Mobile shears played a key role in the decommissioning of a large coal-fired power plant in Crystal River, Florida.

Faced with stricter environmental regulations, low market prices, and people's recognition that climate change has become a reality, energy companies are increasingly abandoning coal in favor of alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and natural gas. As major coal-fired power plants in the United States and the world continue to retire at an ever-faster rate, this huge transformation into demolition professionals has brought good news.

The Crystal River Energy Complex in Crystal River, Florida, is one such plant. After its nuclear facility and half of its coal-fired power generation capacity were shut down, a large-scale cleanup is underway. NorthStar Contracting Group Inc., headquartered in New York, is using a combination of traditional and innovative technologies-including a pair of powerful mobile scissors-to handle the spectacular materials on site and keep the project going.

Owned by the utility giant Duke Energy, today's Crystal River plant pales in comparison to its past, which once relied on four coal-fired power plants and a nuclear facility to provide a total of 5,051 megawatts of electricity to Florida and other regions each year. Today, its coal-fired power generation has been reduced by nearly 1 GW, and its 2,609 MW nuclear component was decommissioned in 2009. To help offset coal and nuclear power losses, the Citrus Combined Cycle Station was opened in 2018. The natural gas power plant provides 1,640 megawatts of electricity. Due to the use of cleaner energy sources, the power plant will reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by 90% compared to the replaced coal-fired power plant.

In their time, the coal-fired power plants of Unit 1 and Unit 2 at the site went online in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and operated until 2018, until their maintenance was finally untenable. In 2019, NorthStar started a one-year asbestos emission reduction, and then prepared for the implosion of the boiler building. In June 2020, Controlled Demolition Inc., headquartered in Phoenix, Maryland, used 500 explosives to structure these into a large pile of fragments.

"These are impressive structures: Unit 1 is 120 feet x 100 feet x 200 feet high, while Unit 2 is more sturdy, 120 feet x 120 feet x 220 feet high,” NorthStar Site Project Manager Matt Banta Say. "In less than 10 seconds, they were on the ground and our real work could begin. In such a place, all the materials are the strongest. So, although we dismantled the ordinary catwalk and some lightweight exterior walls , But all the internal materials are very strong."

It is no exaggeration to say that Banta cited beams that suspend the boiler. These beams are 12 feet high with 3 inches of steel between the webs and flanges. In addition, the steam lines running through the entire structure are several inches thick, and the wall thickness of the boiler drum is 6 to 7 inches.

Facing a pair of 60-foot-tall steel piles—one from a previous boiler room—Polaris began the cumbersome process of turning that compressed, oversized piece of debris into manageable, transportable waste. To achieve this goal, Banta and his team purchased a pair of mobile scissors from Superior Genesis Attachments in Wisconsin. These scissors were purchased through the Linder Industrial Machinery branch in Ocala, Florida, in Plante, Florida. city.

"We installed the Genesis GXP 660R MAXX accessory on the 800 series chain belt, which is an absolute demonstration machine for us," explained Banta. "We have this situation for most upstream materials, and then [we] cooperated with Komatsu PC490LC running Genesis GXP 990R MAXX. We still need to torch a lot of materials, the reason is simple, because there is no shearing machine to process today Some of this steel-a large part of it is sheet metal. But the cutting ability of the 990 really impressed us. Together, these two accessories provide us with some excellent production."

Banta pointed out that the scissors installed on the excavator help to effectively dispose of the huge boiler house garbage dump. Using the Genesis shears, his operator can reach up and down the material, cut it into manageable sizes, and stack it for loading. If they encounter material beyond the capacity of the scissors, they simply put it aside for the burner to handle later. Through this process, progress has continued unabated.

Although they may be impressive, the Crystal River project is more than just these two boiler buildings. At the time of writing, NorthStar still has a to-do list that includes a demonstration of a large two-story pump house and an oil tank farm on the south side of the site. Previously, the company used scissors to process a series of storage tanks: two of which were 240 feet in diameter and 50 feet in height, and one was 200 feet in diameter and 50 feet in height. An identical water tank, which still contains water used by Polaris for dust removal and fire fighting, will be one of the last structures to be dismantled.

