Recipe for success
October 1, 2007 By: Carol Wasson Pit & QuarryEfficient screening is the centerpiece of a new multi-fraction recipe plant at a greenfield site in Ohio.
Mid-Ohio Resources has mastered the art of aggregate cooking, so to speak. The new "recipe" plant has the right production team, processes and equipment to create a myriad of custom specification blends for the region's contractors and concrete producers.
Fed by a dredging operation, this recipe-type fraction plant utilizes cyclones and screening systems to produce stone and sand fractions, which are stored in six bins. Via automation, desired quantities are metered from each bin, and are blended to meet even the most exacting gradations and specifications.
"It's a fairly new design and concept in the U.S., one that has been popular in Europe for a number of years," said Mid-Ohio Resources President Darryl Lanker, who estimates that less than five percent of all U.S. sand and gravel plants are recipe-type fraction plants. "While many customers work within the normal DOT specification range, we have the ability to deliver a finer-or-coarser-than-usual product, differentiating the blend even within the state specifications," he added.
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The Bellville, Ohio-based operation began as a greenfield site. Research began in 2004, and the totally automated, all-electric, 400-tph plant was up and running in the fall of 2006.
"We were able to start with a blank slate, selecting the equipment that would be the most cutting-edge type of technology throughout," said Lanker who acknowledges that among all the processing circuits, efficient screening is one of the most important ingredients within overall plant performance. His dredging operation and fraction plant utilize screens manufactured by Deister Machine Co. Inc. "Before we designed the plant, we consulted with Deister engineers, getting their input on overall plant design and on the specific screen design, number of decks and media type," he said.
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At the heart of the fraction plant is the main Deister four-deck, 6-ft. x 20-ft. screen, one of the first galvanized Deister screens, and the very unit featured at ConExpo-ConAgg 2005.
"As the major workhorse of our operation, the Deister four-deck screen is where we do our washing, using about 2,000 gallons per minute of fresh water, which is supplied from wells rather than settling ponds," Lanker said. "We liked the fact that Deister was willing to deliver a galvanized screen, which is a new trend due to the high cost of field maintenance and re-painting. We also made extensive use of their rubber wear protection on the screen framework and component parts," he said.
Erected on a small, 80-ft. x 80-ft. footprint, the plant is of vertical architecture. The feed point into the main Deister screen is seven stories up and 85-ft. above ground level. "We utilize gravity to move the material through the process, so we are very efficient in design and in energy versus the sprawling horizontal spread of the typical sand and gravel plant," Lanker said.
 Left to right are Lloyd Eichorn, dredge specialist; Tom Miller, loadout man; Darryl Lanker, president and owner; Bob Lanker, general manager; Adam Coleman, plant operator. |
Automated material flow
The operation accesses an 8-cu.-yd. clam shell dredge supplied by Supreme Manufacturing. Its dredge bucket deposits material onto a double-deck 6-ft. x 16-ft. Deister horizontal screen and the throughput is pumped into an LPT hydrocyclone, which then delivers material onto a 4-ft. x 8-ft. Deister dewatering screen.
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