pull-out guide

by Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief

s m e l b o r P d n o P r o f e l t D o n t S e t

operations illustrated
Locate the settling pond in a low area, with natural drainage. Keep it away from streams and wetlands.

Keep settling ponds away from material likely to blow into the settling ponds, such as stockpiles

Clean the settling ponds regularly. Maintain a capacity of at least 110 percent of the water volume needed by the wash plant.

operat
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Basic design

A Primer in Polymers
lanning ahead pays big dividends for producers who determine how to handle their recycled wash water and fines at the outset, says Bob Gralton, president and owner of Clearwater Industries. The biggest thing aggregate producers need to know is the opportunity costs, he says. A lot of people dont put a pen to that. And while the real estate value of land used to accommodate settling ponds is a significant upfront cost, the equipment, labor, and maintenance costs involved in settling pond maintenance are not always factored into an operators financial analysis of their operation, he says. Unfortunately, producers often explore their settling pond options and alternatives as land or water issues are becoming a problem, not before. John Gralton, the second generation in the father-son team and general manager at Clearwater Industries, jokingly compares his responsibilities to those of a proctologist he handles the tail end of the operation that no one wants to deal with until it becomes a problem. To determine good solutions, he says that first and foremost, we have to listen. Then, like a physician, he can determine what symptoms need to be abated and offer the correct prescription. For example, when the footprint is a major concern, and an operator needs to eliminate all but one settling pond, a polymer system might be the best option. If they want no settling ponds at all, and a more contained, controlled process, a clariAggregates Manager

fier may be needed. At the other end of the spectrum, an emulsion polymer may meet the needs of a simple operation. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to dealing with the issue. While the right solution depends on myriad factors, a little foresight led some producers they have worked with to develop ideas that could benefit other sites. John Gralton points to an operation that set up its clarifier on an elevated point of the plant. By placing it on higher ground, gravity aids the flow of solids being pumped from the clarifier and can extend the life of the pumps. When locating the clarifier, another consideration is where to pump the material. Bob Gralton notes, Another very good practice is for the producer to think about pumping his solids to a location where hell never need to deal with it again. A common application is to pump them to a portion of the site being reclaimed and use the material for fill. If a polymer make-down unit is part of the system, both father and son recommend the use of an enclosure. Its a good practice to put everything in an overseas shipping container, notes Bob Gralton. He says that by doing so, the small water lines used for the polymer make-down system are less likely to freeze and can be used during the hip months at the beginning and end of the production season. By planning ahead, producers have options to recover saleable material, reduce water and land use, and extend their production season all leading to longer, more profitable sites.

When designing a settling pond, consider evaporation rates and ease of maintenance. Deeper water creates less surface water to ensure slower evaporation, while a narrow width makes for easy maintenance via excavator or dredge.

Settling tanks

When space is an issue, above-ground settling tanks offer an alternative with a smaller footprint. Flocculants can be added to the water to allow immediate recovery of usable water.

tions illustrated Dont Settle for Unwanted Fines

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Consider water flow

our experts

Expand as needed

Typically, the distance water travels within the settling pond should be three to five times the width of the pond. If acreage is a concern, baffles can be used within the settling pond to create the distance.

A series of settling ponds, moving from coarser to finer solids, allows for additional amounts of material settling. In addition, when one pond is being cleaned, the other pond or ponds can continue to be used.

John Gralton is general manager for Milwaukee-based Clearwater Industries. He has been with the business for seven years and regularly advises producers across North America on these issues. He can be reached at john@ clearwaterind.com.

Cyclones

Clarifiers

Cyclones spin dirty water to separate particles from the liquid. Larger particles, which may be marketable, are removed. The smaller particles are typically fed into a settling pond where flocculants are often used to promote settling.

Clarifiers provide an alternative to settling ponds. Inside the clarifier, fines settle toward the center of the tank and are raked to a discharge point. Clean water is sent back to the wash plant for re-use.

Bob Gralton is president and owner of Clearwater Industries in Milwaukee. In 1988, he joined a company that manufactures clarifiers and concrete reclaimers. He founded his own company in 1996. Gralton can be reached at 414-365-1200.

