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McLanahan UltraWASH Modular Plants Simplify Maintenance and Offer Flexibility

McLanahan UltraWASH modular plants, the next-generation line of McLanahan’s field-proven wet processing plants, are designed with the end user in mind.

“Within the plant design, we’ve tried to incorporate what we see as being the customer’s primary focus or primary areas of concern. This relates largely to how they process, operate and maintain the equipment,” said Bevan McLachlan, Mechanical Engineer at McLanahan. “It’s easy for an OEM to build a plant that can go together and do the job — it’s much harder for an OEM to then consider a whole life cycle.”

Some of the questions McLanahan considered when designing the UltraWASH line included:

  • How can we provide access to every single part of the plant that requires maintenance?
  • How can we provide on-the-fly plant adjustments to improve processing outcomes?
  • How can we ensure the plant itself is going to be usable and maintainable for the life of the plant?
  • How do we ensure that the equipment spares are up to the task of suiting a readily changeable or easily maintainable plant?

“Those are the philosophies that we’re trying to incorporate in all our designs, and we take that seriously,” McLachlan said. “We want to make sure that the plant is not just fit for purpose from a process perspective, but that it’s safe and easy to operate.”

Simplified maintenance

One of the ways McLanahan simplified maintenance access in the plant is with its Eze-Riser System. The system consists of a foot lever, which is used to raise the discharge pipes off the pumps, and a locking mechanism to hold the pipes aloft so they can be rolled out onto the built-in trolley system.

Another maintenance feature is the moveable aggregate hood on the discharge end of the sizing screen. When it comes time for screen maintenance, the aggregate hood can be rolled backward onto the walkway behind it. Meanwhile, the platform that makes up the walkway can be rolled forward, providing a surface on which to access either the screen or the aggregate hood.

Other maintenance features include an access door in the side of the sump to assist with suction pipe replacement and tank cleaning, as well as lifting beams for pipe replacement and an optional tracked feed conveyor that can fold backward on itself to provide ground access to the feedbox. 

Plant flexibility

McLanahan knows that deposits and/or product requirements can change, so it added several features for adjusting the material as it is processed through the UltraWASH.

Fines Forward Slide

The Fines Forward Slide, which divides the bottom deck of the Sizing Screen and spans across its width, can divert a portion of the fine sand into the coarse stream, maximizing plant capacity by balancing the fine and coarse processing streams. The Fines Forward Slide can also block the entry of coarse material into the fines processing stream by substituting the fine panels with coarse panels.

Aggregate mixing gates

Mixing gates within the aggregate hood allow producers to combine adjacent aggregate product sizes after they come off the sizing screen to create one, two or three specification products.

Sand blending gates

Blending gates on the Dewatering Screen discharge chute allow fine and coarse sand to be blended as necessary prior to stockpiling.  

Convertible sump

With a conversion kit, the sump can be changed between a one- or two-pump setup and the sand process can be altered to process a single wash, a double wash or a two product sand. 

In addition to built-in features that allow for product adjustment, the UltraWASH line can be configured to meet changes in process requirements. Modules can be added or removed as needed to create the desired product, and they be combined other products in McLanahan’s Ultra series — including the UltraSCREEN, UltraSCRUB, UltraFINES, UltraCRUSH, UltraDRY and EcoCycle and EcoPress— to create an entire wet processing plant.

“The configuration is achieved by having commonality between modules, and that’s all been designed from the beginning,” said McLachlan. “Even if your process requirements change throughout your operating lifetime, you can modify the plant to suit to get the outcome that you need.”

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