If you’ve chosen to purchase an asphalt plant, it’s going be a hard decision. The motives and the parameters needed to design the ideal machine could be difficult. It is often a difficult task choosing what storage containers, feeder bins and the type of controls needed. There are times when the distinction between the portable and stationary asphalt mixing plant could be complicated. On this page, we’ll guide you through the purchase of asphalt plants.
When you’ve made the decision to build an asphalt plant of your own,, you must now take important choices. The choices will be related to the dimensions of the plant as well as the kind of asphalt plant, and the cost as well as the brand to choose. After these decisions are made, then we will decide on the design of the plant like bin size, tank size, kind of pollution control system storage silo.
There are two main kinds that asphalt plants can be found:
- Drum mix plant (continuous plant)
- Mix plant for batch mix (tower plant)
Batch Mix Plant
Batch mix plant creates hot mix asphalt large batches. Aggregates are fed into cold feed bins where they are transferred to the drum to be dried and heated. Following this, they are transferred to the tower unit by the bucket elevator. Then, on the tower unit, they will be divided and placed in several hot bins. In the meantime, bitumen and filler materials is transferred to separate weighing units that are on the top that of the tower.
Then, based on the needed percentage, the aggregates will be incorporated into a unit of pug milling. The process is followed by the addition of filler and bitumen to the mixer unit. After the mixing process, the material will be discharged to the trucks that are waiting or the storage silo.
Advantages of batch mix plants
The main advantage of a batch mix plant is that it is able to produce high-quality hot mix asphalt of any mix type. The final product is of high quality hot mix asphalt, with the highest level of precision. Additionally, it is possible to incorporate various mix designs and run the plant with various mix designs. Because the components are modular, it is possible to upgrade or retrofit parts as and as needed. This enhances the functionality that the mixer can offer.
The weaknesses from the batch mixer plant
A batch plant is required to spend much of its time moving and weighing the materials. A significant amount of energy is used during this process which makes the batch plant use more energy in order to produce hot mix asphalt. Because the number of steps used are higher and the amount of energy required is also higher. Additionally, the batch plant will require more space, and a high initial cost to set up.
Drum mix plant
The drum mix plant a basic form of asphalt plant. It employs a straightforward method to produce the hot mix asphalt. It is a straightforward and continuous method to produce HMA continually. The process begins with the material being fed into the Cold feed bins. The aggregates are progressively taken to the drum to be heated as well as for mixing. Within the drum, mixing and heating are done in one unit. When the aggregates are introduced into the drum, they weigh them together and this weight is transmitted through the panel in order to ensure that how much bitumen as well as filler material.
In the beginning, the drum heating process, the drum is heated and mixing takes place in the latter part of the drum. After mixing thoroughly with bitumen and filler material the filler material is taken out of the storage silos or waiting trucks.
Continuous drum mix plants may be a parallelflow as well as counterflow types. Parallelflow means that the material flow and the burner flame are both in the exact same direction. Counterflow is when both the material flow and burner flame are in opposite directions.
The main advantages of mixing drums
The primary benefit of a drum mix plants is that it employs the most basic procedure to make hot mix asphalt. In removing many processes drum mix plants use less energy to create hot mix asphalt. The initial investment cost is less, as well as the power required for operation is also reduced. Maintenance costs are lower when compared to batch. The overall cost for running and maintaining is significantly lower than an asphalt batch plant.
If it is necessary to have a portable unit for your needs, a drum plant would be superior because it uses a lesser quantity of components. A drum plant will make use of fewer components, which means the expense of transport will be lower.