Established in 1997, Boğaziçi Beton has 28 separate concrete batching plants in Turkey, pouring 6 million m3/year. The firm has poured some 35 million m3 of concrete, which has been used in major construction projects in Istanbul, including the new central bank, metro construction projects, highways and viaducts and high-rise buildings in the financial district.
Listed among the top 500 industrial companies in Turkey for the last ten years, Boğaziçi Beton took over a 50-acre quarry in the Kemerburgaz-Cendere region in 2015 to begin processing crushed sand and aggregates for its concrete production. The following year, the company increased the crushing plant capacity at its Cendere quarry to 2,000tph, enabling the firm to process up to six million tonnes of crushed material annually.
Addressing the problem
In Turkey, the methylene blue absorption test determines the fine material quality used in concrete batches and its application. It measures clay content and other expansive materials in the fines fraction of quarried sand and aggregates, which can adversely impact concrete strength and performance and increase the demand for cement, water and admixtures.
In Kemerburgaz, where Boğaziçi Beton's site is located, all quarries have natural sandstone, which has a major water absorption problem in crushed sand.
With approximately 15-17% of 0–63-micron content after crushing, Boğaziçi Beton was producing methylene blue test results above the acceptable limits, which resulted in higher production costs due to the need to add additional cement to the concrete mix.
Seeking to address this, Boğaziçi Beton engaged with wet processing experts CDE to design and commission a plant to remove excess fines content in its sand and decrease water absorption to achieve a lower methylene blue result in line with industry standards.
A co-created solution
Doğan Özel, business development manager for CDE, explains how CDE met Boğaziçi Beton at its site to begin the process of designing a solution to meet its exact needs.
"At CDE, we use a unique co-create approach so that we can meet the individual needs and requirements of each customer. We were invited to Boğaziçi Beton's site to assess the performance of the existing plant and to better understand how our pioneering technology could enhance performance."
Kıvanç Baş from Boğaziçi Beton states how the collaboration with CDE allowed them to ensure the new plant would achieve exactly what they wanted it to.
"CDE worked with us to ensure the new plant was going to achieve our desired output. We invited them to our site to observe and discuss our issues. During the visit, they collected samples for testing, which confirmed that our products weren't up to standard.
"From this, we worked together to create a solution which would improve the overall quality of our product. We were able to visit other sites using CDE plants to give us a first-hand demonstration of how CDE's technology could benefit us."
A compact solution
The issue central to Boğaziçi Beton's high methylene blue values is the integration of bucket wheels in the existing plant, which increase water absorption.
CDE commissioned a 220tph EvoWash 251 to help improve the quality of the product whilst also increasing outputs.
A compact, modular sand washing system, CDE's EvoWash screens and separates the smaller sand and gravel fractions through an integrated high-frequency dewatering screen; the hydrocyclone technology provides unrivalled control of silt cut points and eliminates the loss of quality fines.
The feed material is delivered to the plant dry before being adequately fluidised. From here, it is pumped to dual 500mm cyclones via an integrated slurry pump to remove minus 63-micron fines away from the product.
By removing the fines, the product has a maximum of 3% 0–63-micron content, which dramatically changes the methylene blue quality measure of the material, aligning it with industry standard.
Increase output at a decreased cost
The EvoWash 251 was seamlessly integrated to efficiently process the fines material. The resulting output contains a maximum of 2.5% 0–63-micron content, down significantly compared to the dry crushing process output.
Thus, in turn, decreases operational costs due to the lower methylene blue product, helping save on cement addition to their ready-mix operations.
Not only has micron content decreased, but overall outputs have increased by 100%. The EvoWash allows Boğaziçi Beton to process over 200tph. Comparatively, when the site's existing three washing units are at the maximum, they process only half of the EvoWash's capacity.
Kıvanç Baş said: "After seeing the EvoWash in action and how it has enhanced our process, we plan to replace all of our existing models with EvoWash models.
"Before we integrated the EvoWash, the washing units were a major pain point as we had to stop production of the 2,000tph crusher plant to allow the washing machines to keep up with production. Now that we have the EvoWash in operation, we can avoid any such issues.
"We pour high-strength concretes like C50 to the new Turkish Republic Central Bank complex in Istanbul, so it's critical that we use top-quality sand and aggregates for such a high concentrate production range. The integration of CDE's technology has been integral in allowing us to produce high-quality product at a reduced operational cost."
Doğan states that the plans to incorporate further plants testify to EvoWash's efficiency.
"We're delighted that our technology could have such a positive impact on Boğaziçi Beton by increasing outputs and improving the quality of the end product. We look forward to a continued partnership with Boğaziçi Beton to enhance their plant efficiency even further."
