In April 2012, the company Z.B. Szarek in Poland decided to renew their crushing equipment. At first they considered replacing their existing mobile crushing plants with similar equipment, but the staff of Biuro Handlowe Ruda, Metso’s distributor in Poland, convinced them that it was time for a bigger change. After intensive negotiations, a deal for Metso’s brand new Lokotrack LT120E jaw plant paired with a Lokotrack LT300GP, a proven secondary crushing plant, was made.
The diesel-electric driven Lokotrack has reduced the plant’s fuel consumption by half, while processing three times more material.
“The decisive factor in this deal was Metso’s ability to offer better fuel economy combined with the possibility of using electricity as a power source,” says Bartek Ruda, Sales and Aftersales Manager of the company. “Significantly increasing the plant’s capacity was also important for the customer,” he adds.
By using the electric-driven crusher, the customer had the possibility to obtain some European Union funding for the project. However, this came under the strict condition of having the units in operation by mid-September. The first challenge was to ensure that there wouldn’t be any surprises in the delivery time.
Despite the high demand for Lokotrack LT120s and the tight schedule, both units were ready to crush in early September as promised.
50% decrease in fuel consumption
After using the Metso equipment for three months, the customer is very satisfied with the performance:
“When we bought the Lokotrack LT120E, we were promised that the fuel consumption would be only half of what it used to be. Based on our own bookkeeping, the average consumption of 20 l/h is even better than expected,” Mr. Jacub Szarek says.
“Not only that, we have been able to triple our production, so the effect in cost per ton is quite dramatic. I can truly say that the investment has paid off !”
Z.B. Szarek operates in southern Poland, near the Slovakian border. In their current quarry, the material to be crushed is hard sandstone. The material, ripped by hydraulic hammer, is fed with an excavator to the primary and secondary crusher and then down the hill to the screening stage. Depending on the end product requirements, sometimes the two Lokotracks are operated in combination or a jaw crusher alone produces the final product.
Aggregates for river banks as a special product
The end products are alternatively 0/32mm road mix and 32/63 mm aggregates or 32/50 mm railway ballast. However, the real specialty is the 0/350 mm material used for river banks to prevent flooding.
“In this area, floods are quite common,” explains Mr. Szarek. “For that reason, there is strong demand for a good quality product that can support the river banks.”
In the future, ZB Szarek has plans to run the primary unit with the electricity that already exists in the quarry. That will further improve the running costs of the plant.
For further information, please contact:
Bartek Ruda
Tel. +48 601 453 116
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