Asphalt plant operators across continental Europe are said to be increasingly turning to pulverized lignite to fuel or partially fuel production, while leading plant manufacturers have been busy closing key deals with customers in Russia, Bangladesh and Switzerland. Guy Woodford reports.
Financially astute asphalt plant operators in Europe are said to be increasingly using pulverized lignite, also known as brown coal, from Germany to fuel or partially fuel production. Under the product name ‘Lignite Energ
Ammann has sold a JustBlack 160 and a JustBlack 150 asphalt mixing plant to a customer in Bangladesh – its first ever sale in the country
Asphalt plant operators across continental Europe are said to be increasingly turning to pulverized lignite to fuel or partially fuel production, while leading plant manufacturers have been busy closing key deals with customers in Russia, Bangladesh and Switzerland. Guy Woodford reports
Financially astute asphalt plant operators in Europe are said to be increasingly using pulverized lignite, also known as brown coal, from Germany to fuel or partially fuel production. Under the product name ‘Lignite Energy Pulverized’ it is marketed Europe-wide by Rheinbraun Brennstoff (RBB), a subsidiary of German firmAccording to RBB, usual difficulties associated with converting a plant from fuel oil to cheaper natural gas, such as site development and the sinking of gas lines, both of which lead to sky high capital and operating costs, are not encountered with a switch to Lignite Energy Pulverized: delivery is by silo truck or railway tank wagon. And the next steps to firing are in a closed system, just as with oil and gas. RBB claims a plant operator’s investment in silo, dosing plant and burner – around US$608,700 per mixing plant – generally pays off within two years. Additionally, independence is said to be maintained as the plants are delivered with a bi-fuel burner so that a return to oil is possible at any time.
RBB says that in Germany, where the industrial fuel has been used for over 20 years, it has become the undisputed market leader for Lignite Energy Pulverized supply to operators of asphalt-mixing plants. The firm claims that 80% of all plants operated in Germany have been converted to the fuel. And across Europe nearly 1,000 plants are said to be supplied with Lignite Energy Pulverized.
As it agrees long-term contracts with customers and delivers the fuel at a fixed price agreed in advance, RBB says plant operators’ are no longer left fearing the impact energy-price fluctuations will have on their trading.
Supply of Lignite Energy Pulverized is assured in the long-term, says RBB. It is said by the firm to be the only vital energy source on the European continent to be available in significant quantities for the next 300- plus years. Furthermore, RWE Power, by commissioning a second bowl-mill crusher, is said to have increased its annual production capacity by another 500,000tonnes to more than 300 million tonnes of Lignite Energy Pulverized in the past year. This, says RBB, mean that growing demand for pulverized lignite can be met with ease.
“In Germany, we have installed over 500 lignite coal dust burners so far,” said Benninghoven managing director, Bernd Benninghoven. “Other countries where we have a high market are Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Belgium.
Benninghoven said that in France there is increased demand for lignite coal dust burners, as the price of Lignite Energy Pulverized is shrinking and coal dust becomes a topic. “All new [French] installations now are requested with a coal dust installation,” he added. “We actually are installing a big plant for
Benninghoven has been busy with research and development into the drying systems of asphalt mixing plants. The firm says a close coordination between filter, burner and dryer drum is required for the perfect drying process.
More than 300 customers are said to have used the Benninghoven EVO-Jet Burner since its launch two years ago.
All burner components are subject to the highest quality control and are produced at Benninghoven’s main manufacturing facility in Mülheim. This is said to ensure constant quality and long service life.
The new burner combined control system allows fuel change-over during operation, thus allowing conversion to another fuel during the production without shutting down the burner.
Due to improvements made in design and technology, the maintenance and service of the EVO-Jet is hugely reduced with most work carried out from the exterior of the burner.
The control of the fuel-air mixture was optimised by the use of a frequency converter.
Now with an increased control range of up to eight settings and an electrical energy saving of 35%, the EVO-Jet is said by Benninghoven to be the market leader in energy reduction.
The continual further development of the silencer leads to the reduction of noise and CO2 emission. Due to the special inlet design, hot air is fed from the dryer drum through the silencer into the burner. The air does not require more heating, providing significant energy savings.
Benninghoven says more and more of its dryer drums are equipped with frequency inverters from 30HZ to 70HZ. By modifying the rotation speed the mineral veil in the dryer drum is changed, so that the exhaust gas temperature is always in the perfect temperature range to suit different mineral discharge temperatures. The operator has two possibilities: he can set the dryer speed manually with the control system, or select automatic mode and then the speed is regulated by the designed exhaust gas temperature. The conditions for the frequency converter are provided by motors (IE2 or higher) and shielded cable.
The Benninghoven Pure-air dust extraction filter is manufactured with frequency inverted control drives for efficient running costs. For example, when the ventilator speed is reduced by 15%, there is an energy saving of 38.5%.
With the inverter controlled fan the optimal running speed is maintained for any demand that the filter may face. This is said to result in a very short return on investment.
Using the EVO-Jet Burner, along with the Benninghoven dryer drum and Pure-air dust extraction filter during production of 100,000tonnes of asphalt per annum will, say Benninghoven, save 25tonnes of CO2 and over 9,000 litres of fuel oil.
