Breedon Group’s Hope Cement Works has recently upgraded its cement plant, the largest in the UK. The firm was keen to optimise production of quarried limestone required for cement manufacturing and has replaced its 1940s vintage Fuller Traylor primary gyratory crusher. The firm opted to install a new 1,250tonnes/hour primary gyratory crusher, supplied by FLSmidth. Quarry Manufacturing and Supplies Ltd (QMS) was the lead partner in the installation, with the overall project being managed by the Projects Team at Hope.
Hope’s cement manufacturing process starts in its quarries, which at Hope comprises of two sources of limestone: high silica limestone and low silica limestone. The quarry’s upper beds have more of the high silica limestone. Further down in the quarry is where the lower silica limestone is located. There are currently 13 operational benches in total in the limestone quarry. In addition to the limestone material, shale is also used from an adjacent quarry on site. More than half the cement that is made at Hope Works is transported in bulk via rail to depots in the Southeast (Dagenham and Theale), West Midlands (Walsall) and North of England (Dewsbury. Additionally, Breedon has import terminals to supply its customers in Northern England (Blyth and Runcorn), and in Scotland (Leith).
To optimise operations, Breedon installed a new gyratory primary crusher, replacing the previous Fuller Traylor crusher installed in 1952. Although this crusher had been serviced and maintained over the years, the body of the machine was completely original. The project involved the installation of a single, new primary crusher and associated equipment which was installed on the limestone crushing line. The limestone crushing line further consists of a twin line secondary and tertiary crushing stage, comprising of state-of-the-art QMS B6 cone crushers. The task of pre-assembling the new FLSmidth crusher, demolishing and removing the old Traylor crusher, and finally installing the new FLSmidth crusher, was given to QMS, which worked in close partnership with the Breedon team at Hope and the contract partners and equipment suppliers FLSmidth.
George Close, UK sales director at QMS, explains: “Working closely with FLSmidth, we had to first build up the new gyratory crusher. This was a time consuming and exacting process, as we were working to tight deadlines and the crusher had to be assembled on site. This site assembly was the first time all the crusher parts had been together, as the components were delivered by FLSmidth from all over the world. This took approximately five weeks. The second stage was to remove the old primary Traylor gyratory crusher; this utilised QMS’ expertise and experience gained on working with gyratory crushers throughout the world. This took two weeks, working 24/7.
“The third and final stage of the project was the installation of the new crusher, this again further necessitated working round the clock, night and day, taking over five weeks to complete. In addition, the new crusher has a QMS manufactured, bespoke stainless steel lubrication system which is now integral to the crusher’s operation.”
With a project of this scope and importance, QMS was not the only contractor involved. “Our task not only involved work at our end, but also working with the Projects Team at Hope, including FortunumPM, which acted as Client representative, as well as the other contractors whose work was essential to the success of the project. Other contractors on the installation included PCS UK, who handled all the electrical work, Tideswell Welding Services, who handled all the ancillary fabrication and welding (not involving the crusher itself), and Access Drilling Services, who handled all the significant concrete removal work,” added George.
