Headquartered in "the land of the Delta blues," Memphis Stone & Gravel is proud of nearly a century of aggregate production. Founded in 1910, the company remains family-owned and -operated, and is one of the region's top volume producers of construction sand and gravel, with eight sites located throughout West Tennessee and Northern Mississippi.

In the summer of 2005, Memphis Stone & Gravel broke ground in preparation for its latest wash plant. The new Perry Plant was designed with two major goals in mind: to be environmentally sound, and to process an average of 1,000 tph of raw input. Its construction began with the excavation of 400,000 cu. yd. of earth to level the 30-acre site, and to create carefully designed drainage and pond systems that prevent any unwanted discharge of plant process water.

"One of the biggest challenges we had was engineering the plant, stockpiles and ponds to fit a smaller footprint. This is one of the most compact and efficient operations we have," said Mitch Berryman, vice president of operations for Memphis Stone & Gravel, and a 24-year aggregate industry veteran.

Planned for success

The plant opened in July 2006, and Berryman credits its success to a "long-term partnering relationship" he's established with both local equipment representative Harman & Associates, and with the manufacturers of his screening equipment.

"I can just pick up the phone and call them. They know our material is very high in clay content, so we've got to have a lot of water. They know what we're trying to accomplish and what products we need," he said. As a result, Berryman added, he believes it's advantageous to "standardize" his equipment and parts — particularly in the integral area of screening.

"With multiple locations, I think it's better to be standardized," he said. "I have one set of parts on the shelf for eight different locations. I don't have to keep a big inventory. It's a maintenance training issue, too: All the guys are familiar with this screening equipment. We don't have to reinvent the wheel every time we change out a part or a panel."

Each site specifies screens manufactured by Deister Machine Co. Inc., and screen media formulated by Durex Products.

Washing, rinsing screens

Each of the three screens at the Perry Plant are Deister BHM inclined washing/rinsing screens, which are engineered to ensure day-to-day reliability through features such as dual vibrating mechanisms and baked epoxy-coated springs.

Pit run material travels through a splitter box to enter either of two Deister three-deck, 8-ft. x 20-ft. screens for desanding.

Material at Memphis Stone & Gravel's Perry Plant travels through a splitter box to enter either of two Deister three-deck, 8-ft. x 20-ft. screens for desanding.

"We knew from past experience that each 8-ft. x 20-ft. screen is more than large enough to handle 500 tph, for a total of 1,000 tph," Berryman explained, adding that the facility is running about 8,000 gpm over the primary screens.

After desanding, material enters a 12 x 48 classifier, followed by processing within dual 54-in. sand screws. The plus-1/8-in. and plus-3/16-in. material is fed into dual log washers. From there, material is conveyed to a Deister three-deck, 7-ft. x 20-ft. screen for rinsing and sizing of products such as #57, minus-1 1/2-in., and plus-3/8-in. material.