End to a sticky situation

Churchill Environmental Engineering Ltd have recently completed the commissioning of a Poseidon fixed wheel-wash system for West Norfolk Super Lime Co. Ltd (WNSL), based in Hillington, near King’s Lynn.

The WNSL site is located in an environmentally sensitive area and posed a very difficult application due to the type of material to be washed from the wheels and tyres. When damp the material becomes very sticky and cleaning this off vehicles was a major concern for the quarry.

Churchill installed their standard drive-through wash ramp consisting of 40 nozzles located directly under the path of the truck tyres, together with side spray bars on both sides, each fitted with a further 12 nozzles. Wash water is applied at a rate of 900 litres/min at 120 lb/in2 through brass knife-edge nozzles. The resulting cleaning action means that stubborn material is easily removed from the tyres and wheels of vehicles collecting material from the site.

The Poseidon wash system requires minimal space due to its simple arrangement and construction. The wash ramp is 3.5m wide and 2.5m long and the containerized pump house that sits alongside is 2.0m wide and 2.0m deep.

At the Hillington site WNSL were able to allow the wash water to gravitate away to the quarry floor. At other sites wash water is run off to lagoons where the water is settled, re-circulated and topped up with clean water from either the mains supply or quarry water source. The wash system is actuated via an effective induction-loop method that detects the presence of approaching vehicles and automatically actuates the wash sequence.

Frost protection and lighting are fitted as standard to the pump house along with a hand-held high-volume lance for general washing and cleaning.