DUO move forward with processing solutions.

• 
• 18th July 2006
• Materials Handling
 

Conceived just 12 months ago, DUO (Europe) plc is the result of a joint venture arrangement between Powerscreen Washing Systems and Hydrex; it is the fruition of a business concept of "Two Working as One."

With its aim to provide the Aggregate, Recycling and Material Handling Industries with a comprehensive package of complete processing solutions DUO has put into place an enviable infrastructure covering five divisions with support guaranteed from thirteen strategically placed locations.
The new company has over this period being put to the test and has ‘notched up’ a host of successful and diverse projects.

SEA DREDGED BALLAST

In a recent contract for the equipment division, DUO were tasked by CEMEX to supply a complete aggregate processing plant to work in conjunction with their existing water management system at Angerstein Wharf in South London.
Due to its strategic location Angerstein Wharf is a key site for CEMEX. Last year their 16,000 tpw plant burnt down meaning a shortfall in supply to the London market, and CEMEX without a wash plant.

With an impressive range of capabilities and support structure, and a scheduled completion within a short timescale, DUO Equipment was successful in their bid to supply a replacement wash plant. The plant, designed to cope with 16,000 tonnes per week of sea dredged ballast fulfills the requirements of CEMEX and produces 10mm, 20mm and a concrete sand, with the 20mm being crushed and re-circulated.

This high performance plant features a feed hopper with remote control tipping grid, which feeds by conveyor onto a 16 x 5 full rinser where material is thoroughly washed. Material rejected from the top deck of this screen rejects the entire +20 mm product and delivers this on to a conveyor feeding the cone crusher. This material is then fed back on to the primary feed conveyor for processing.

The + 5mm to 20mm product is also discharged and fed by conveyor onto a 16 x 5 dry sizing screen; with the 10mm and 20mm being stockpiled by  conveyors. The -5mm is fed into a Powerscreen Fines Master 120 where it is dewatered. (Renowned for maximum retention of fines and the dryness of the final product, this market leading Fines Master 120 tph machine was specifically requested by CEMEX).

The concrete sand from the Fines Master is then stockpiled via conveyor, with foul water pumped into the CEMEX existing water management plant for conditioning. The clarified water is then pumped back for continued washing.

As CEMEX did not want to leave a supply gap within the South London market project turn around time was crucial. The DUO capability of being able to provide a high performance processing plant when needed was a major advantage to CEMEX who can now provide their mass market with clean aggregate. Rigorous health and safety demands applied by CEMEX also represented a key issue addressed by DUO Equipment.

BULK MATERIALS CONTRACTING

In an entirely different role DUO Contracting have also been busy providing their services to CEMEX quarries at Shap. Having enjoyed a six year working relationship as a supplier to CEMEX, Powerscreen Washing Systems Ltd introduced Hydrex to provide the customer with a complete one stop package under the DUO brand.

Complementing a Kleeman 122 Primary Duel Crusher and Warrior Screening equipment Hydrex have supplied a Hitachi 350 excavator, a Bell 40 tonne dump truck, and a Volvo L120 and L150 loading shovel.

DUO currently process 450,000 tonnes of blue granite per annum which is supplied to a secondary CEMEX operation for final grading and supply as rail ballast.

Dave Warwick, DUO Contracts Manager responsible for the SHAP project comments:
"The figures speak for themselves. The demand for rail ballast with over a million tonnes of waste ballast being removed from trackside each year necessitates an ongoing requirement for new ballast."

Hydrex Warrington depot provides local facilities for service and maintenance.

BULK MATERIALS HANDLING

Further south, DUO Manufacturing has just completed a new unloading and storage system at the Purley, south London rail depot of Day Aggregates. Awarded the main mechanical and electrical engineering contract, the project involved the replacement of the existing rail unloading facilities with a completely new bottom discharge wagon unloading system and associated tripper conveyor and toast-rack storage facilities in a move to improve both operational and environmental efficiencies at the site.

The new facilities allow material to be discharged from rail wagons into two hoppers which feed directly on to a pair of parallel inclined discharge conveyors, feeding aggregates on to the plant’s main tripper conveyor. The plant also includes a wheel loader-fed reclaim/blending system, which is adjacent to the main primary discharge conveyors and also feeds on to the tripper conveyor.
This system is designed to ‘communicate’ permitting the addition of up to 60% recycled material for the production of primary/recycled blends.

