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6 October 2010
Siltbuster Limited, a UK based mobile solids and liquid separation specialist, is reporting positive initial results from the first deployments of its new Gritbuster mobile waste processing plant for the treatment and recycling of road sweeper and gully waste.
The waste collected by road sweepers typically contains between 60% and 75% gravel and sand sized particles which, when reclaimed, can be put to beneficial use as a recycled aggregate or inert fill, turning what was waste into a significant commercial opportunity.
To date, the vast majority of this waste stream has ended up in landfill, with little thought to recovery. The Gritbuster treatment system, however, will enable local authorities, waste management companies and road sweeping firms to reduce costs, minimise and divert waste from landfill, and achieve recycling targets by maximising their recycling efforts.
Designed to process up to 10 to 15 tonnes per hour and a range of feed consistencies, the process separates, washes and dewaters solids, and offers water treatment and full recycling capabilities, in a compact system unlike anything seen in the market before.
Processing starts with road sweepings and gully arisings being tipped into the Gritbuster's main reception hopper, either straight from the trucks or by loading shovel from bulk material stockpiles. From here, the material is transferred by bucket wheel into a rotating trommel screen to be washed.
The material is then separated into an oversize (+10 mm) material and smaller (-10mm) fraction. The oversize material typically contains the larger gravel-like material and the usual road debris e.g. bottles, coke cans, broken number plates, leaves, etc. Once separated, it is conveyed out of the machine.
The remaining material containing the sand, fine organics, silt and any clay-like material falls through the trommel holes with the fine organic matter and the coarse sand and gravel fraction being split, before each is dewatered and conveyed out of the unit as separate products.
A second finer grade of sand can also be produced by passing the material through a Siltbuster hydrocyclone and dewatering screen. The resulting dirty wash water is cleaned in one of Siltbuster's water treatment plants, before it too is recycled.
Siltbuster claims that the first users of its new machine report a 95% recycling rate of feed material, as well as other benefits to their operations such as providing a complete waste treatment, processing and recycling solution for this material.
George Anderson, director of Siltbuster, explains: "More than one million tonnes of roadside and gully waste is sent to landfill annually in the UK. We all need to recognise that most of this material, if recovered and treated properly, can be sent to landfill at reduced landfill tax rates but, more importantly, can be recycled."
"Many are now waking up to the fact that recycling this material is the way forward, which is good for the environment and presents an opportunity to generate revenue through the sale of recovered sand and other materials - making it good for the purse too." Anderson Concludes.
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