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Tecwill's New Modular Relocatable Concrete Plant Reduces Carbon Footprint
Launching in North America, the modular on-site plants incorporate a range of features, including more accurate weighing and better moisture management, that reduce CO2 emissions, increase precision, and improve productivity.
Katy Tomasulo
February 11, 2022
3 Min Read
During World of Concrete 2022, Tecwill announced it is launching its modular relocatable concrete plant concept to the North American market. The plants have a range of features that increase precision and improve productivity while helping to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete production.
Joensuu, Finland-based Tecwill offers ready-mixed concrete plants; relocatable on-site concrete plants for construction projects; concrete plants for precast, block, and paving stone manufacturing, and shotcrete plants for mining and tunneling. The design and fabrication company is strengthening its presence in North America with its latest concept, Arcamix, an easy-to-move, factory-enclosed structure that is an ideal solution for urban environments and wintertime production. With winter panels installed at the factory, the system eliminates the months-long process of erecting frames and panels on site.
What’s more, Arcamix helps reduce the carbon footprint of concrete production in the following ways:
More accurate weighing: The new modular relocatable concrete plant concept features Tecwill’s “flying” aggregate weighing system with dynamic weighing and 40% smaller aggregate bin structures. Not only does the design save space, it provides for 50% lower energy consumption than a conventional weighing belt/skip hoist system, the company says. With better control of dosing deviation and more accurate weighing, the plants help ensure precise aggregate measurements and can reduce the cement content in a mix design by up to 30 kg/m3. For example, 15 kg (33 pounds) less cement per cubic meter for 130,000 cubic yards of annual production brings 1,500 tons of annual savings on cement per year, can save $150,000 (at $100/ton), and reduces CO2 emissions by 1,350 tonnes per year.
Better moisture management: Free water is one of the biggest causes of out-of-spec concrete. Arcamix includes OptiMoist, a moisture measuring probe on the aggregate belt above the material flow that helps ensure precise aggregate and water measurements, as well as correct slump, and allows for more repeatable concrete production, the company says. This results in less rejected concrete and waste, and therefore unnecessary emissions.
Better temperature control in cold weather: The bins of Tecwill’s modular plants provide more sophisticated control of aggregate heating. This allows for a 30% smaller fuel consumption, about 2 pounds per cubic yard of concrete. With the same 130,000-cubic-yard example as above, that amounts to a savings of $130,000 per year and reduced CO2 emissions of 262 tons per year.
Better batch plant logistics: Concrete plants are often located some distance from the site, particularly for urban projects. Tecwill’s modular plant is relocatable and within a factory-installed enclosure, so it helps reduce traffic and noise from transport, making it ideally suited to urban settings. And with shorter transport distance from plant to site, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are further decreased. It also is easy to operate in winter.
Along with the savings brought by the plant’s specialized operations, Tecwill incorporates a variety of solutions to reduce CO2 emissions in the manufacture of the Arcamix plant itself. These include utilizing used shipping containers as a support structure instead of raw steel. Tecwill also noted that up to 40% of plant structures are fabricated locally, reducing transportation emissions.
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