Tyre Protection

Tyre Protection in the Limelight

Headquartered in Goslar, Fels-Werke GmbH, is one of Germany’s leading quarrying companies and ranks second in the supply of limestone products..

In Germany, Fels owns several quarries, operates eight lime production plants and one dolomitic lime plant. In the Czech Republic, Fels has a quarry and a lime production plant and, with the 2009 commissioning of a lime production plant South of Moscow, Fels has established a foothold in the Russian Federation.

Fels claims a combined crushing capacity of just under 3 million tonnes and, with a total of 46 kilns, the company’s output is more than 0.3 m tpa of hydrated lime and over 2 mtpa of high-quality quicklime.

In all, Fels employs some 1000 people, produces over 5 m tonnes of limestone products and generates revenues of around EUR 250m pa.

Fels the company that led the establishment of the internationally acknowledged DIN EN ISO 9001 standard to the German lime industry, uses special processes that ensure that its products conform to the highest standards of purity and reactivity.

Fels’ success is built on quality – quality resources treated by quality processes to manufacture quality products.

FELS’ sources their raw materials from wholly-owned Devonian, Dolomitic and Jura Limestone deposits identified for their purity and homogeneity.

Fels’ skilled technicians exercising rigorous quality control and  advanced crushing, pulverising and calcining processes  create a comprehensive range of primary products including; aggregates, un-burnt coarse, medium, fine and pulverised limestone; lump, fine ground and hydrated, high-calcium lime, quick-limes, milk of lime and lime putty and special limes in the form of fine ground lime and hydrated lime mixtures.

Fels’ limestone products are required in all facets of modern life.

In agriculture, soil fertility and crop growth is improved with lime dusting while, in forestry, lime dressing counters the effects of acid rain. In sugar manufacture Fels’ ‘sugarstone’ is essential for separating the liquor from beet pulp and cane trash.

Fels Lime helps protect the environment by removing exhaust gases, neutralising effluent, purifying water and rehabilitating contaminated sites.

When it comes to construction, mankind has relied on limestone since we first sheltered in caves.

Building materials such as bricks and blocks, mortar, cement and concrete are all derived from limestone. Our infrastructure – road, rail, earthworks, soil stabilisation – rests on limestone aggregates, asphalts and bitumen.

As key ingredients, Fels’ lime products are required to introduce various levels of calcium and alkalinity into chemical and metallurgical processes, as ingredients in ceramics, the manufacture of clear glass, wood-pulp, metallurgy and, in the form of lump lime, as a purifying flux in steel making.

As part of plans to quarry 6,000,000 tonnes, as part of the 2013 plant optimisation programme, Fels is has add two CAT 990s and a CAT 992 to its load and haul fleet.

One CAT 990 is destined for work in Saal an der Donau where Fels has access to a major deposit of high-purity Jura Limestone.

Operating 9 kilns employing efficient processing and calcining technologies, Saal produces a comprehensive range of lime products in grades that meet a broad spectrum of industrial applications.

The Saal plant is well-served by road and rail connections and the nearby port of Kelheim/ Saal provides easy access to the Main-Danube Canal.

The second CAT 990 will be working at Kalkwerk Kaltes Tal – a two quarry operation situated close to Broken Mountain on the edge of the Harz National Park where some 1.5 mt of pure Devonian limestone is processed annually by seven kilns including three annular shaft kilns and two counter-flow/ parallel flow regenerative (PFR) kilns produce about 500,000 tpa of highly-reactive quicklime.

The CAT 992 will work in Fels’ Rübeland/ Hornberg complex.

Also located on the fringe of the Harz National Park and quarrying the same Devonian deposit, this operation combines ten  state-of-the-art PFR kilns enabling Fels to produce 600,000 tpa of multiple grades of high-quality lime products for use in a large number of processes.

The CAT Loaders are considered to be among the best in their class.

Teamed with a train of CAT 772, 50 tonne haulers, powered by a 627 hp, Cat® C27 ACERT®  engine and equipped with a standard 8.4 – 9.2 m3 bucket, a CAT 990 can hoist a full truck load in 4 easy, 15 tonnes loads or, in high lift configuration, replenish a 90 tonne truck in six passes.

CAT first introduced the 992 in 1968. The K series is ideally matched with CAT’s 777 series G dump trucks or their equivalent. Powered by an 814 hp, Cat® C32 ACERT™ engine and available with a 10.7-12.3 m3 bucket the 992 can deliver a 100 ton payload in just four 24 tonnes cycles.

Laid down some 350 m years ago, Devonian is an extremely abrasive material that can rapidly destroy the tread of bare tyres and, at the working face, there is an ever-present risk of sidewall damage and blow-outs as the loader crowds into the newly-blasted rock fragments.

Large earthmover tyres are in short supply and costly to buy so it is practical for Fels to take measures to obtain maximum value from their investment by ensuring their tyres last as long as possible.

CAT 990s take 41-25-70 tyres and CAT 992s are shod with 45-65-45 tyres.

For optimum efficiency and economy, the front tyres of the three CATs will be fitted with ERLAU R71 Spezial tyre protection chains (TPC) – a closed mesh, case-hardened, ring-ring chain that absorbs abrasion and protects against sidewall damage. The less vulnerable rear tyres will be protected from abrasion by pairs of the lighter ERLAU R71 TPCs.

With the all-round protection of ERLAU’s R71 TPCs, loaders of all sizes can go fearlessly into the most extreme mining conditions. In fact, the protection is so effective that loaders fitted with Erlau TPCs run safely on flaming hot steel slag without danger to operators or assets.

Erlau TPCs can not only extend tyre life by as much as 10 times but, by reducing maintenance downtime and increasing loader availability, can greatly improve productivity and dramatically reduce the cost per loaded tonne.

ERLAU’s TPCs are found in leading mines and quarries across the globe – producing limestone in Europe, copper in Chile, iron ore in Australia and diamonds in Africa where they prove their worth on wheel loaders, dozers, motor-graders and dump trucks.

In Europe, Erlau is proud to be a long-term supplier of tyre protection chains (TPC) to Fels Werke.

At Fels’ Elbingerode operation three additional loaders – a CAT 988, a CAT 992 and a Komatsu WA800 – are already fully protected with ERLAU TPCs. A set of 4 chains protect the 29.5-25 tyres of a CAT 980 at Fels Kaltes Tal and, at Saal an der Donau, a pair of Erlau chains is bringing long life to the 45/65 R39 tyres on a CAT 990.

At Fels’ Bad Grund quarry two full sets of four Erlau TPCs guarantee all-round protection to a CAT 992 and a CAT 988.

Celebrating 70 years of development since the company invented the TPC, ERLAU, with 65% of the world market, has TPCs in over 75 different countries supported by an experienced, international sales team and an extensive service network.

www.erlau.com

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