The paradise of Oahu, Hawaii, is home to Alakona Corp., an asphalt and paving maintenance contractor situated in the state capital of Honolulu.
Founded in 1982 by Mervynn de Wolff, Alakona Corp. is now run by his son, Arist de Wolff, and his team of 25 employees. The company serves Oahu and neighboring islands, assisting in city, county and state government projects along with commercial enterprises and property development managers.
More recently, Alakona expanded its business into new endeavors, including asphalt lay, asphalt overlay, asphalt repair, pavement maintenance, slurry seal, seal coat and crack fill.
Alakona owns several machines, ranging from pavers and rollers to loaders and excavators to slurry and seal coat applicators. When the company searched for a crusher to assist in business expansion, it focused on compact machinery that would best fit the fleet.
Crushing and expanding
In search of the right crusher, Alakona partnered with Rockster and its mobile R700S impact crusher – a brand-new crushing plant.
According to Arist, the R700S is exactly what the company was looking for.
“We are so flexible in terms of processing different aggregates and the material we produce with our crusher is of high value,” Arist says. “We do also like the fact that the return belt can be turned aside, and we can make another fraction, as well as the fine side belt that can be pulled off. The screen box is also very beneficial, as it allows us to produce different material sizes by just switching some screens.”
Being on an island, a forward-looking Arist notes that natural rock isn’t a renewable resource, and the alternative of importing aggregate would be a costly measure. Therefore, Alakona emphasizes the importance of recycled asphalt pavement, more simply known as RAP.
“Sustainability is the key factor,” Arist says. “We need a lot of material for subbases, base coarse or backfills. Using reclaimed asphalt pavement instead of natural aggregate saves resources and money. Moreover, RAP contains a bit of bitumen – like a glue – holding everything together and giving more compaction.”
Alakona isn’t just focusing on RAP for the short-term, either. The company expects the recycled materials to market to steadily grow in the coming years.
“You would think that people on an island would be more aggressive into researching, testing and using recycled material, but they are hesitant in trying new things,” Arist says. “It needs to be pushed more, and people need to understand that this is the future. There needs to be recycled material, especially in construction fields where we could save natural resources.”
Using the attached screening system on the R700S, Alakona crushes asphalt ranging from 1.5 to 2 ft. down to 1.5-in.-minus of a final size material.
“We’re doing a bunch of tests like the CBR (California Bearing Ratio) to make sure the final material is suitable for reuse in our construction projects,” Arist says.
The California Bearing Ratio is a penetration test used to evaluate the subgrade strength of roads and pavements.
Another material Alakona processes with its R700S crusher is coral.
Given Alakona’s island location, the company excavates coral when working on street construction sites near the Pacific Ocean.
Without a screening system, they run a 3-in.-minus final product, used mostly for landscaping.
“Coral is quite a hard rock with high density,” Arist says. “The crushed material contains [fewer] fines than the crushed asphalt. We can use it as base coarse for house or concrete paths.”
Added bonuses
With a screen box and return belt, the R700S weighs only 50,300 pounds, allowing Alakona to easily transport the machine with its own flatbed truck – eliminating the need for transport permits.
The ease of transport affords Alakona added flexibility for future planning, in addition to the diversification of materials the company is now able to produce.
“We are able to crush so many kinds of material,” Arist says. “Within four days of training, we crushed RAP, coral, concrete and basalt. There are so many possibilities for a lot of different customers like construction companies, privates and of course municipalities.”
Information for this article courtesy of Rockster Recycler.