by Jon M. Casey

For Michelle and Joe Logan, owners of Logan Aggregate Recycling, Inc. of Richmond, VA, success has come steadily since they began the concrete and asphalt recycling business in early 2010. Having  realized a need for an onsite custom crushing service in the greater Richmond and Tidewater area of Virginia, the Logans departed from Joe’s former occupation as a heavy equipment sales representative. They began the business using a crusher, a screener and a mobile conveyor system that met their needs but required considerable space when it came to crushing at a customer’s site. More importantly, it required more time and equipment to move from place to place.
Logan saw the need to consider a change, especially with the onset of the new emission regulations and the Tier IV engine requirements in the industry. “In early 2012 we began looking for a second machine that could help us expand operations and at the same time would give us a smaller footprint when it came to setting up at the jobsite,” said Joe. “That was when Jeff Ford, regional manager for Mid-Atlantic Powerscreen in Northern and Central Virginia introduced us to the XH320SR impact crusher. We purchased this unit in February of last year.”
Logan said that he had been finding that there were times when the limited space of some of the jobsites made it difficult to maneuver around the equipment. He said that with the more compact XH320SR, his workers can load material into the infeed hopper with either an excavator or a front end loader, depending on the amount of space available at the time. At today’s location, the Branscome Richmond-Deepwater asphalt plant, there is sufficient room for a ramp that allows easier loading with the John Deere 644J front end loader that they have onsite. “That loader is outfitted with a 4.5 yard bucket which is a good size for loading this machine,” he said.
“We also purchased an Anaconda 36-inch x 60-foot tracked stacker from COR Equipment to go with this crusher,” he said. “We added a Belt-Weigh conveyor scales to the unit so that we could have an accurate record of what we were crushing on a daily basis. That has been an extremely helpful tool.”
Logan said that his foreman here, Brad Howard of Suffolk, VA and crewmembers, Jimmy Davis of Chesapeake, VA, Brent Bogese of Green Grove, VA, and Stephen English of Hampton, VA have developed a steady routine that helps them achieve excellent daily tonnage, with this new crusher. Together, they move material with the loader and a Hitachi 230 excavator, outfitted with a quick coupler. The coupler gives them the flexibility to both load and move material with a bucket, or to switch over to a 5000 pound. hammer to break bigger chunks of material when they encounter it.
Logan’s crew regularly rotates between the Branscome facilities that they serve and other independent jobs as contracts require. “Branscome has four asphalt plants in Richmond, five in the tidewater area and one on the eastern shore,” he said. “We rotate between their facilities as they have need. When their RAP stockpiles are large enough, we   coordinate with their operations people to go where they need the crushing done.”
He said that with the previous three piece system, it took more time and more transportation equipment to move from site to site. Now, we can tear down and move to a new location and be ready to crush in 24 hours. That is even including taking time to pressure wash the equipment between jobsites. We like to look the machines over at that time as part of our regular maintenance routine.”
Logan said that the XH320SR is a closed circuit machine that gives them added performance since most of their output is material of one size, a 5/8-inch minus material. With the built-in screen and return conveyor designed to take oversized material and return it to be recrushed immediately, there is no need for a separate screen plant with an additional diesel engine and conveyors. Now it is all done in one easy process.
“Not only do we save the fuel of the screener, we have found that this new Scania powered, Tier IV power plant, uses about one fourth less fuel per ton of material ground than our previous machine,” he said. “That has made us quite a savings in cost per ton of material crushed. With the ever increasing cost of fuel, being able to produce more tons per hour on less fuel is a real plus. In some situations, we have seen a fuel savings of 30 percent over past performance.”
He said that cost savings are similar for crushing concrete as well, even with the presence of rebar in the material. “We crush concrete block and pavers to a 1/2-inch minus material, while the return material at ready mix plants is usually crushed a little larger, especially when we are using it for fill. We really appreciate the smaller footprint in the block plant,” he said. “There’s not as much room there to move around, so the smaller equipment makes it easier. We can back the crusher up to the input stockpile and load the machine with an excavator.” For more    information about Logan Aggregate Recycling, Inc., visit their website at www.loganagg.com or by calling them at 804-363-8870.