A new water treatment plant from AJF Group Engineering GmbH in Egg an der Günz has been installed at Schwenk Beton in Berlin.
The requirements for concrete manufacturers in terms of lower environmental impact and low-emission production processes are constantly increasing. One particularly critical component is the issue of treating concrete process water, as legislators are increasingly restricting the use of fresh water and making the reuse of concrete residual water a requirement. This particularly affects large cities and conurbations. Concrete waste water/cement water, which is produced during production and the evening vehicle rinsing process, causes considerable problems for manufacturers, especially in conurbations and inner cities.
This wastewater can be heavily contaminated with environmentally harmful chromate CrVI and must not be discharged directly into the ground at the construction site. Further use or mixing in the production process is virtually impossible. In this case, the only option is costly disposal, provided that a disposal company or landfill site can be found that is willing to accept the residual water or sludge. Schwenk, one of Germany’s largest concrete manufacturers, faced the same problem. For this reason, it was decided to equip one of the largest plants in Berlin’s Rhinstraße with a modern water treatment plant. After intensive market research, the decision was made to purchase the CWAS plant from AJF, which sets new standards in the field of concrete residual water treatment.
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“We wanted a fully automatic and reliable system that would enable us to reuse our residual concrete water for concrete production. The density in the residual water tank must be measured continuously and reliably and, as far as possible, always kept within the applicable standard limits,” says Bernd Reitzenstein, Operations Manager at the Rhinstraße plant.
AJF’s water treatment specialists are breaking new ground with their patented concept. The process begins after the concrete recycling plant and incorporates the entire infrastructure of the respective plant location. Whether it’s a residual water basin or several settling basins, the integration of cisterns or surface water basins, AJF works with the plant operator to develop the most effective concept for the respective location. The focus is always on treating the residual concrete water in such a way that it can be fed into the concrete production process at any time in accordance with DIN specifications.
The entire process technology is housed in an insulated 20″ container and is therefore also suitable for winter operation. The complete system is fully pre-assembled and tested at the factory, reducing assembly and installation costs to a minimum.
In times of constantly rising disposal and water costs, AJF’s solutions also contribute significantly to cost reduction for the customer. This completely eliminates the need for complex handling around the residual water tank with cyclones, sludge settling tanks or other unclean solutions.
“We want to support concrete manufacturers in reducing CO2 emissions and improving their ecological balance, and help them save on raw materials and aggregates. That’s why we only extract as much solid material from the residual water as is necessary to meet the DIN standard,” says Bernd Hahn, Managing Director of the AJF Group. “Our system is very easy to use, and depending on the region, a return on investment within 4 to 5 years is realistic.”
The AJF Group now counts many of the major concrete manufacturers among its customers. In addition to Schwenk, these include Dyckerhoff AG and the Märker Group. The first systems have also already been installed in Scandinavia.
