Autonomy is something the industry is seeing more lately, specifically in the haul truck world. Is autonomy on the horizon for washing equipment and technology?
I think we’re pretty much already there.
Years ago, I was asked what the biggest problem was with washing equipment. It wasn’t specifically a problem with the equipment, but I said when I go to visit a customer, one thing I like to do is go up to the top of the classifying tank. I can see the whole plant and get a better feel for the way things are going.
A lot of times, I’ll go up on top of the tank and the only footprints in the dust are mine.
What role is portability or modularity playing in the current design and development of wash plants?
There is always a market for portables. There are certain parts of the country that like portability, but it’s a different animal with washing equipment.
No matter how portable the equipment is, there’s no way to make a pond portable, and you have to have waste water handling with washing equipment. It’s always a compromise. While you do see portables, what you see more of today is modularity.
Customers, a lot of times, want to be able to go into relatively small spaces, put in a fairly inexpensive setup and, if they need to move it, it’s not six months of work.
The other thing you run into a lot is that they’re often expandable. It’s plug and play. You want a screen and a screw to start with? OK, here’s your feeder, your screen, your screw and a couple of conveyors for stacking.
Well, five years later, you get more rock in your product or you need to make a different product. So, you add a crusher to it. A year after that, you [may] need to add a second screen.
Superior Industries recently debuted its Scavenger wash unit. What went into that unit?
Scavengers are not a brand-new thing, but it’s a new addition to our offerings. We see these mostly being used on portable plants because portable plants are a compromise. You usually want a relatively small screw compared to the capacity of the machine.
One of the most common portable wash plants is a 6-ft. x 20-ft. screen over a twin 36-in. screw. That screw is nowhere near big enough to handle the water that that screen is capable of putting out. So, what ends up happening is they put too much water into the screw, which pushes good sand over the back. So, you add the Scavenger to capture that material and put it back into your stockpile.
Why is reclaiming sand so important?
If that sand is lost, it’s not in the stockpile. That’s a dead loss.
The other thing is if it’s lost, you have to get it out of your pond. Or, worse: if you’re using a chemical system to treat your wastewater, chemical costs are based on the solids going into that system. So, the more solid you put into your wastewater, the more chemicals you have to use to treat that water, which increases your costs.