"We cut the tank from the top to about 20 feet above the ground, at which point the material became very thick-within 1.5 inches and more," Banta said. "So, we will grab the internal pillars, put them down, cut off the tank cover, put the wall to a certain point, and then cut the wall into manageable parts. By doing this, we were able to complete it in about two weeks. Processing and shipping of a tank."

Recently processed a pair of large tanks without moving scissors in South Florida, NorthStar has a unique opportunity to compare the workload with and without hydraulic attachments. According to Banta, the contrast is very obvious.

"In another case, we have to develop a well-designed plan in which we connect cables to each post and then cut the collar," he said. "Then we would use the machine to pull the cables and trip over the roof-this alone would take about two weeks. Then, after putting the lid on, we spent another two weeks knocking down the wall. Therefore, this The process is easily twice as easy as using scissors-and it is more labor intensive."

Rather than shrink the material to a prepared size, NorthStar only needs to shrink it enough to accommodate the truck fleet serving the project. Banta said they have to load 12 to 20 trucks a day-each truck has a maximum load of 80,000 pounds, including the weight of the truck.

"We actually bought and installed a scale on site to ensure that no one was overweight before heading to the scrapyard," he said. "If they exceed or fall below, for that matter, we will send them around to find or add some materials. Maximizing each load with a total weight of 75,000 to 80,000 pounds means that we have to carry 35,000 to 40,000 pounds per truck, and This is a steady stream of trucks traveling in both directions."

Even the loading aspect of this work is a challenge for NorthStar. Banta said that in some cases, they had to reduce the size of the steam pipes so that the grab or thumb bucket could handle them. Since the larger beam weighs thousands of pounds per foot, even a length of 5 feet will push the machine to the limit of picking up and putting it into the truck.

“In order to consider the scale and materials of this project, we have so far transported more than 23,000 tons of steel by truck to a scrapyard in Tampa, with a round trip time of 3 hours,” he said. "We estimate that when the work is over, the total output will be in the 32,000 tons range. This is some serious tonnage."

Near the completion of two-thirds of the project, NorthStar's work also included the demolition of seven buildings, one of which was an 80-foot-high, 300-foot-long turbine hall, an ash silo, and a dust collector. The pump room and storage tank are still to be demonstrated, as is the transfer bridge that was once used to transport coal to the boiler. Perhaps the most striking aspect of this work will be the implosion of two 500-foot-high chimneys at the factory.

"We plan to explode those in November," Banta said. "Due to the limited space on the site, we cannot transport them the way we want, and some of them will eventually enter the canal. On the contrary, when they come down, we will cross them. Their demolition will definitely give fishermen and fishermen in the area. Other boat people caused losses, and they used these chimneys as navigational landmarks."

Before they enter the final site grading aspect of the project, NorthStar must also handle all large-diameter underground pipes that run through the entire site. Banta said the contract provisions and the high groundwater level in the area determined their approach.

"In addition to the discharge pipe from the turbine hall to the condenser and then to the water, we must also cover a discharge pipe," he said. "Those are concrete pipes with a diameter of 5 feet, buried a few feet below the surface. Our contract only takes place 2 feet underground, and stipulates that if we leave these pipes intact underground, they must be filled . So we can choose to go 10 feet deep, break the pipes and remove them, keep pumping water, or just fill them up. We chose the latter and fill them with soil cement slurry."

He added that the work of the pump room and the remaining water tanks may take four to five weeks, and the shear strength is high. He pointed out that the company's scissors maintenance system is almost pious due to the very strong materials of the entire site.

"These tools are running almost continuously, and we are here every day of the week," Banta said. "So, every two to three weeks, we rotate the blades to get the best performance and maintain high productivity. Likewise, since they are often abused, we always order new blades at the same time as additional piercing tips. So far. , The only real free time we use scissors is when they are performing blade rotation or replacement, so this level of preparation has paid off. In large-scale industrial work like this, you really can’t do without a good mobile shearing machine , We think we have some of the best in Genesis."

