An asphalt plant is a machine designed to manufacture asphalt, macadam, and other types of coated roadstone for road construction purposes. Coated roadstone is made from a combination of aggregates such as sand, filler, and bitumen. Bitumen is the aggregate that binds the asphalt together. Stone dust is commonly used as a filler for the production of asphalt. The asphalt plant consists of a cold aggregate supply system, coal burner, dust collector, vibrating screen, hot aggregate elevator, filler supply system, bitumen supply system, weighing and mixing system, and coal feeder. This article provides information on the asphalt plant.
What is an asphalt plant?
There are two basic types of asphalt plants such as batch plants and drum plants. The batch plant makes asphalt in batches. The feeders fed the aggregates to a rotary dryer to remove the moisture in the content. The mixture is then transported to a set of screens where it is divided into different component sizes. They are stored in hot bins after the separation. The blending computer then proportions the aggregates into a weigh bin where it’s introduced into a pugmill and dry-mixed for a set amount of time. The machine infuses the oil at the correct time to wet-mix the combination for a specific time. The machine opens the pug gate at the end of the set time and discharges the hot mix directly into a waiting truck.
Batch plants come in baby sizes of 250 lbs and monster sizes of 18,000 lbs. These plants are usually rated at one batch per minute. For example, a 4,000 lb batch plant yields up to 120 tons of asphalt per hour. The main advantage of a batch plant is its ability to produce salable asphalt out of any reasonable stockpile of aggregate. The ability to change mix-specifications mid-truck is another benefit of this type of asphalt emulsion plant.
The drum plant is a continuous asphalt mix facility. The feeders of the unit proportion the aggregates into the correct blend to meet your specific asphalt requirements. The unit transports the material into a dryer/mixer where moisture is removed within the first 2/3rd of the dryer. The last third of the unit will inject the correct percentage of asphalt and mixes the material thoroughly. It discharges the hot mix into a slat conveyor for transportation at this point. Drum plants come in sizes of 8 tons per hour to 800 tons per hour. The most commonly used asphalt drum plants are between 150-450 tons per hour. The main advantage of a drum mix is that it reduces the hot mix process to its essentials. But drum plants are designed to produce one mix at a time which is a disadvantage of the unit.
If you are looking for the best asphalt plant machine on the market, you need to do your homework before investing in a quality asphalt plant. The reputation and experience of the supplier are important considerations when investing in an asphalt plant for your business. The aforementioned article provides information on the asphalt plant.