Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/513927
TIONS ILLUSTRATED OUR EXPERTS Squeeze Play: A Different Take on Dewatering May 2015 Cory Jenson is the general manager – Environmental Division for McLanahan Corp. He graduated cum laude with a degree in fi nance and chemistry from Utah State University. Jenson has designed and developed water management systems around the world, and led the design and development of McLana- han's fi lter presses. His main areas of expertise are fi nes recovery, thickening, water recovery, and fi ltration. Jason Voss is the quarry op- erations manager at Stevens Creek Quarry, a small, fami- ly-owned quarry in the Silicon Valley area of California. He is the fourth generation to work at the quarry, which was started by his great-grandfa- ther in 1936. Voss handles all the day-to-day operations at the quarry, as well as at the company's recycle crushing operations. In most cases, the dried cakes of material are dropped onto the ground beneath the fi lter press. A wheel loader can then scoop them up and load them into a haul truck for easy removal. One quarry operator took the process a step farther by installing the fi lter press over a set of bins with hoppers, so the cakes of mate- rial fall out of the fi lter press directly into the hoppers. A haul truck can then drive beneath the bins, load up the material, and remove it. The modular construction of the fi lter press system and its design allow for quick, easy setup and start up. The system is automated, easy to use, and requires very little maintenance. One employee can run both the processing plant and the fi lter press, so no ad- ditional manpower is required. While the fi lter press turns fi nes into a manageable product, the processing plant can continue operating, which means no unnec- essary downtime. In with the new fi lter press 2 3 Usable/saleable product 5 Easy to handle material 6 Easy setup and operation Bryan Pfohl is president and chairman of Carolina Sunrock LLC and Sunrock Group Holdings Corp., which supplies construction aggregates, ready-mixed concrete, hot- mix asphalt, and contracting services in the Raleigh/ Durham metropolitan area of North Carolina. He has been actively involved in the 66-year-old, family-owned business for his entire adult life. He has also been involved in the business and construction materials communities. Many aggregate producers are foregoing the traditional settling pond and replacing it with a fi lter press system. A fi lter press consists of a series of recessed plates that are hollowed out on each side. When placed together, the plates form a chamber, which is lined with fi lter media. When the slurry material is pumped into the chamber, the water is forced out, leaving behind only solids. The chambers then open up, and the dry mate- rial drops out. The dry cake material that comes out of the fi lter press is a clean, fi nished product that resembles the mud fl ap on a truck. The material can be used for reclamation by mixing it with stripping material to backfi ll areas of the quarry where mining has been completed. Depending on the type of deposit, the location, and the market in the area, the material might also become a saleable product that can be used for a variety of purposes.