Processing technologies
Raw material processing already starts in the driving area, where the material excavated is precrushed in order to reach the necessary 250 mm to be evacuated with conveyor belts.
The raw material is transformed into sand and gravel by means of different crusher systems before being washed and screened into their respective size groups.
The crushed sand muss be prepared with an appropriate infrastructure (cyclone).
B+ G is the perfect consulting firm to assist developpers and gravel plant operators with processing technologies and infrastructures.
Special issues
Elimination of Mica
On behalf of AlpTransit Gotthard, B+ G developped a special and unique process, based on the flottation technique, to eliminate mica from the crushed sand. The crushed sand (0/ 1 mm) was washed with water and chemicals (collectors) in an agitated and ventilated basin (flottation cell). The phyllosilicates adhered on the collectors and segregated to the surface of the water (foam). This foam was then evacuated with the overflow (Flotat).
This flottation technology permitted to eliminate more than 50% of the phyllosilicates in the 0/ 1 mm fraction of the crushed sand thus increasing its quality. A good sand quality is a pre-condition for good fresh and hardened concrete.
Grain curvature
In Switzerland, AlpTransit Gotthard project in 1994 was the first construction site which integrated a raw material recycling and management process to produce concrete aggregates. At first, this concrete production type encountered many reserves. Today, it is recognized and accepted worldwide.
To simplify concrete production and processing, aggregates were rounded in a hurricane rounding infrastructure.
Nowadays, the generation of new superplasticizers enables producing good quality fresh and hardened concretes even with large quantities of mica in the sand and/ or using flatty and crushed aggregates.
