C&D waste recycling plant of AC Materials in Belgium
AC Material belongs to Square Group, a group of companies active in and around the construction sector and which focuses on utilising the synergies between its different entities to apply the principles of the circular economy. AC Materials specialises more especially in the recycling of construction and demolition waste, selling aggregates, producing foundation products, supplying and pumping ready-mixed concrete and concrete stacking blocks. The company acquired a semi mobile wet processing solution from CDE in 2020 and has successfully moved it from its Bruges site in Belgium to a new location in Ghent in 2022.
Problem
With stockpiles of material that need processed across their 5 different sites, an increased demand for high-quality products and a strict sustainability policy, AC Materials wanted to reuse its concrete waste into new ready-mix concrete as much as possible, instead of downcycling it into aggregates for low value use in foundations. It was also crucial for AC Materials to be able to offer a sustainable alternative to traditional sand & aggregates and reduce the need for unnecessary transportation.
The company disposed of crushing and dry screening equipment to process the incoming C&D waste but required that the material be further washed in order to produce in-spec high-quality sand and aggregate suited for the production of ready-mixed concrete and stabilised products in the mixing plant.
Solution
To address these challenges, CDE developed a semi mobile solution that allows AC Materials to process up to a 100 t/h of crushed concrete and other C&D waste including material from road construction works and uncontaminated excavated soil. The plug & play relocatable plant includes a feed hopper, a M1500 a modular wash plant which integrates screening, sand and aggregate washing and stockpiling on a single chassis which can easily be relocated, and a full water treatment with AquaCycle, FilterPress, buffer & water tanks to recycles up to 96 % of the water used in the process.
The semi-mobile design facilitates easy transportation and relocation between processing sites every 3 to 5 years, eliminating the need to haul waste to distant processing facilities while the advanced wet processing technology enables the effective separation of concrete waste into two valuable products: a +4 mm aggregate which replaces virgin materials in construction applications and a 0 to 4 mm sand which offers an eco-friendly alternative to traditional sand extracted from natural resources.
AC Materials now sells a full range of recycled sand and aggregates for use:
in its own concrete plants to produce ready-mixed concrete for construction work, concrete floors and walls as well as concrete for roads and concrete for slipform
in its mixing plants in Bruges, Ghent, Vlierzele and Puurs which produce hydraulically bound mixtures suitable for infrastructure works
to produce concrete stacking blocks
to sell to external customers producing concrete, brick masonry, asphalt, grinding mills
Result
The plant has empowered AC Materials to achieve its goals by reducing transportation requirements, prioritising material reuse and promoting sustainability. With this process, AC Materials actively contributes to the circular economy and the protection of the environment, avoiding the extraction of natural raw materials and pointless lorry journeys and the extra environmental impact they cause as much as possible while creating added value for their own customers.