Rated at 1,600 tonnes/h, the tripper conveyor extends 166.5m in length and provides 110m of actual discharge capacity. The tripper carriage which houses a reversible transverse conveyor discharges products into the appropriate stock bays which support the tripper structure and offer a total storage capacity of around 22,000 tonnes. The entire discharge and stocking system is controlled by a PLC via a touch screen, which is mounted alongside CCTV monitors in a small GRP control room situated adjacent to the rail discharge section. The PLC also controls the new installed dust-suppression and water-addition systems.

These new facilities at Purley now offer considerable functional and environmental benefits not only for Day Aggregates, but also their nearest neighbours. As the entire unloading process is now a one-man operation all incoming materials are automatically dispatched directly to designated storage bays via the tripper conveyor. Additionally, with revised locomotive movements and train length the effects of noise pollution have been mitigated, whilst the total elimination of grab unloading operations has eradicated nuisance noise.
Moreover, the new bottom discharge unit, tripper conveyor and toast rack storage facilities have facilitated the installation of permanent and effective and dust-suppression and control measures at the site.

As the blending of primary and recycled aggregates become increasingly common, the new facility offers Day Aggregates a major commercial advantage by providing the company with the ability to create blends containing up to 60% recycled material from their on-site construction and demolition waste recycling facility.   

Commenting on the newly completed installation, Day Aggregates’ operations director Nick Sadler singled out DUO Manufacturing for particular praise, describing their contribution to the project as exceptional. ‘They knew we were nervous about the project to begin with, but their performance, flexibility, ability to meet deadlines and attention to detail was outstanding and very reassuring,’ he said. ‘We spent a lot of time drawing up detailed plant specifications for Purley with the help of Michael Swanson, a quarry plant and bulk material handling specialist, but DUO had no problem meeting these specs and in places improved on the designs using their experience, common sense and logic. The project was seamless from start to finish.’ 

RECYCLING AGGREGATES

Recycling has also been at the forefront with DUO. The equipment division has recently supplied and commissioned a new full washing and water-management plant for Eco Aggregates in Colchester. Eco Aggregates are part of the Anderson Group who specialise in cost effective recycling of clean construction and demolition materials.
Resplendent in its striking red livery the plant is the first venture for Eco Aggregates into washing soils and aggregate under a partnership agreement with Taywood. The plant is currently employed recycling material from the construction process for reuse, as part of the residential development of Colchester Garrison.

DUO have also supplied a second full washing and water-management plant for another site operated by Eco Aggregates.
Partly funded by a grant from WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme) the plant will operate at a previously disused quarry near Welwyn Garden City. This is a new venture for Eco Aggregates who have obtained temporary planning permission to recycle imported C&D waste etc, from local sites. Whilst the primary objective is the restoration of the quarry from the recovered silt and clay derived from the recycling operation; the resulting processed aggregates will be used in asphalt and concrete production as well as for sub-base, capping and drainage materials.
 
FURTHER PROJECTS

Further ongoing projects include a installation of a full wash plant for CEMEX at Northfleet, featuring a Fines Master 200 this plant will process sea dredged ballast and provide +10/+20, oversize and one sand.

A waste sorting system for Smiths of Gloucester will process skip waste and includes three trommel screens, two picking stations and all stockpiling and interconnecting conveyors. This project is one of the biggest contracts of its type awarded in the UK.

And finally a 350 tph sand and gravel plant for Tarmac is also to be installed at their Colchester Quarry. This plant comprises a Linatex sand plant, crushing and screening operations and all the stockpiling and interconnecting conveyors. The whole plant will be built and installed by the DUO manufacturing division.

Further information:

DUO (Europe) plc,
1, Rye Hill Office Park, Birmingham Road,
Allesley, Coventry CV5 9AB
Tel: 0845 22 22 386    
Fax: 0845 22 22 387
Email: info@duoplc.com 
Web: www.duoplc.com

Associated Links

• Hub-4 Profile of DUO (Europe) plc
• DUO (Europe) plc Company Website