Superior Industries’ Aggredry Dewatering Washer and Alliance Low Water Washer use less energy and water to ensure your sand production system is running smoothly and efficiently.
Superior Industries is a US privately-owned company that designs and manufactures crushing, screening, washing and conveying solutions for dry bulk producers. Based in Morris, Minnesota, Superior’s washing products are distributed in Australia through Tricon Equipment.
On the washing side of the business, Superior’s Aggredry Dewatering Washer and Alliance Low Water Washer handle sand production and dewatering with ease, reducing material and water losses.
In the Aggredry washer, clays, dirt and fines are separated before the sand moves to an attached dewatering screen. Lost fines are collected in an underflume and are flushed back to the screw. Processing up to 725 tonnes an hour, the resulting sand is discharged from the Aggredry washer with water content as low as eight per cent, making it instantly available for sale or further processing.
The Alliance Low Water Washer is used to recover fines from crushing operations and combines a specially-designed agitator with a dewatering screen that washes crusher dust and processes it at rates of up to 270 tonnes an hour into a high-value sand.
“The Alliance Low Water Washer is designed to work in crushing applications, but it can work in natural deposits as well,” Superior Industries director of washing John Bennington told Quarry.
“It’s capable of taking a dry feed of aggregate and washing it and getting a getting a clean product out of it. Depending on the feed, you can use as little as 10 or 20 per cent of the water used in a standard washing system.
“The Aggredry Dewatering Washer is an improvement on the old standard design of a sand screw machine where we’ve taken some of the good points from these high frequency dewatering screen systems and the long-term lifespan of fine-material washers and married them together. It enables users to get the dry, clean product they would get from a dewatering screen in addition to getting the reliability and the low maintenance cost of a sand screw.”
Bennington explained that a key aspect of the Aggredry Dewatering Washer is that the same quality of finished product is achieved as is produced by a sand screw or cyclone dewatering screen system, but with around 25 per cent less horsepower required.
“A typical cyclone dewatering train system processing 100 tonnes an hour is going to do somewhere around 75 to 100 horsepower, whereas an Aggredry washer is going to use around 20 to 30 horsepower,” he said.
In terms of parts, although Superior and its dealers supply their own parts, to ensure that it is possible for customers to get the parts they need wherever they are in the world, Bennington said that Superior uses pillow block bearings on the screws and pole block Imperial-style bearings on rotating parts.
“If somebody breaks a component, they’re not going to want to wait until they get it shipped from another country to get it,” he said.
“With these bearings they can run into town and pick up the one they need from a local supplier to keep operations running.
“For things that take a little more planning, such as parts that are designed to wear after a certain number of hours, we work really hard with our local representatives or dealers to make sure that they have the right parts in stock so that customers aren’t sitting there waiting for replacements.”
“Like a hybrid model, we definitely want to make sure that people are going to be okay if something does happen to break, but those are parts which are generally replaced or maintained during scheduled maintenance.”
End-to-end solution
A key focus for Superior Industries is providing a customised solution that fits individual clients’ needs.
“We aren’t really trying to just sell a ‘one size fits all’ package to a customer,” Bennington said to Quarry.
“What we always try to do is sit down with clients and ask them what their problems are with their equipment and operation that they need to solve.”
He explained that it’s a process of learning about the business and providing an end-to-end solution that works as a complete system.
“That’s why we use the phrase ‘Rock Face to Load Out’,” he said.
“The way I usually phrase that to customers is, if it isn’t yellow with wheels on it, then we provide it. We try and figure out exactly what the equipment needs to be from beginning to end because it doesn’t do me any good to sell you the latest and greatest Aggredry washer if the screen in front of it isn’t functioning correctly. We really try to provide an engineered solution and we’re always trying to innovate.
“For the most part, customers are looking to solve a problem. They have a material and it’s not meeting whatever specification it is that they’re trying to meet. That’s the most important thing.
“Reliability and cost of use are also vitally important as there’s no point in having the greatest gold-plated hammer if you’re not going to need it.”
For more information on Superior Industries’ range of washing equipment, visit www.triconequipment.com.au
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