Part of the new CDE washing and screening plant at the Lagan Group’s Duleek Quarry, Co.

Meath, Ireland

By-product to
Commercial Output
Lagan Group increase production with CDE washing plant
ore than 200,000 tonnes of material and south of the border and a combined

M have passed through the CDE

washing plant at Irish Asphalt’s
Duleek Quarry, in Co. Meath, since
its installation in the summer of 2003. In July
2004 the plant’s ownership will transfer to
production capacity of over 2 million tonnes.
They are also a major supplier of asphaltic
material, and their bitumen division is at the
leading edge of binder and emulsion ➤
The contrast between the
clay-bound raw material (left)
and the washed stone (right)

Irish Asphalt, part of the Lagan Holdings

Group, having been operated on a price-per-
tonne basis by CDE since its installation. The
Euro 1.5 million contract represented a major
investment for Northern Ireland company
CDE, and while their processing systems have
previously been chosen for applications
ranging from specialist sand classification to
quarry-dust washing, the raw material at
Duleek provided them with a considerable
challenge.
The Lagan Group are one of Ireland’s
largest quarry operators with sites both north

QM June 2004 www.qmj.co.uk 13

High-tensile offset finger bars
are standard specification on
CDE grizzly screens
technology. Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland,
the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles,
is the base for the Group's sand division, while
Lagan’s concrete division operates one of the
most modern concrete block and brick-
making plants in Europe.
The Duleek site is situated on what is
essentially a Carboniferous limestone deposit
but bands of heavy and extremely plastic clay
are prevalent. Large stockpiles of overburden
and clay-bound material had been building up
as waste by-products for some time and were
seriously compromising the efficiency of the
operation. Identifying and responding to this,
Lagan’s regional quarry manager, Paul Tuite,
initiated discussions with CDE in early 2003.
Mr Tuite commented: ‘We demand the
The primary stage at Duleek
showing the grizzly screen,
CDE Rotomax 1828 log-
washer and primary rinsing
screen, with the Tesab mobile
impactor in the foreground
14 www.qmj.co.uk
highest-quality aggregates for both in-house
use and external sales, and it was clear that
our existing process could not achieve this.
Our partnership with CDE has been rewarded
with consistent quality aggregates and
production capacity has increased by more
than 30% on initial figures.’
Other prominent CDE washing plants and
contracts have been established throughout
Ireland, the UK and Sweden, and the
experience gained from these, together with
CDE’s growing reputation for innovation, led
to the Lagan Group contract.
The plant born of these negotiations has
already attracted numerous visitors from the
UK and further afield. What draws them is the
consistently high quality of the sand and
aggregates produced by the plant, in spite of
the poor-quality raw material. Up to 25% of
the –90mm raw feed, and often up to 50% of
the –5mm fraction, can be less than 75µm.
Since final commissioning the plant has
consistently supplied clean and dry outputs
comprising 20mm, 14mm, 10mm, 6mm and
concrete sand, allowing Lagan to offer
customers commercial Type 1 and concrete
constituents, all from a material previously
regarded as waste.
Processing plant
A shovel-loaded 50-tonne capacity feed
hopper and belt-feeder arrangement
discharges the raw feed material on to a 20m
long inclined conveyor. This feeds a 1.5m x
4.0m CDE 2SG60 grizzly screen that removes
any +90mm oversize, which falls into a walled
bay. Previously tested grizzly bars had a
tendency to block owing to the highly plastic
nature of the material, especially in wet
weather. This led to a new design of high-
QM June 2004
 General view of the entire
CDE plant

tensile offset finger-bars, which are now a Another 20m conveyor carries the rinsing
standard CDE specification. These offer screen’s –24mm +4mm intermediate product
maximum flexibility and ensure that capacity is to a second log-washer, a 7m long Rotomax
not compromised, even with variations in the 827 that removes any residual clay particles
raw material. The –90mm material is from the aggregate; the success of this is
conveyed by a second 20m conveyor to a evident from the clean nature of the finished
CDE Rotomax 1828 twin-shaft log-washer. products. As with the primary log-washer, the
This 8m long machine is believed to be one of speed and inclination of this unit are easily
Close-up of the second stage
the largest log-washers currently operating in adjusted to accommodate variable feed
showing (from top to bottom)
Europe, with each shaft measuring 1.8m in materials and tonnages. Material from the log- the Rotomax 827 log-washer,
diameter from tip to tip. The unit can accept washer is delivered directly to a dewatering Dw43 dewatering screen and
up to 250 tonnes/h of –90mm material, and screen mounted over the final dry- D2M60 dry-classification
retention time can be easily adjusted by classification screen. The Dw43 dewatering ➤ screen
altering the inclination and running speed,
aided by the single motor and gearbox design.
CDE say that unlike many log-washers, the
special Rotomax design allows feed containing
up to 30% –5mm material to be efficiently
handled without the need for preliminary fines
screening. Each shaft is fitted with heavy-duty
chrome-molybdenum tips for maximum wear
resilience.
Scrubbed material is fed directly to an
R2M108 twin-deck primary rinsing screen.
This 1.8m x 6.0m unit was one of the first of
CDE’s latest-generation rinsing screens,
incorporating rubber and polyurethane decks.
The top deck is fully enclosed by a splash-
proof cover, ensuring maximum water
retention and a clean operative environment.
Five spray-bars per deck (with individual
controls) and flexible rubber screen seals for
each bar are included. The top deck separates
+24mm material, which is conveyed to a
mobile impact crusher for reduction to
commercial Clause 804 specification. The
underflow from the lower deck, comprising a
–4mm water, sand and clay slurry, is flumed to
the sump of a CDE C-62 compact sand plant.

