If you want to reduce costs and increase focus on the environment, a washing system may be right for your facility. Washing systems can help you ensure the quality of the final product and protect the environment. Washing plants remove unwanted substances such as soil, sand and other dirt from crushed stone, resulting in a clean and good product.

CDE Washing plant for crushed stone and gravel
Washing facilities supplied by Nordic Bulk in collaboration with CDE

Increased product quality

Washing systems make it possible to remove impurities, dirt and soil from the products, resulting in a higher quality of the products. At many sites, a major challenge can be quality assurance, especially when there are challenging weather conditions, harsh environments and large volumes. Washing systems can help your facility overcome many of these challenges.

An increased quality of the products means that they are more attractive to customers and can be sold at higher prices. This can result in increased earnings for the crushed stone plant. In addition, as customers are more satisfied with the products, they are also more likely to choose the same supplier again in the future.

The washing facility also allows us to extract value from resources that were previously seen as landfill goods. The fines can be washed from the gravel and sand masses, and the washing plant allows for recycling of old mass. This improves economy through better mass balance and product quality.

Increased efficiency

Washing systems increase productivity by ensuring that the production process runs smoothly and without obstacles. When the product is free of impurities, production will be more efficient by reducing spillage and wear and tear on the plant, resulting in increased productivity.

Better working environment

Washing systems reduce the amount of dust and dirt in the work area, improving working conditions and reducing the risk of injury and health damage among workers. Impurities, sand and soil can pose a health risk to workers if, for example, there is a lot of fine dust in the air at the site that workers breathe in. By using a washing system, you not only get to use more of the pulp, but you also reduce the risk of e.g. dust in the workplace and improve the working environment.

Get more out of the entire value chain

Building blocks are transported an average of 18.6 km from quarry to construction site, according to government surveys. It is mainly transported by truck, which returns empty for reloading. The alternative is to use eco-stations, where trucks can drive fully loaded both ways.

If we also halve the distance each truck has to travel by building centrally located washing facilities with concrete and asphalt plants in the same place, we can halve the driving distance.

We have looked at the possibilities, made estimates of noise measurements and named the concept Central Station.

If the truck on the left had return loads to the recycling station, it would have resulted in major savings for the environment and the contractor’s finances.

If the central station halves the mileage of tipper trucks that are fully loaded both ways, it will reduce unloaded driving by up to 90 percent. Per ton produced, there are 37 percent fewer CO2 emissions and 12937 fewer liters of diesel per year. At the same time, it saves the contractor NOK 647,000 in annual costs associated with each truck.

The figures above are for one truck only. If you multiply that by the number of tipper trucks on Norwegian roads, the environmental calculations become hefty.

We are in dialog with public actors to estimate how many trucks drive to and from quarries on Norwegian roads. When we multiply the figures by the number of cars, we think the numbers become startling.

**The above calculation is based on public figures. Unfortunately, there are no figures on what proportion of trucks drive fully loaded both ways when using washing facilities. We know that it is not realistic to say that all cars always drive fully loaded to/from the washing facility, but we do not want to base calculations on assumptions about how many cars there may be. This will vary from site to site. Therefore, the most natural starting point is a fixed parameter that everyone can relate to. In our calculations, we assume that all cars drive both ways fully loaded. From there, each site can calculate how much they can save.

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