Making an Impact on asphalt recycling

Powerscreen launched the XH320X tracked impact crusher towards the end of last year, with the first prototype being sent to South Wales, UK, based Crush Ltd for extensive testing to be carried out.

The XH320X had been developed to include a fully independent hydraulically driven pre-screen to improve fines removal and reduce chamber wear costs. It also features a hydraulically folding extended side conveyor with a stockpile height of 3.7 m (12.2 ft).

It is suited to medium-hard, mildly abrasive materials down to a cubical, well graded product size in a single pass. The Hydraulic Apron Adjustment/Control system allows for production of high quality cubically shaped finished product and with the additional optional grinding path for further reduction, allows the XH320X to produce even smaller consistent product gradation when required.

The hopper capacity has also been increased by the addition of hopper extensions that also can be hydraulically folded for transport. The new hopper design incorporates hydraulic locking pins for rapid setup time and removes the need for manual wedges.

The XH320X crusher has a full length product conveyor that is ideal for quarry applications with optional under pan feeder for recyclling applications where steel may be in the material. There is also the option of an extended hydraulically folding product conveyor that increases the stockpile height to 4 m (13.2 ft).

The XH320X can be powered by a Tier 3/Stage IIIA-compliant CAT C9 Acert 242kW (325hp) engine or a Tier 4i/Stage IIIB-compliant Scania DC9 83A 257kW (350hp) engine.

According to Crush Ltd’s operations director Ben Sherratt: “We had the XH320X on test for 9 months and were delighted with its performance. We tested the machine on a variety of applications including recycled asphalt, limestone and grit stone. The impressive performance of the XH320X test machine along with our direct input on design from a customer perspective allowed us to be involved in the final design which took on board the varying applications that a contractor has to work. This created a design which is much more flexible and suited to a crushing contractors need for versatility that ultimately led us to purchasing one of the first production machines.”

While on test, the machine first worked on highly abrasive grit stone where it produced an average of 180 tonnes per hour and 8,000 tonnes per week. When moved over to asphalt recycling, Ben said: “in this application it really excelled. When working on mixed recycled asphalt, the XH320X machine really performed, giving a very good consistent reduction.”

‍Recent increases in the cost of asphalt paving materials, namely the oils used in the bitumen cements and aggregates, have created an urgent need for new asphalt recycling technologies.