Gulf Construction Online - CDE plant sales rise on quality concerns

Manufacturers & Procurement

CDE plant sales rise on quality concerns

01 June 2014

Materials washing specialist CDE Global has seen an increase in demand for washing plant on the back of a renewed focus on improving the quality of construction sand and aggregates.

The company reports that the last 12 months have seen a number of new projects where a desire to improve product quality has been the main driver for investment.

“There are a number of factors influencing this,” explains Iain Walker, CDE regional manager for Middle East and Africa.

“On the one hand the desire for the highest quality products has been driven by the construction contractors operating in the region while we are also seeing private quarry operators make an investment in new equipment in order to establish a competitive advantage in their territory,” he adds.

The demand from construction contractors for the highest quality materials is borne out of a desire to reduce costs and maximise the efficiency of their operations.

“Excessive fines content in sand will lead to a requirement for more cement to be used in concrete manufacturing,” says Walker. “By using our washing plant to produce concrete sand and aggregates, the costs of concrete production are reduced and the quality of the concrete is improved.”

This renewed focus on product quality and efficiency improvement has worked to the advantage of CDE equipment, according Walker, who says there is an increasing acceptance of the hydrocyclone-based sand washing systems such as the CDE EvoWash as the most effective way to deliver the product quality improvements being sought.

The AquaCycle and the M2500 … in use in Kuwait.

In the last 12 months, the company has installed a number of systems throughout the Gulf including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. While the EvoWash sand washing plant is the common denominator on these projects, there has also been increased demand for the M2500 mobile washing plant, which integrates the aggregate screening and sand washing element.

“In instances where the aggregate screening system requires an upgrade, the M2500 is the most sensible option,” says Walker. “It provides operators with feed system, aggregate screening, sand washing and stockpiling on a single chassis, which also reduces the plant footprint and provides operators with the flexibility to move the system either within the original processing site or even to another location as and when required.”

The increasing demand for the materials washing systems offered by CDE is also attributed to the customisation of every machine to the specific requirements of the project.

In a recent presentation at a mining conference, CDE’s head of marketing Peter Craven said: “Off-the-shelf processing systems will not deliver the efficiency required of 21st century materials washing projects. A tailored approach is required with each individual machine being built according to the specific requirements of the project with careful attention paid to the capacity requirements and the feed material to be processed.”

It is this in-built flexibility with the CDE equipment range that has ensured that the company is able to offer operators in the Gulf solutions to the unique challenges they are facing.

“There are many different materials to be processed in the Gulf region and by taking every project individually and getting close to our customers, we are able to understand their exact requirements and build a system that will deliver what they are looking for no matter what their material,” says Walker.

In recent months, CDE has supplied processing systems for washing natural sand in Saudi Arabia and helping to deal with a lack of available water through the introduction of the AquaCycle system for primary stage water treatment. In addition to this, new systems for the washing and classification of marine dredged sand in Bahrain and the Sirocco air classification system in Saudi Arabia have also been completed.

In terms of what future demand from within the Gulf region looks like, CDE expects to see the trend towards higher quality construction sand and aggregates continue and alongside this will be a focus on the development of the silica sands market.

“The systems we have for the processing of silica sands for use in glass and other industrial applications have been well developed in recent years and there are many opportunities within the Gulf region,” says Walker.

“The capability to deliver these systems as a modular plant, allowing for rapid deployment and minimal plant footprint while maximising product quality, has seen us enjoy significant success in the Australian market and we hope to expand this product offer into the Gulf region over the months and years ahead,” he concludes.