QM June 2004 www.qmj.co.uk 15

The C-62 compact sand plant
screen is equipped with spray-bars in the first
screen section to give the material a final light
rinse. This unit includes modular polyurethane
panels and side protection as standard.
Filtrates from both the dewatering screen and
the log-washer overflow to a ground sump for
recovery. The recovered water/fines slurry is
returned, by means of a Warman QV65SP
submersible pump, to the primary rinsing
screen. This offers increased fluidization of the
feed material, retains water within the system
and is a valuable aid to site cleanliness and
plant wash-down. Aggregates are classified
into four final products by a D2M60 1.5m x
The compact sand plant
alongside the 8m diameter
T-08 high-rate thickener
16 www.qmj.co.uk
4.0m twin-deck dry screen with a split bottom
deck. The efficiency of the CDE dewatering
screen is highlighted by the unusually dry
aggregates produced; moisture content is
consistently less than 5%.
Sand production
Sand slurry leaving the primary rinsing screen
is piped to the C-62 compact sand plant,
which is rated at 120 tonnes/h. The compact
sand plant is CDE’s best-known single product
and has no trouble handling the high clay
volumes in the feed (the –4mm can contain up
to 50% clay). The plant consists of a
hydrocyclone mounted over a dewatering
screen and sump. Slurry is fed directly into the
sump and is then sent to the custom-sized
hydrocyclone by a Warman 10/8E-M pump.
The silt cut-point can be set to suit
customers’ specific product requirements, but
here the sand consistently contains less than
3% –75µm material, with typically 50% passing
600µm. Sand and residual water exit from the
base of the hydrocyclone and pass to a
dewatering screen mounted underneath
before the sand is discharged, via a rubber-
lined chute, to the sand conveyor at a typical
12% moisture content. The waste water
containing clays passes directly to an 8m
diameter CDE T-08 high-rate thickener,
complete with a fully automatic
polyelectrolyte dosing station, for further
treatment.
Waste-water treatment is perhaps one of
the most crucial elements of the entire plant.
Given the dirty nature of the feed, many
traditional treatment systems would demand
large volumes of water, which is not always
practical in quarry applications. Here, the
QM June 2004
complete plant operates at up to 220 The fully automated
tonnes/h, which equates to 44 tonnes/h of polyelectrolyte dosing station
waste solids. Polyelectrolyte dosing is carefully
monitored to ensure correct sludge
settlement/compaction without any risk of
flocculant carry-over in the recycled water. A
freshwater storage tank is located adjacent to
the thickener and the primary rinsing screen,
so only a relatively low-power recycled-water
pump is required. The sludge is sent to a
remote lagoon for further settlement, this
being approximately 200m away with a 35m
head. The material is sent to the lagoon by a
Warman 4/3C-AH pump. Final solids content
in the sludge is typically around 40–50%. CDE
say an interesting point to note is the
relatively compact size of the T-08 thickener
unit. Alternative treatment systems would,
they say, generally require a much larger unit
than the 8m diameter model specified here,
but this particular unit has proven to be well
able to cope with the 450m3/h of water within
the cycle, and overall only 50m3/h of top-up
water is required.
CDE and the Lagan Group are currently in
discussions aimed at moving the plant to a
more permanent on-site location. This move
is expected to see the addition of the latest- Asphalt, commented: ‘This CDE installation
model CDE plate-and-frame filter press. This represents a new generation of washing plants
technology will achieve maximum water for problem materials…we are now able to
recycling with top-up requirements reduced fully exploit this quarry, handling materials that
to a mere 20m3/h. The waste material will be were previously stockpiled as waste — but,
offered as easily handled dry cakes, completely crucially, making commercial-grade products
eliminating the need for settlement lagoons. from them.’
Current investigations are exploring the
possibility of using this dried clay in Lagan’s Acknowledgement
newly commissioned cement plant. The editor would like to thank both the Lagan
Anticipating the plant’s handover from CDE Group and Iain Walker of CDE for their co-
in July 2004, Terry Lagan, director of Irish operation in producing this article. ❚

One of the final stockpiles of

clean, dry aggregate

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