Remaining in Germany,
In hot climates, concrete is traditionally cooled with ice; one of the most expensive methods of concrete cooling. Lintec has opted to eliminate the need for ice production using what the company describes as a more intelligent and economical method by directly cooling all the aggregates. A patented process using only cold water and air is used to cool the fine sand as well as the larger aggregate. Hot air is initially cooled by cold water. Inside the aggregate cooling device, the stream of cold air flows around the warm and humid aggregates – generating the evaporation on the surface of the aggregates. As a result of this process, the aggregates become cooler. The total water consumption is said by Lintec to be no more than when using ice cooling methods.
Coupling Lintec’s proven modular concept and using standard sea containers is said to ensure low transportation costs and short erection times.
The new ACS is fully automatic and said to be easy to integrate into existing concrete plant installation. Meanwhile, Lintec’s CSM 2500 asphalt mixing plant with conventional screen deck technology and a capacity of 160tonnes/hour is said to be performing well on a major highway building project in Russia. To guarantee a continuous supply of asphalt for the 74km extension of the A104 Moscow-Dmitrov-Dubna highway, the CSM 2500 is equipped with a 120tonne hot storage silo with two compartments for asphalt. Within the agreed deadline, the first 70,000tonnes of asphalt from the CSM 2500 were produced and paved by the Russian company TechStroyKontrakt, based in the Moscow region.
TechStroyKontrakt is said to be fully satisfied with the quick and economic transport and the fast erection of the CSM 2500 plant.
The CSM 2500 was shown by Lintec at
The plants, which have an almost identical mixing tower, with the drum and filter slightly larger on the 160 model, were bought by AML to help fulfil its contract to refurbish the runway at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport just outside Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. The paving was last renewed in 1996 and had aged over the years due to heavy use. As it's the airport’s only runway, air traffic can only be interrupted for a few hours during the night. AML cannot start work until 11pm and has to clear the runway at 5am to allow flight operations to resume. Ammann says this has shown the importance of having reliable asphalt mixing plant systems, such as the Amman JustBlack 160 and 150 models.
Both Ammann plants are located at the airport and are said by the firm to deliver a reliable supply of asphalt every day. Ammann's sales team involved in the AML purchase noted, "Bitumen in Bangladeshis not available in a hot, liquid form but is sold cold in barrels. Every barrel has to be cracked open and the bitumen heated prior to use. All day long, one employee sits on the barrels and opens them with a hammer and chisel to ensure a ready supply of the bitumen required for the project.”
During the commissioning phase, Ammann agreed to rent AML with one of its asphalt plant mixing engineer. Since then, an Ammann mixing engineers has monitored the customer’s asphalt production process.
Through using Ammann’s JustBlack 160 and 150 plants, AML is said by Ammann to have finished the airport runway project four weeks earlier than scheduled.
A new generation
Marini says its Top Tower 3000 meets the requirements of customers looking to help protect the environment. Energy-efficient and well insulated, the Top Tower 3000 is suitable for the production of standard as well as low energy materials. During the negotiations, Marini says the SEP technical team was keen to secure all devices necessary to reduce plant fuel consumption and environmental impact. For the electrics, they have chosen to insert an inverter to manage the bag filter fan, the dryer rotation, the elevator, the screen, and the mixer.
Marini says SEP’s way of reducing burner consumption has been to cover sand, RAP stockpiles, aggregates and RAP feeders. The plant’s tower housing (in the upper part of both the mixing tower and bag filter) also aims for big reductions in thermal dispersions. For its bitumen tanks, SEP has chosen special low energy consumption electrical heated tanks with 300mm insulation and reduced thermal bridges.
Another very important topic in SEP’s definition of the plant, according to Marini, was the possibility to reuse the RAP. The SEP technical team was keen to obtain the maximum flexibility and to achieve very high percentages. They decided to pretreat the RAP in order to be sure about the old bitumen quality and recovered aggregates size; it was decided to choose the solution with two different lines: one line to the dryer (recycling ring) up to 35% and one line to the mixer (up to 25%). The two lines can also be deployed at the same time to achieve the near 45% maximum.
Çesan believes its new mobile drum mix plant, the CDM-60/80/100, and its King Batch asphalt plant will prove popular with customers in African, Middle East and CIS areas. Capable of producing up to 80tonnes/hour, a CDM-80 plant has already been sold to a customer in Cameroon. And Çesan says it is close to concluding deals with two other African clients in what the company sees as a key niche market, where contractors choose to buy small capacity plants for road work and other projects not accessible through larger capacity plants.
Showcased at bauma 2013, the King Batch plant has a 280tonnes/hour capacity and is said by Çesan to have a dramatically reduced transport and erection time due to its ergonomic design. A model was recently sold to the Turkish firm KEMER iNAAT.
E-MAK for key tourist highway
Cemil Ozgur is one of the pioneers of construction business in Turkey. During the firm’s 58 years in the construction business, they have built many highways, damps, tunnels and buildings. One of its latest projects is helping to extend the Antalya -Burdur highway in southern Turkey to Istanbul.
Antalya is one of the most important tourism centres in Turkey, and the Antalya- Burdur highway is an essential tourist travel route. Extending the highway to Istanbul will make tourist access to Antalya quicker and easier. The construction project, which began in 2012, is set to be completed in 2014.
Cemil Ozgur is responsible for building a 15km-stretch of the extended highway. As well as carrying out ground and utility works, the company is generating 600,000tonnes of hot mix asphalt for the project using the
E-MAK says that Cemil Ozgur has been impressed with the plant and is working to schedule on its part of the Antalya-Burdur highway extension project.
