PRESS RELEASE
Turning previous unusable materials into valuable resources
BHS-Sonthofen presented with the German
Resources Efficiency Award
One ton of lime is all it takes to turn 100 tons of rock into a valuable building
material.
Sonthofen, Germany, 9 March 2017 BHS-Sonthofen and MSW
Mineralstoffwerke Südwest received the German Resources Efficiency
Award 2016 on 16 February 2017. The prestigious prize was awarded by
the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy to the two
companies to commend the development and successful implementation
of the Combimix process. This process turns a previously worthless
mining by-product accumulated in quarries into a valuable building
resource.
BHS developed the Combimix process based on their twin-shaft batch mixers
and implemented it together with MSW at their quarry in Mönsheim. This
marked the first German project of this kind. It helped to increase raw material
efficiency from the previous level of 65-70% to around 93%.
In quarries and gravel pits, the Combimix process takes clay-and-rock mixtures
– which previously had to be refilled or disposed at a landfill – and turns them
into a marketable building material. Furthermore, this means that millions of
tons of material previously considered worthless and dumped can now be
reactivated.
BHS has also installed the Combimix system in several quarries in France using
continuous mixers. Before the system was installed, in one facility more than
100,000 t of rock/clay mixture from the quarry had to be dumped every year.
More than 90 % of contaminated feed material is now sold as rock grade thanks
to the Combimix system. The plant manager is extremely pleased about the
significant reduction in costs: "Before the mixer was installed, we had to break
down 400,000 t of rock each year to obtain 300,000 t of salable material. The
new procedure means we only require 330,000 t to achieve the same delivery
quantity."
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
(Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie) awards the German Resources
Efficiency Award to exemplary products that efficiently use raw materials and
other materials, processes or services, as well as application-oriented research
results. A jury comprising 14 members screened over 40 submissions to select
four winners in the ‘Companies’ category and a single winner in the ‘Research
Facilities’ category.
Andre Däschlein, Director of International Sales for Mixing & Crushing
Technology at BHS, and Benedikt Fahrland, Managing Director of MSW
Mineralstoffwerke Südwest GmbH & Co. KG, accepted the award presented by
Uwe Beckmeyer, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Minister for
Economic Affairs and Energy at the ‘Efficient use of raw materials – Market
success’ symposium.
A happy moment for Däschlein: “This award demonstrates yet again that deep
industry know-how and close ties to their customers allow mid-sized companies,
in particular, to create innovative processes and solutions that deliver true
efficiency gains.”
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Excerpt from the laudation of State Secretary Beckmeyer: “The sparing and
efficient use of natural resources is a key skill needed to create a sustainable
society. This year’s winning projects serve as role models of innovative and
competitive industrial entrepreneurship in Germany. They furthermore pave our
way to becoming less dependent on resource imports.”
MSW introduced the process at their Mönsheim quarry in the summer of 2016.
It allowed the company to increase their repository’s yield by 25%. To produce
the same volume of the final product, it was previously necessary to extract
about 620,000 tons of limestone annually. Now the total is around 188,000 tons
less, which corresponds to a relative reduction of around 30%. It helped to
increase raw material efficiency from the previous level of 65–70% to around
93%.
Dennis Kemmann, the Managing Director of BHS-Sonthofen GmbH, is already
thinking ahead: “Our Combimix process holds a vast potential as it enables
companies across the globe and throughout various industries to utilize
resources more efficiently. In the context of rehabilitating contaminated soil,
Combimix can be used to remove oil and other harmful substances. As a result,
only a small fraction of the feed material needs to be dumped in hazardous
waste landfills. The process is also viable for the cement industry. Here, it can
be applied to processing limestone, a key ingredient that improves the burning
process in rotary kilns and thus contributes to reducing fuel consumption.”
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Background information:
The technology in detail: Combimix process
The unique characteristics of the BHS twin-shaft continuous mixer of type
DKXC lays the foundation for the Combimix process. Specifically, this type of
mixer is the first to allow regulation of the retention time of the material in the
mixer within broad limits. Thanks to this feature, the lime has enough time to
mix intensively with the clay, to dry and to undergo a chemical reaction that
allows it to be reliably separated from the rock in the next processing step.
The new process thus conserves limestone resources and extends the usable
lifetime of quarries. Because less material will be classified as unmarketable,
Combimix also creates space in landfills and backfills. Furthermore, this means
that millions of tons of material previously considered worthless and dumped
can now be reactivated. Given that roughly 25% of the material no longer needs
to be backfilled, the BHS method also helps to make space in the landfill –
space that can be used to deposit other materials.
Small limestone deposits or those previously labeled unprofitable can be turned
into viable sites at very little effort using this technology. For example, the
method allows for the extended operation of quarries that were on the verge of
being shut down due to a large share of clay in the rock or because of
insufficient backfill capacity.
Combimix also contributes to securing resources by providing the means
necessary to reactivate large quantities of dumped materials that had been
considered unmarketable in previous decades. As a result, millions of tons of
material can be processed and sold at a profit.
