做厙腦瞳 are investing over $9m upgrading the Asphalt Plant at Townsville in North Queensland. The previous asphalt plant was commissioned back in the late 1960s and has served the business well but the market has changed a lot since then and the plant isnt able to produce the products that are now in high demand.
The plant under construction will be a batch plant with ~160tph capacity, with Recycled Asphalt Product (RAP) capability and the ability to produce warm mix through a foam injection system. The plant will be able to efficiently produce the newer range of specialty products including SMA, an expanded range of asphalt mixes, in small and large quantities that suit the Townsville regional demand, swapping easily between mixes, minimising waste and maximising RAP usage.
RAP is a process whereby asphalt is removed from an existing roadway through a process called profiling. The material can then be reused as recycled asphalt product back into the asphalt production process. The plant being built can use up to 30% of RAP in the production process, which helps reduce our costs and more importantly diverts the material away from landfill.
The Marini Xpress plant that we have purchased provides the latest environmental mitigation technology with respect to burner efficiency in the dryer drum, thermal insulation on the batching tower and the use of the existing energy efficient bitumen tank heating elements. Additional energy savings come from covered ground bin storage to minimise rainwater affecting the moisture content of the stored aggregates. By minimising the moisture content, the drying process can be more effective, resulting in better production rates, improved quality and significantly reduced energy used to dry materials.
We are also constructing seven cold feed storage bins and seven ground bins, to improve logistics flexibility. Two new 40 tonne silos will be installed for lime and baghouse dust. There will also be a new 60kl diesel tank to service the asphalt plant burner, a liquid transfer facility and a bitumen load out facility to allow outward bound supply to spray seal sprayers/tankers.
Operational upgrades will improve environmental stormwater management and improve site traffic and pedestrian management through site reconfiguration. A HAZOP process has been completed on the existing design work.
To ensure the overall cost of the project was minimised, existing components were reused where possible including the use of existing bitumen tanks and hot asphalt bins storage to support supply for ex-bin customers.
Juan and the Asphalt team have been doing a great job, with construction on schedule, even after a significant wet weather events over the summer. The plant is due to be commissioned in late July.