Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/268384
APPLICATIONS 31 AGGREGATES MANAGER March 2014 Concrete recycling operations The company operates its concrete recycling facility on an un- incorporated 10-acre site within Chandler, convenient to major freeways. While it principally recycles demolition concrete, it also accepts RAP for processing. Buesing estimates he will process 100,000 tons of RAP each year, and more than 300,000 tons of RCA in a banner year. Trucks haul material to large stockpiles, which are reshaped by front-end loaders and excavators as they provide raw feed for the impactor. While the operator crushes its own demolition concrete, the majority of the concrete recycle feed comes from other sources, he says. "We reuse the material in our own construction when feasible; otherwise we sell it," Buesing adds. "We have many cus- tomers, from the mom-and-pops to major contractors. We quote the materials delivered out of there to other contractors, and will deliver them F.O.B. to the job site. The smaller contractors will come in with pickup trucks or trailers and haul the material away." The RCA is used for driveways, parking lots, pipe bedding, and bases of all kinds. From RAP, the operation typically will produce a half-inch rock that can be incorporated into asphalt mix that it sells. "RAP has not been as well accepted in the Phoenix area as it is elsewhere in the country," Buesing says. "It's used primarily as base aggregate, but also as an inexpensive surfacing for parking lots. If it's treated, it will portray the same properties as hot-mix asphalt pavement. It won't be as smooth and will be more easily eroded, but it does a pretty good job at it while being fairly dust-free." RCA base material that meets spec typically will be 1.25-inch minus size, and that's been Buesing's mainstay. "We can do up- grading of the plant to produce even concrete aggregate, as it's normally clean enough if screened," Buesing says. And he's looking forward to producing additional sizes of ag- gregate. "With this machine, we are planning on getting more aggressive in producing other products, and see if we can't up- market those, so rather than getting $5 or $6 a ton, we could get $8, $9, or $10," Buesing says. Fighting deleterious material The operation rarely encounters alkali-silica reactivity compro- mised concrete, he says. "One way of fighting that is in the way you handle your input into the plant," Buesing explains. "All of our loads are inspected when they come in. Garbage in, garbage out. We do our best to inspect loads; we've sent trucks out to landfills so that it stays out of our plant. We also use a belt picker when we have any problems, but tightening up on dumping helps the most. Our guys have done a great job on this." The impact crusher replaced a dual impact crusher set-up with 14 x 13 and 13 x 13 crushers. The assembly of the machines particularly impressed Buesing, he says. "I've been around equip- ment long enough to tell what it's going to give you by how it's built," he notes. "Kleemann does an excellent job in the build, right on through the paint process." That being said, versatility was of paramount importance. "The plant that we had was a stationary plant on wheels, and it took 12 loads to move it somewhere," Buesing says. "The MR 130 gives us portability and mobility. We probably can produce as much or more with this one machine than we could with our two previous machines, with a fuel savings as well." The operation's new Mobirex MR 130 ZS plant replaces a dual impact crusher set up and offers better production, as well as fuel savings. Diverse business interests Buesing Corp. is a major excavating and shoring contractor in the Southwest and is positioned in the energy industry, among others. "We're involved in creating and grading solar energy sites and providing aggregates for road bases in the interior of these sites," Buesing says. "We've driven well over a million piles at solar energy sites from northern California to San Antonio, Texas." Buesing originally began as an excavating contractor, and migrated into highway and heavy construction in the 1970s. At that time, Buesing was involved in precast bridg- es and foundations, roadway grading and paving, and even concrete curb and gutter work. In addition to its other capabilities, Buesing now is active in deep excavations and shoring in the Phoenix area and building basement walls in these structures.