May 2010

operations illustrated Voices of Experience

John Gralton

he right choice for dealing with fine materials typically sent into settling ponds depends on a producers priorities, says John Gralton, general manager of Milwaukee-based Clearwater Industries. He says that hell typically visit a site, talk to operators, and develop a grasp of their priorities, particularly those concerning material recovery, land use and value, and water use and availability. By performing a particle size distribution test, he can then determine if materials that may be saleable are being sent to settling ponds. A common example, he notes is with limestone operations where ultra-fine material can be captured and used as aglime for farm fields. In many operations, larger material in the 350-plus mesh range can be recovered before material is sent to settling ponds. The producer then is left to contend with the 350-minus material that cant be mechanically removed from the feed. At that point, the material in a settling pond resembles the consistency of paint, and polymers can be used to help ultra fines settle. The specific gravity of the ultra-fine particles is so close to that of the water that it wont settle out on its own accord, Gralton says. Without the use of polymers, removal of that material from a settling pond, whether through an excavator or dragline, is typically difficult, labor-intensive work. To evaluate what options will work most effectively, Gralton takes a 10-gallon sample from the dirty water feed and tests it. He then determines the best performing chemical, whether an emulsion or dry flocculant would work best, and the optimal method of administering it. What type of chemical is added again depends on the operators needs and how far they want to take the process. Gralton says that some smaller operations may opt for emulsions for simplicitys sake. For sites with a large flow, producers may be more likely to invest in a dry flocculant process with a polymer make-down system. Once the right flocculant is added to the settling pond, it bonds to fine material, creating a particle comparable to a snowflake that will settle rapidly and come together to form a more manageable material. And when the proper additive has been determined, Gralton offers the following advice: if at all possible, mix it with clean water rather than re-circulated water and use it in the recommended portion size. In this case, more is not better. A common mistake for producers is to add too much flocculant, particularly inside the clarifier where it can stack up at the bottom. The overriding goal is to keep equipment such as clarifiers clean and operating properly. If you can put foresight and care into the maintenance of your equipment, you can save yourself a lot of time and money, he says.

perators today have more and better options than ever before when it comes to dealing with chemicals and equipment used for agglomeration within the aggregate industry. Bob Gralton, president and owner of Clearwater Industries, points to the development of polyacrylamide flocculant as an efficient, effective, and environmentally friendly way to settle materials. Theyre basically inert chemicals that can be tied up with the solids. They snip or fall apart with time, heat, or sunlight, so in a sense, they biodegrade, he says. Theyre not hazardous to fish and the MSDS sheets clearly state theyre safe for the environment. Environmental agencies dont have any heartburn with the dry anionic polyacrylamide flocculants. On the other hand, liquid emulsions do contain hydrocarbons. A producer has to be more careful when using an emulsion or liquid polymer, Gralton explains. The advantage of an emulsion polymer is that it requires less sophisticated hardware to be mixed up in water and introduced into the system. A disadvantage is that emulsion polymers are less efficient, typically running at approximately 35 percent active versus 90- to 99-percent efficiency ratings with dry polymers. The dry polymers are much better, but the downside of the dry is that you need a more complicated piece of equipment to mix and age the polymer, he says. Operators have to decide whether a polymer make-down system suits the needs of their operation in terms of a cost-benefit analysis, but the results can be dramatic. For example, many producers considering such a system have multiple settling ponds with coarser material such as sand which falls out in the first pond. Finer silt typically separates in the next pond. Colloidal material falls out in the third, but is often very difficult to extract in an efficient manner. When a producer buys a piece of equipment, buys the chemical, and introduces it into his pondyou can literally get all of the solids to fall out of the water within 30 to 40 feet of the pipe going into the first pond, Gralton says. The polymer binds with the sand, clay, and silt, and it falls out in a homogenous mixture in the first pond, eliminating the need for subsequent ponds. The polymer will also bind that material together so that, if the pond is cleared fairly quickly, it will be easier to remove. If the operator wants to take the next step, a clarifier can be added. Another option, particularly for operators with a lot of coarse material, is to consider cyclones and separators to spin out those particles. The material that spins out of the cyclone is fairly dry and stackable, Gralton says, noting, The combination of cyclones and clarifiers is pretty attractive to most producers.

Bob Gralton

Aggregates Manager