Metso Insights Blog Aggregates blog Maximizing primary crushing productivity
Aggregates
May 10, 2018

Maximizing primary crushing productivity with a smooth, consistent feed flow

Tuomas Takalo
Tuomas Takalo
Product Manager
A smooth and consistent material flow in the primary crushing process is critical to ensuring productivity and therefore profitability in the aggregate production process. With equipment in place to quickly and safely deal with blockages that may slow down or even stop the process, a plant can gain a significant competitive edge.
Metso guy operating Rock Breaker

A remotely controlled rock breaker is by far the quickest way to deal with blockages and get the material flow running smoothly again. A rock breaker also allows operators to proactively address potentially problematic oversized or awkwardly shaped boulders before they even reach the primary crushing equipment.

The primary crushing stage is a vital part of the aggregate production process. It is here where maintaining a smooth flow of materials helps to keep the rest of the production process on track. Breakdowns or other stoppages can be extremely costly in terms of both time and money, and have a knock-on effect on the later stages of the process like secondary and fine crushing. Blockages caused by single oversized rocks or coarse or uneven materials becoming jammed are the most frequent cause of stoppages.

Dealing with a blockage involves far more than just removing the problematic rocks and then carrying on; equipment may have to be locked and powered down, and personnel may have to take time out to perform visual inspections – put simply, the entire production process can grind to a halt. To put this into perspective, in a plant processing 500 tons of material per hour, a single period of downtime a day lasting between five and 10 minutes each time can translate into annual revenue losses of as much as €150,000, based on an end-product price of €7 per ton.

With a rock breaker installed in the primary crushing station, blockages and build-ups caused by oversized rocks getting stuck or coarse materials becoming jammed together can be resolved quickly, accurately, and safely. Importantly, the primary crushing process can continue with no break in production. A rock breaker also improves efficiency further along in the process because when the material flow from the primary station remains consistent, the following crushing stages produce better quality aggregates with a higher throughput.

Our rock breaker solutions are complete functional packages for rock breaking in the primary crushing stage of aggregate production, with every component engineered to meet the tough requirements of this demanding application area. They are optimized to work with Nordberg© C Series jaw crushers to maximize the productivity of the whole primary crushing station.

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