Four TEREX® PEGSON Tracked Crushers on Major Regeneration Project of Former Steelworks Site in UK

Celtic Crushing, the Aberdare based crushing and screening contractors, are using four Terex® Pegson mobile crushers in the latter phase of a major site clearance and restoration project in Merthyr Tydfil in the Welsh valleys. The contract is to crush over 135,000 tonnes of concrete slabs broken out during the demolition phase on the old Ebbw Vale steelworks site.

The decision in 2002 to close the steelworks left over 200 acres (81 hectares) of site alongside the town needing to be prepared for future development. Edmund Nuttall, the main contractor for the £9.5 million site remediation contract, is overseeing a range of site remediation processes, from cleaning the contaminated ground left behind by 200 years of iron and steel production, through to full site clearance and landscaping. A major criterion of the contract was that only a tiny fraction of material would go off site. The rest is being treated in situ using a mixture of bio-remediation, soil washing and crushing and screening.

Much of the area after demolition was covered with 600 mm thick, heavily reinforced concrete slab which when broken down by impact hammers is fed to the four Terex® Pegson crushers currently operating on the site. The crushers are set to give a – 200 mm product, which is used on site as general fill material.

Celtic Crushing operations manager, Ben Sherratt, said: “Before we put the Terex® Pegson machines in we tried two other types of competitors’ machines, which proved less able to keep up with production. When dealing with large amounts of rebar in the concrete the machines have to clear it without blocking. With the Terex® Pegson machines, good clearance is provided, so these problems are alleviated.”
The crushers on site are two Terex® Pegson Premiertrak 1100x650, and two Terex® Pegson XR400 machines. The two XR400 jaw crushers are the latest design from Terex Pegson, providing ease of operation, fuel efficiency and maximum productivity. The XR400 series replaces the Premiertrak 1100x650.

The powerful Terex® Pegson jaw crushers have a highly aggressive crushing action, aiding throughput of the machines. An unrestricted feed opening allows large material sizes to be accepted without prior breaking. Although provision is made to take out fines in the feed to the side of the plant, via the grizzly and side conveyor, on this application all the crushers are set to produce an all-in product which is ideal as the fill material on this reclaimed site.

The Terex® Pegson XR400 is equipped with a hydraulic release mechanism which alleviates the problem of crusher overload should any oversize tramp metal enter the crushing chamber. The system protects the jaw mechanism from potential damage and quickly clears machine blockages, thereby saving time and money. It can be reset at the push of a button.