The ready-mixed concrete plant of Amsterdam West, one of the mebin company group, based in the Netherlands, has recently been voted „Plant of the Month“ by the international Competence Center Materials of the HeidelbergCement Group. A twin-shaft batch mixer DKXS 4,50 by BHS-Sonthofen is the central element in the modernisation scheme which won the plant the title with.
The award was based on the significant and cost-efficient improvements of system throughput and quality in terms of capacity expansion and plant modernisation. It is planned that the new unit will produce 125,000 m³ of concrete in the first year after modernisation with a workforce of only three.
Owing to the growing demand, the supply capacity of the Amsterdam plant had to be increased. The modernisation of the old plant, now 15 years old, was simultaneously on the agenda, but the management wanted to avoid a complete demolition and reconstruction and opted for a fundamental overhaul of individual central components.
Plant manager Peter von den Brink and project manager Ernest Schmitz implemented a cyclic gravel process, in which the mixer is filled simply with cement, sand and water, and the gravel conducted around the mixer. In this way, the system throughput is increased to a multiple of what it was before: the total cycle – filling the twin-shaft batch mixer, then mixing, followed by complete emptying – now lasts a mere 1.5 minutes. A 9 m³ transportable mixer is filled with solely one batch of the mixer – with 5 m³ suspension from the BHS mixer and 4 m³ gravel. For particularly high-grade concretes – B 85 and higher – the gravel continues to be mixed in the mixer along with the other materials.
At approximately 40 mixing trips per hour with a discharge of 5 m³ suspension and 4 m³ gravel per batch, the new mixer attains a hardened concrete capacity of 360 m³ per hour – 4.5 times the rate of the old plant capacity. The mixer has two segmented discharge doors which enable it to be emptied on two alternating tracks.
When high-grade concretes are being mixed, B 85 and higher, the gravel continues to be mixed together the other materials in the twin-shaft batch mixer. The mixer is equipped with a moisture probe, which issues a complete record of the measurements.
Since the two existing free-fall mixers, each with a volume of 4 m³, and a pan mixer of around 3 m³ are being replaced by solely one twin-shaft batch mixer, mebin is drastically reducing both maintenance and energy costs with the new system.
The mixer was delivered and commissioned in January 2011. The entire project was executed by Loke BV from Veenendaal, the Netherlands representative of BHS-Sonthofen. At present, Loke is working on a further project: a relocatable containerized mixing plant. It is quick to set up, the only requirement is a flat level on the installation site.
About BHS-Sonthofen GmbH
BHS-Sonthofen offers innovative and efficient mechanical process solutions for mixing, crushing, recycling or filtration technology. The company focuses on developing and manufacturing machines and plants able to operate efficiently and for long periods under the most challenging conditions. One of its core activities is the development of customised machines and systems designed to meet the special needs of specific industries.
Since the development of the first twin-shaft batch mixer in 1888, the company has launched a number of new products, demonstrating its continued ability to innovate. The DKX twin-shaft batch mixers represent the international industry standard when it comes to demanding mixing applications in the concrete industry. Since the late ’90s, BHS-Sonthofen also offers equipment for recycling applications, including electronic waste processing. Our filtration systems for solid-liquid separation have been produced for over 50 years and are known worldwide as innovative, technologically advanced solutions.
Well-known customers from the building and building materials, mining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and food processing industries, as well as environmental and waste-management sectors and other important industries have relied on the machines and equipment of BHS-Sonthofen for many decades.
Founded as an independent company in 1996, BHS-Sonthofen GmbH began as an iron smelting works 400 years ago at its current location. BHS-Sonthofen operates internationally with over 300 employees, more than 210 of whom are located in Sonthofen. In addition to the headquarter in Sonthofen, Germany, subsidiaries in the US, China and India belong to the group.
Additional information is available at www.bhs-sonthofen.de.
BHS-Sonthofen GmbH
Roland Schmid
An der Eisenschmelze 47
D-87527 Sonthofen
+49 8321 6099-231
www.bhs-sonthofen.de
press@bhs-sonthofen.de
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