As the main supplier of crushing and screening equipment for these types of operations in southern Africa, ELB Equipment has assembled a large range of crushers, scalpers and screens to deal with materials ranging from household waste, to building rubble and demolitions waste.

Its 26-year distribution agreement with the world’s best known processing equipment brand, Powerscreen, has stood the test of time and is one of the longest standing distributor agreements of its type in South Africa. This has stood the local market in good stead and continues to assist the steadily growing recycling industry to have access to world-leading equipment from a local supplier.

Experience matters

Experts like national sales manager for mining, Heath Dickson, has 26 years of experience dealing with crushing processes and is widely regarded as a leading expert in the correct specification of equipment required to run a profitable reclamation operation.

“No two waste streams are the same and even materials from the same site may change several times throughout the duration of a project. This makes the specification of equipment tough and requires careful consideration of all the variables, including feedstock and the intended end product.

“All too often we see projects, which are launched with the best of intentions, struggle and ultimately fail due to wrong equipment being used for the job.  Whether as a result of low production volumes, high wear and tear, lack of spares and support, or other unforeseen circumstances, these types of failures can be avoided with the right amount of consultation and reliable suppliers,” says Dickson.

Local expertise

He continues that the South African environment is very different to other parts of the world where recycling has been practised for decades. Locally there is no “free-ride” and operators who wish to establish this type of operation need to do so based on solid business principles with no assistance from authorities.

This means that the equipment chosen must be reasonably priced, well supported, reliable and durable enough to operate in tough conditions for many years. That has largely been the success of Powerscreen in the local market, where the manufacturers’ crushers, scalpers and screens have earned a reputation for long-lasting quality.

Furthermore, the OEMs partnership with the 100 year-old ELB Equipment gives local operators the benefit of enjoying world-leading equipment with the best local expertise and gives start-ups the strongest possible chance of success.

Developing trends

“We are seeing a large number of operations being established, ranging from those that simply need to screen material, to those that scalp, crush and screen materials and produce a range of different sizes and grades of aggregate.

“We can also see trends developing, such as the popularity of horizontal shaft impactor crushers which are becoming increasingly popular for rubble operations that requires significant reduction sizes in the most efficient manner.

“These also have good production rates and are better able to deal with non-crushables such as rebar and other obstructions that may damage other types. However, in other applications the company’s jaw and cone crushers may be used according to requirements.

Different applications

“Size also matters in this industry and careful selection needs to be made depending on the stream type, throughout and grades of material that needs to be produced. As a result, we stock a wide range of crushers with throughputs ranging from 100 tons per hour to 550 tons per hour.

“In addition to crushers, we also have a large range of Powerscreen scalper and screens, which ensures we can supply the right equipment for almost every application available.

Our customers also enjoy the ability to receive information via built-in telematics on every new-generation Powerscreen machine. This gives them access to productivity, usage, servicing and fault finding information and allows remote monitoring to be conducted by ELB Equipment’s technical team,” Dickson concludes.

ELB Equipment, Heath Dickson, Tel: (011) 306 0700, Email: heathd@elbquip.co.za, Web: www.elbequipment.com