Crushing breakthrough in Sicilian lava flows
The South African-made, diesel-hydraulic-driven TwisterTrac AC210 tracked VSI crusher has made its first appearance in Italy in a quarry in the Sicilian port town of Catania, where it is being used to crush old volcanic lava flows from Mount Etna to produce much-needed high-quality building sand.
Paul Chappel, export sales manager for Pilot Crushtec, said the crusher was doing an excellent job manufacturing a high-quality sand the likes of which had not previously been seen. ‘Quarries often build up huge stockpiles of unsaleable materials, in this case an 8–15mm product, while they often have a demand for good-quality sand for construction,’ he said.
‘In Sicily, being the rocky island that it is, the demand for sand is at a premium. Here, they are reducing the 8–15mm unsaleable material down to –5mm sand from the volcanic rock being quarried at the base of Mount Etna.’
With a throughput capacity of up to 250 tonnes/h, the TwisterTrac is a remote-controlled plant consisting of a variable-speed belt feeder, a Twister VSI crusher, and a discharge conveyor. The machine is powered by a 317kW diesel hydraulic power pack and is mounted on a heavy-duty tracked undercarriage offering dual-speed configuration and
25° gradability.
A major feature of the TwisterTrac is that the entire machine is controlled via a PLC, which automates all the crusher’s features and facilitates ongoing monitoring of all aspects of the crusher’s operation.
Since the machine’s global launch at Hillhead 2005, a number of improvements have been made to the AC210, including: a new colour screen with graphics; a Cat C13 Tier 3 engine; a dust-suppression system; 20% extra power to the rotor; a jib crane to assist in rotor maintenance; and a ‘rock on anvil’ system as an optional extra.
Meanwhile, in France, Pilot Crushtec dealers Lheureux & Cie have bought the first TwisterTrac AC210 mobile VSI crusher to be sold into that country. The machine is currently on hire to a quarry near Paris where it is making sand from waste aggregate material.
‘For Pilot Crushtec, these sales represent opportunities for expansion in these countries,’ said Mr Chappel. ‘The first nut is always the hardest to crack, and now that we have equipment operating in Italy and France we have no doubt that further sales can be expected.’
TwisterTrac crushers are already operating in Ireland, England, Spain and Bulgaria, as well as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Pilot Crushtec (Pty) Ltd, PO Box 30032, Jet Park 1469, Johannesburg, South Africa; tel: +27 11 842 5600; fax: +27 11 842 5610; website: www.pilotcrushtec.co.za
