BHS rotor impact mill at Eqiom: Two decades and going strong

June 2022

The reference at a glance

Project

Sand production at EQIOM since 2001.

Technology

BHS rotor impact mill of type RPM 1513.

Operating site

Arceau, France

Industry

Buildingmaterials

Application

Sand production for cement and additives.

Solution

Water hoses for seamless output of fine materials and customized configuration of wear plates for easier maintenance.

In a sand pit in the eastern French town of Arceau, half an hour's drive from Dijon, the building materials manufacturer EQIOM quarries stones for sand production. The company has been relying on crushing technology from BHS-Sonthofen for over 20 years. And due to the strong performance of the BHS rotor impact mill, there is no end in sight.

French building materials expert EQIOM, a subsidiary of the Irish group CRH, produces aggregates, cement and concrete for construction companies and public institutions. Its extensive portfolio of products and solutions is aimed at pre-producers, industrial companies, and distributors. The company also focuses on sustainable development, which is paramount to its business philosophy. Since 2001, the company has been relying on the rotor impact mill of type RPM 1513 from BHS-Sonthofen to quarry stone for sand production.

Strong crushing capacity for a fine particle size

The BHS rotor impact mill, a high performance crusher with a vertical shaft, is particularly suitable for achieving a high reduction ratio and excellent particle shape for all low to moderately abrasive minerals. At EQIOM, it reliably crushes material with an inlet particle size of 2/20 mm to an outlet particle size of 0/3 mm. As is so often the case with end products such as sand, the particularly fine and moist material poses a challenge for steady output, frequently causing clumping to occur within the plant.

Crushing solutions specially tailored to match the material

To prevent this, the experts from BHS worked closely with EQIOM and installed water hoses on the cover to improve the smooth flow of material. This increases the moisture content of the sand, which in turn facilitates to discharge the crushed material without causing clogging in the gap between the rotor and the anvil ring.

In 2016 the plant was optimized even further to meet the customer's needs: By precisely configuring the rotor's wear plates – fittingly dubbed the "bee configuration" by the customer – BHS significantly increases the lifetime of the rotor’s wear parts and allows for better and easier maintenance with small wear segments.

Currently, the plant achieves an output of 50 t/h of high-quality sand. The customer is very satisfied with the BHS crushing technology and the performance of the RPM – something BHS Technical-Sales Engineer Alexandre Bernabé got to see for himself during a check-up visit to EQIOM in the spring of 2022. For its part, BHS-Sonthofen is looking forward to the next 20 successful years of crushing (it) with EQIOM.