At the time of writing, NorthStar expects to remove all steel from the Crystal River site by the end of October and fully wrap it on the site by the fall of 2022.

Larry Trojak is the owner and president of Trojak Communications, a marketing communications and content creation expert based in Twin Cities. You can contact him at trojakcom@gmail.com.

For decades, the Waste Recycling Industry Research Institute (ISRI) in Washington has launched a semantic campaign to emphasize that waste is not waste and recyclable materials are a secondary commodity.

The publications of the Recycling Today Media Group, including this one, have always been staunch supporters of this message, and their editors have tried to avoid interchange of the term "waste" with waste, second-hand goods, and other phrases conveying waste valuable materials use.

Although the campaign has achieved considerable success, ISRI is reportedly considering changing or updating the wording of recyclable materials and how to best distinguish them from waste in landfills or incinerators.

One suggestion in this corner is the term "recyclable goods". Just like the word "sustainability", the word "circular economy" seems to have endurance and is recognized by people and governments around the world as a good thing.

Unfortunately, the terms "scrap" and "secondary commodity" have disadvantages. In the minds of many people, things that have been scrapped are being written off. In the same mind, secondary things can be considered second-rate.

Round product labels can avoid these meanings. It is unlikely that any policy will receive unanimous support. However, in the current climate, sustainable and circular policies tend to receive considerable support.

Rewriting is by no means a panacea. Governments and policy advocates who want to restrict circular commodity trade and financial support (for environmental or protectionist reasons) will continue to do so.

New and higher price benchmarks are being established for recycled products in 2021, including the often criticized plastic recycling industry. This has not stopped recycling critics from continuing to attack. China prohibits the use of many recycled materials, although their residual levels are significantly lower than those of metal ores or concentrates. Malaysia may basically follow China's footsteps.

Advocating to bring raw materials closer to home is also a trend, and this trend is becoming more and more popular around the world. It must be pointed out that merely rephrasing cannot prevent all policy or corporate decisions made in the broader economic and policy sphere.

However, some form of linguistic commanding heights may be the gratifying result of terms such as circular commodities. Publicly opposing the recycling of materials-reuse and recycling and the protection of resources it brings-is more difficult than lobbying against "waste," "scrap," or "secondary materials."

For people in our industry, all these terms may mean the same thing, and we are very satisfied with the old terms. However, in the policy field, discourse is distorted and manipulated, and recyclers and traders seem to need some sharper language.

According to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), aggregate production continued to grow throughout this year.

Beginning in the first quarter of 2021, the output of construction aggregate for production and transportation consumption was 464 million tons (Mt), a slight increase from the same period in 2020.

On September 7, the U.S. Geological Survey released the results of the second quarter of the mining industry survey, which once again exceeded the 2020 data. The survey results found that the estimated production and transportation of construction aggregates for consumption is 694 million tons, a gradual increase from the first quarter.

USGS said that compared with the second quarter of 2020, total production increased by 7%.

The five leading states, in descending order of consumption, are Texas, California, Missouri, Florida and Pennsylvania. Their total consumption in the second quarter of 2021 increased by 5% to 200 metric tons, accounting for 29% of the total in the United States.

Of the 694 million tons of construction aggregate produced in the second quarter, 415 million tons were crushed stone, an increase of 4% over the same period in 2020. In addition, the production of crushed stone for consumption in the first half of 2021 increased by 3 compared to the first half of 2020.

The output of sand and gravel is expected to reach 279 million tons. According to the US Geological Survey, this is an increase of 11% over the second quarter of 2020. The output of sand and gravel used for consumption in the first six months of this year has increased by 9% over the first half of last year.

This upward trend in 2021 can be partly attributed to the expected recovery of the decline in crushed stone production last year. According to Pit & Quarry, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's gravel production in 2020 has fallen for the first time since 2017.

