 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.”

Fintan, added, “The wash plant provides Monk Plant Hire with clean in-specification material that they could not achieve by dry screening alone; this will increase their sales and grow their customer base.

“The complete processing system received lots of positive feedback with many visitors impressed with the maximum access to serviceable areas and the quality of the product produced.”

Fintan concluded, “The tours impressed upon the visitors the attention to detail and pride that everyone at McCloskey and Max Innovate takes in what we do, and it made me proud to be part of such a market-leading company. As I have come to expect from the team at MWS, the open day speaks volumes for the company’s ethos, as well as to serve as an indicator for future growth plans.

“It’s a system that is also very competitive on price in the UK market. It reflects the philosophy of MWS when they entered the market it was driven by ‘lets make the plant easy to live with’, making it easier for the operator.”

Sean Loughran - McCloskey Washing Systems Director, concluded, “We are deeply appreciative for the opportunity MPH gave us to demonstrate our equipment at their site in March. The perfect weather, combined with this perfect venue, made the event a resounding success on every level. We extend our sincere thanks to them, as well as to all those who joined us, we were delighted with the turnout.”

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