CDE builds its largest C&D waste plant in Canada 

CDE’s largest construction and demolition waste plant in Canada is now operational.

CDE designed and engineered the washing solution for Calgary Aggregate Recycling (CAR), an Alberta-based concrete, asphalt and aggregate recycling firm.

The plant, capable of producing 250 tons per hour, is now operational at CAR’s recycling facility in southeast Calgary.

“We have been very busy hosting tours since opening and have received tremendous feedback from the community on how we can help them achieve their business and environmental goals,” said Travis Powell, President at Calgary Aggregate Recycling.

The CDE plant aims to disrupt “out-of-date practices” in the construction industry. The set-up will reduce Calgary Aggregate Recycling’s financial cost of construction, as well as the social and environmental costs.

“We set out to establish economical and viable solutions to position Alberta as a leader in sustainable and responsible construction,” Powell said.

“We started this process by applying for a grant with Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA). It believed in the impact of our proposal and gave us the start we needed to get to where we are today.”

Enabled by CDE washing technology, the company now has the capacity to process an additional 600,000 tons of waste material to produce more than 1.25 million tons of construction sand and aggregate products annually across the wider company operations.

“This plant is the largest we have ever commissioned in Canada, and also our first partnership with CAR, which demonstrates real confidence in our washing technology and recycling process,” said Adrian Convery, CDE’s Business Development Manager for Canada.

“It’s a partnership that is pioneering better ways of managing resources in Canada, driving forward the agenda for change, and building a strong case for the adoption of recycled materials in the construction industry by highlighting the immense potential of C&D waste streams.”

In addition to the significant volume of material the plant is diverting from landfill, the circular approach to resource management is also helping to reduce carbon emissions.

The plant is expected to help reduce carbon emissions in Alberta by about 22,567 tons annually.

“As well as landfill diversion, our solutions help to realize sustainability aims by reducing, or completely eliminating, the requirement to truck in sand and aggregate resources from other jurisdictions – an approach that generally comes at a significant environmental cost,” Convery said.

CDE’s experience in developing waste recycling solutions in North America made the company an ideal partner for CAR when it set out to commission the system.

CDE hosted virtual meetings and utilized 3D modelling to showcase many of its international waste recycling plants, from Scotland to New York. Confident CDE was the partner of choice, CAR commissioned its first-ever wash plant consisting of a R4500 primary feeding and scalping screen with the M4500 modular sand washing plant and AggMax 253R scrubbing and classification system, which combines pre-screening, scrubbing, organics removal, sizing, stockpiling, fines recovery and filtrates removal on a compact chassis.

The solution also features CDE’s EvoWash, a modular sand washing system that screens and separates smaller sand and gravel fractions through an integrated high-frequency dewatering screen and hydrocyclone technology to control silt cut points and eliminate the loss of fines, as well as its Counter Flow Classification Unit (CFCU) technology, which offers a variable separation point to provide greater control over sand classification.

Underscoring the solution is CDE’s AquaCycle thickener water management system, which offers efficient recycling of up to 90 per cent of process water. With its filter press sludge dewatering system that presses sludge discharged from the thickener to recover even more water, recovery reaches up to 95 per cent.

Processing up to 250 tonnes per hour of raw feed material, the CDE solution is transforming C&D waste into seven construction products, helping CAR to generate additional revenue while simultaneously diverting significant tonnages of material from the landfill.

Among the outputs are 0-1 mm fine and 0-4 mm coarse sands as well as 4-10 mm undersize, 10-20 mm midsize, 20-40 mm, 40-100 mm and 100 mm oversize aggregates.

The products are frequently tested to ensure compliance with municipal standards and specifications.

As well, the products are being marketed to the wider construction industry in Alberta and are supporting a range of public works and infrastructure projects.

Before working with CDE, CAR did not have an outlet for contaminated soils, and trucks were required to take a 350 km round trip to dispose of contaminated soils at a landfill. Now, the trucks have increased load frequencies per day, with less servicing required resulting in a reduction in carbon emissions. As well, CAR is producing in spec material for the wider construction sector.