Crushed stone production (404 million tons) fell by 2.3% in the second quarter. At the same time, compared with the second quarter of 2019, sand and gravel production (255 million tons) fell by nearly 5%.

The aftershocks associated with the pandemic continued into the third quarter. Compared with the third quarter of 2019, gravel production (416 million tons) fell by 6%, and sand and gravel production (290 million tons) fell by 4%.

As the country begins to recover from the pandemic-related effects, some people expect the mining industry to maintain this growth.

Burgex Mining Consultants is a mining consulting company headquartered in Sandy, Utah. It provides market analysis and technical reports for clients in the mining and mineral exploration industries. It predicts that these surges in production will continue for the next five years.

According to the news released on February 9, the company said that by the end of 2025, total US production will increase by 14%, or an average annual growth of 2.7%.

With the recent passage of legislation, Californians, agriculture, local governments, and businesses now have more options to dispose of processed wood waste.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 332 into law on August 31, after the bill was unanimously approved by the California legislature. The bill has an emergency clause that allows it to take effect immediately. The AB 332 statutory includes the previous treatment of wood waste alternative management standards (AMS), which allows wood waste treated with preservatives to be treated in the composite lining part of an approved solid waste landfill.

"The adoption of AB 332 is a huge victory for homeowners, contractors, builders, environmentalists and our infrastructure," said Dallin Brooks, executive director of the Western Timber Preservation Association (WWPI). "The broad support for the bill reaffirms that treated wood waste can be safely disposed of while providing environmental benefits."

In December 2020, the state's C&D recyclers discussed the complexity imposed by previous legislation on California companies with the magazine Construction and Demolition Recycling.

The AMS had been in effect for nearly 15 years before the plan expired on January 1, which caused major difficulties for everyone who needed to deal with preserved wood. Therefore, in the first three months of 2021, treated wood is only allowed to be disposed of in hazardous waste landfills. In March, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) developed a difference plan in which people who handle treated wood can purchase a difference plan that allows disposal in approved composite-lined landfills in accordance with AMS regulations.

With the adoption of AB 332, all processed wood waste differences became invalid and no longer valid. However, this should not be a problem, as the new law creates more processing options through previously approved processing regulations. For more information about processed wood waste, interested parties can visit the DTSC website.

Brooks attributed the passage of the bill to a broad industry coalition that includes timber protectors, local jurisdictions, waste transporters, contractors, building material distributors, agricultural associations and environmentalists, as well as many other affiliated industries.

"In the past two decades, we have demonstrated a reliable record of responsible and safe handling of treated timber in a way that protects the environment and allows simple compliance. We are very pleased that the legislators and governors agree that AMS is The smartest way to dispose of treated wood at the end of its service," Brooks said.

WWPI stated that it will cooperate with stakeholders such as DTSC, landfills, transfer stations and transporters to smoothly re-implement the disposal plan and provide disposal education.

LRS, an independent waste transfer, recycling and portable service provider based in Morton Grove, Illinois, announced on September 9 that it had completed a major equity investment to accommodate and expand its growth. The investment was made by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners (MIP) V, a US$6.9 billion unlisted infrastructure fund focused on the Americas and managed by Sydney-based Macquarie Asset Management (MAM). Financial terms have not been disclosed.

According to LRS, the resulting ownership structure will accelerate the company's growth trajectory and strengthen its leadership position as the largest private waste, recycling and portable service provider in the Midwest and one of the largest private service providers in North America. In addition, the company stated that this investment will not affect its existing services, operations or executive leadership team.

"At this moment of our corporate development, we are very happy to receive this considerable investment from MIP V," said Alan Handley, CEO of LRS. "With their in-depth understanding of space and capital, and their strong support for our team, we will become a more disruptive force in the waste and recycling industry. This partnership will promote our competitive leadership in the entire Midwest. Realize future-oriented technological innovation investment, and enable us to continue to grow rapidly through organic and mergers and acquisitions."

Under the banner of the MIP series of funds, funds managed by MAM have invested more than US$2.9 billion in the waste industry in the Americas since 2007, including investments in the waste industry, WCA, GFL Environment, WIN Waste Innovations, Solví and now LRS.

