Blue Water Industries Cypress Sand, located in Davenport, Fla., began operating in 2022. The site produces a range of products, including DOT sand, asphalt sand and concrete sand.
“This project was a greenfield site,” explained Steve Tilquist, operations manager at Blue Water Industries. “We came in, we drilled, we tested and made sure everything was good in the ground first. Then we started looking for a supplier for the equipment.”
After surveying the site, Blue Water Industries needed to find equipment that met production needs, efficiently producing the maximum amount of material with minimal maintenance and downtime, as well as creating an in-spec product that meets customers’ quality standards.
However, with the increasing population in Florida, water permits and requirements for aggregate processing are becoming stricter. Because wet processing is such a large part of aggregate processing, these permits and requirements create a roadblock for producers. Water recycling and clarification is becoming a popular solution to these problems.
Blue Water Industries wanted a processing solution that would efficiently yield products, recycle water and comply with state regulations. Working with McLanahan and McLanahan dealer, Paschal Associates, Blue Water Industries received an efficient and effective solution for this challenge.
Working with McLanahan, Blue Water Industries was able to create a tailored solution to meet its goals of recycling water and maximizing product yield.
The site processes material from a dredge pit using a cutter head suction dredge. The dredge pumps material to the plant where it is sent through a scalping screen. From there, material goes to a feed regulating sump and is pumped to a set of McLanahan Hydrocyclones for desliming.
Material that exits the Hydrocyclones is processed through the HydrosizerTM to create a 35-mesh split, which is sent to a metering bin. The fines that overflow from the HydrosizerTM go to a Classifying Tank to separate finer particle sizes.
The product from the metering bin is then blended with the Classifying Tank underflow and dewatered on a McLanahan Dewatering Screen. Any fines that have passed through the system are sent through an Ultra Fines Recovery System.
The custom plant allows Blue Water Industries to recycle process water and minimize tailings.
“They’re able to recycle the water, to utilize roughly 50% of the water that comes from the pit,” said Mike Walker, sales engineer at Paschal Associates. “The rest of it is recycled, recirculated for other processing needs.”
The McLanahan wash plant has provided Blue Water Industries with efficient processing and a high product yield, while recycling water, meeting sustainability goals and saving money.
“Everything is flowing well. What I really like about it is the HydrosizerTM,” Tilquist said. “It really helps you to eliminate the amount of fines that you have on the back end.”
The HydrosizerTM has allowed the plant to yield about 95-98% sand. Another key piece of the wash plant is the Dewatering Screen. Oscar Cardona, site manager, explained that the Dewatering Screen is extremely beneficial to the site’s operation.
“The wetter the material, the more time we have to wait before we can sell it,” Cardona said. “Our concrete sand product is coming out at 3.5 to 4% moisture.”
Not only does the Dewatering Screen minimize drying time and help the site sell product more readily, but it also helps reduce hauling costs and prevent wear on mobile equipment.
McLanahan and Paschal helped Blue Water Industries throughout the entire process of developing this project. From planning to startup, the site received support from both parties.
“It means a lot,” Cardona said. “It’s not just a company selling you a piece of equipment and then not being able to get help when you need it.”
“My overall experience with McLanahan has been great. Any questions I had, they were here to answer them,” explained Tilquist.
“Everyone in Florida who has a sand mine, has classifier experience,” Tiquist said. “We decided to use McLanahan after we saw what they could do with their aggregate flow and what the yield would be for our process here at Blue Water.”
McLanahan’s tailored solution proved to be the best option for Blue Water Industries’ process, meeting the goals of the plant while still recycling water and following state regulations.
Tilquist said, “We’ve worked together to create a concept, with my 20 years of experience, that I think we have one of the best sand plants in the state of Florida.”
