High-speed shredder boosts composting capacity

The company, established less than two years ago, is on course this year to

process 15,000 tonnes of green waste from county and borough CA sites in the

area and to produce over 7,000 tonnes of compost which has been used a soil

improver on agricultural land.

Lee Carter, one of the three company partners, said that CRJ Services were

looking for “practical technology, a high level of reliability and service,

and increased throughput.”

The 429hp Doppstadt AK430 high-speed hammermill shredder will deliver a 40%

increase in throughput for CRJ, and features a self-propel drive system to create

windrows as part of the shredding operation. Capable of processing 100-130m³/hr

of green waste, design features of the machine include separation of the drive

engine from the shredding unit, which allows easy access for servicing and is

stated to improve safety by minimising the risk of dust build-up in the engine.

To minimise blockages and stress caused by overloading, a load sensing device

automatically reverses the feed roller and scraper floor when the amount of

materials being fed to the hammermill is too great, and if tramp material is

present, a hydraulic accumulator system opens the rear gate and allows the material

to fall through.

On the latest model, installed in January at CRJ, improved cooling performance

is also stated to have been achieved by relocating the radiator to the front

end of the machine, where there is less risk of dust contamination. The swing

out design makes it easy to access and clean the radiator and the engine area,

and the large, reversible fan works at low revolutions to reduce noise levels,

and reverses itself every itself every seven minutes to remove dust from the

radiator.

According to Doppstadt (UK) Ltd Sales Director, George Kehoe, “Interest

in composting is increasing significantly in the UK and the main priorities

for compost producers are efficiency and productivity.”

This movement in the market is reflected in the recycling machinery company’s

sales of shredders, which reached record levels in the last 12 months. The AK430

for CRJ is the second machine of its type sold this year for green waste composting,

the Glasgow-based company reports.