"We are very pleased to work with Alan and other members of the LRS management team to support their next phase of growth. MAM has extensive experience in supporting waste businesses such as LRS and has invested in personnel, processes and systems to strengthen the current Have a platform to support future growth and improve performance," said Paul Mitchener, senior managing director of MAM.

This investment was made after a year of active growth in LRS, as evidenced by the acquisition of 12 waste, recycling and portable toilet companies in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, and Iowa . In addition, the company achieved significant organic growth by winning numerous large municipal contracts, including Blue Cart recycling contracts for the entire city of Chicago.

Since its establishment in 2013, LRS has grown from a single location with 200 employees and annual revenue of less than US$50 million to a regional leader in waste transfer and recycling worth US$375 million. Handley said that the rapid rise of LRS has helped the company compete in the entire Midwestern cities and states, and the company will continue to seek first-class acquisition opportunities.

Goldman Sachs of New York City served as the chief investment banker for the transaction; Shelist of Chicago provided legal representation; and Capstone Partners of Boston provided financial advisory services for LRS.

JPMorgan Chase in New York City served as exclusive financial advisor to MIP V, and White & Case in New York City served as legal advisor.

On September 1st, the Ontario Garbage Connect Company announced the acquisition of EL Harvey & Sons Inc. EL Harvey is the largest family-owned and operated solid waste service company in Massachusetts. It has a history of 110 years, can be traced back to four generations, and has a total annual revenue of approximately US$110 million.

Headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, EL Harvey provides solid waste collection, recycling and transfer services for commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers in central and eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. The company operates a single-stream material recycling facility that can process 7,000 to 8,000 tons per month, and provides confidential document destruction, food waste and product destruction, and electronics recycling services. It operates a fleet of 120 collection vehicles.

“The Harvey family has established one of the most respected companies in our industry, and we are honored to welcome Harvey to the Waste Connect family. Together with their ongoing leadership team, we look forward to inheriting Harvey’s name and further expanding its market position and strengthening Its strong culture of support for employees, customers and the community," said Worthing F. Jackman, President and CEO of Waste Connection, said.

Waste Connect also announced the closure of one of its previously announced two signed acquisitions, of which the annual revenue of the franchise business in Northern California and Nevada was approximately $50 million.

GFL Environmental of Ontario acquired Peoria Disposal Company (PDC) in Peoria, Illinois.

According to Central Illinois Proud, Eric Shangraw, PDC's municipal marketing manager, confirmed the sale of the company's landfill, transfer station and transportation services on September 24. The transaction took effect on October 1.

Shangrao said that the company's employees received notice of the sale on September 22, and pointed out that the company's employees will be retained by GFL. Matt Coulter, vice president of PDC, will stay at GFL as regional vice president.

Founded in 1928, PDC is a vertically integrated waste management solution provider with operations in central Illinois and eastern Missouri. The company’s end-to-end waste management solution includes four solid waste landfills; four transfer stations; material recovery facilities; RCRA (Resource Conservation and Restoration Act) Part B transfer, storage and disposal facilities; and a centralized sewage treatment facility Facilities, 16 transportation terminals, supporting more than 300 collection and transportation vehicles.

The environmental and industrial services investment banking team of Brown Gibbons Lang & Co. in Cleveland served as the exclusive financial advisor to PDC in the transaction.

"We continue to demonstrate our ability to successfully execute our growth strategy of pursuing strategic and value-added acquisitions," said Patrick Dovigi, founder and CEO of GFL. "The acquisition of PDC provides us with a unique opportunity to acquire one of the best family-owned and operated vertically integrated assets in the United States, while expanding our solid waste footprint in the Midwestern United States. PDC has a leading market in the secondary market Position and have some of the strongest operating margins in our industry. As part of GFL Renewables, the acquisition of PDC also provides us with an opportunity to unlock the tremendous value of energy projects from landfill gas to PDC landfills. Advance our sustainable development plan."