Crushing of reinforced concrete directly on site with the Simex CBE 40 crusher bucket

Great productivity and reliability for the Simex CBE 40 facing demolition waste with rebar, within an aggregate recycling center.

We visited the Trascavi demolition waste recycling center, in the nearby of Bologna, to observe a Simex CBE 40 crusher bucket working on one of the most demanding materials to crush: reinforced concrete. In this specific case, it was a matter of mixed materials: industrial floor, piles and pylons, with a massive presence of rebars. Among the most difficult and delicate materials to treat, reinforced concrete slows down processing times and therefore costs; in addition, it often causes damage to crushing plants, causing long and inconvenient downtime, as the owner of the company, Sergio Martini told us: “Right because of the rebars, our crushing plant is out of order, waiting to be repaired. The rotor system of the CBE crusher bucket”, continued Mr. Martini "reduces the risk of blocking with any type of demolition material, and no less, with reinforced concrete".

Designed to reduce the volume of aggregates directly on site, CBE crusher buckets for excavator find their perfect application field when working with waste material deriving from demolition and excavations. Thanks to the rotor system, they don’t suffer iron, soil (even dump or wet), wood and deformable materials. CBE 40 is specifically designed to be mounted on 24-40 tons excavators and exerts a cutting force of 152 kN driven by high-displacement direct-drive radial piston motors. With a capacity of 1 cubic meter, the bucket stands out for its robust construction and the reliability of all parts subject to wear. The shaft is first forged and then cold worked with numerical control machines until the required sizes and tolerances are reached. This production process guarantees even more hardness and reliability to this component, one continuously submitted to dynamic stresses (torsional and shear) and to the effects of resistance and abrasivity of the reinforced concrete.

Mounted on a New Holland E245B, Simex CBE 40 worked with demolition waste, mainly reinforced concrete with a strong presence of iron rods in it. Rebar, in demolition process, tends to get tangled making the loading phase and the subsequent crushing even more complex. But the CBE 40 didn’t have any difficulties in the volumetric reduction of the aggregates, also thanks to the automatic drum inversion system, which optimized the work flow in particularly difficult conditions. The output size of the crushed material made by a CBE 40 is 0-70 mm, that is of the same grain size as that processed by the company crushing plant. In a second phase, the crushed concrete will be cleaned from iron using special hydraulic magnets, then screened to remove non-compliant parts, i.e., plastics and debris that do not match the regulatory parameters. 

“The recycled material produced by the CBE 40 crusher bucket has no substantial difference with the one of our crushing plants", Mr. Martini told us, "And can be recovered directly on site as stabilized aggregate in the construction field for non-structural parts (such as oversite concrete and perimeter screeds), or in road bases”.

The recovered concrete thus becomes a precious material for the recycling industry that ensures both adequate ventilation – preventing moisture infiltration from the soil – and the necessary structural stability. Simex aims to expand the concept of crushing alongside the on-site recovery of those materials which, once crushed, volumetrically reduced or screened, can be recovered immediately. And this thanks to the versatility of its attachments that can be mounted on all types of prime movers, both excavators and front loaders. Even within well-equipped companies such as the one visited, the Simex crusher bucket did not disfigure, ensuring high performance and excellent productivity even in the presence of reinforcing bars, without incurring the risk of blocking or worse still, failure. The CBE crushing bucket thus becomes a real mobile rotor crusher, capable of recovering all the waste aggregate directly on site, while ensuring broad autonomy to the operator, without any additional costs for transporting or disposing of materials.