Another innovation is that operators can now opt for a dry process instead of a
wet process. In many quarries, not enough water is available for wet processing
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in a log washer, and the subsequent water treatment as well as sludge disposal
prescribed by law are extremely costly.
BHS is the only mixer manufacturer to offer a continuous twin-shaft mixer with
adjustable retention time, which is precisely the tool needed for this task.
MSW case study
The shell limestone extracted at the Mönsheim quarry operated by MSW
Mineralstoffwerke Südwest has a high clay and silt content, which contaminates
the valuable rock. For this reason, an average of 30 to 35% of the material
extracted at the quarry could not be marketed. On top of that, the clayey screen
waste had to be backfilled on site as overburden.
In the summer of 2016, MSW commissioned a Combimix system based on a
customer-specific twin-shaft batch mixer that admixes the clayey screen waste
with approx. 1% fine-ground high-calcium lime.
The mixer processes the material such that the clay cleanly separates from the
rock in the next process step. Thanks to this, the use of raw materials,
normalized to an annual production of 365,000 t, is reduced by roughly
130,000 t. This figure corresponds to a reduction of 25%, so the resource
efficiency is boosted from 65 to 70% to approx. 93%.
As an added benefit, the Combimix process reduces the energy needed for
processing. The annual consumption was reduced by around 235,000 kWh and
100,000 liters of diesel. This results in a total power reduction in the order of
17%.
While MSW previously produced a maximum of 280 t salable material per hour,
the supply capacity has now increased to 430-460 t per hour, despite the
reduced resource expenditure.
Background information: 3,500 characters (including spaces)
About BHS-Sonthofen
BHS-Sonthofen GmbH is an owner-operated group of companies in the field of
machinery and plant engineering based in Sonthofen, Germany. The company
offers technical solutions for mechanical process technology, concentrating
primarily on mixing, crushing, recycling and filtration. With more than 350
employees and several subsidiaries, BHS-Sonthofen has a global presence.
The Mixing Technology division produces batch and continuous mixers and
offers the full range of process technology services for mixing applications. The
twin-shaft batch mixer, which is considered a global benchmark in the concrete
industry, is a key product.
Building companies use the mixers first and foremost to produce transport,
precast, high-performance and dam concrete or concrete paving blocks. BHS
mixers are also highly suited for mixing dry mortar, cement and sand-lime
products or for processing clay-and-rock mixtures.
They are widely used for processing mineral mixes, landfill substances, fly ash,
dusts or other bulk materials or for the conditioning of sludges and the
production of suspensions. The latter is often done in the context of backfilling
mines or depositing mineral waste.
For further information, please visit: www.bhs-sonthofen.de
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Press contacts:
Press contacts at BHS-Sonthofen:
Press contact:
Roland Schmid
Director of Marketing & Communication
BHS-Sonthofen GmbH
An der Eisenschmelze 47
87527 Sonthofen, Germany
Tel. (+49-8321) 6099-231
Fax (+49-8321) 6099-220
Dr. Uwe Stein
E-mail: [email protected]
www.bhs-sonthofen.de
VIP Kommunikation
Dennewartstrasse 25–27
52068 Aachen, Germany
Tel. (+49-241) 8946-855
Fax (+49-241) 8946-844
Cell (+49-177) 2690-710
E-mail: [email protected]
www.vip-kommunikation.de
Recommended images:
 Download printable image files: BHS-Sonthofen press photos
Image 1: Awards ceremony: (left to right)
Parliamentary State Secretary Uwe
Beckmeyer, Andre Däschlein and Gerd
Schuler (both BHS-Sonthofen), Benedikt
Fahrland (MSW) and Manfred Immler
(BHS-Sonthofen) as well as Prof. Ralph
Watzel, President of the Federal Institute
for Geosciences and Natural Resources
(BGR) and chairman of the jury
File name:
BHS_DREP2016.jpg
Image 2: The trophy: The German Resources
Efficiency Award 2016
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BHS TrophäeDREP2016.jpg
Image 3: The prizewinner signet of the German
Resources Efficiency Award 2016
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DREP2016_Signet_Ausgezeichnet.jpg
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Image 4: The Combimix system transforms the
BHS twin-shaft batch mixer of type
DKX into a mixer that operates
continuously according to the
established three-dimensional mixing
principle.
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BHS Grafik_Combimix-System-Lehm.jpg
Image 5: The system installed at MSW: Clayey
input material in the feed container in front
of BHS-Sonthofen’s twin-shaft batch mixer
of type DKX 4.5.
File name:
MSW_Branntkalkmischanlage_Inbetriebnahme (89).jpg
Image 6a: The system installed at MSW: Output
material with a particle size of 22–60 mm
after mixing, on its way to downstream
processing (breaking and screening).
File name:
MSW_Branntkalkmischanlage_Inbetriebnahme (8)
Image 6b: The system installed at MSW: Output
material with a particle size of 60–120 mm
after mixing, on its way to downstream
processing (breaking and screening).
File name:
MSW_Branntkalkmischanlage_Inbetriebnahme (36)
Image rights: Images 1 to 3: © BGR/Photothek, images 5 to 6b: BHS-Sonthofen
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