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Efficient operation
Operating efficiency is also worth noting. The new plant has cut the cost of fuel needed to dry aggregate from $2.30 per ton to $1.80 per ton. Based on the 125,000 tons the plant produced during the first nine months of operation, Dunn saved over $60,000 in fuel required to fire the burner.

All in all, it's been a good investment for the asphalt producer/contractor.

With the production capacity of the 400-tph plant and the storage capacity of three 240-ton silos (Dunn purchased an additional 240-ton silo), the facility is equipped to handle multiple mix designs throughout the day in order to meet customer demand.

"We believe we're in a much better position to keep our customers satisfied and address future growth opportunities," Croy states. "We're in the process of adding a double RAP handling system that will allow us to process more RAP into the mixes we produce and we planned on doing that when we purchased the plant. (The plant control system that was installed was designed to accommodate the future upgrade of additional RAP processing equipment.)

"We have a lot of RAP coming into the facility from our own projects and we also buy RAP from other contractors," he continues. "Now that we have a plant that can produce mixes with higher RAP content, we'll be able to produce a more economical quality mix that meets the needs of our customers."

"With the old plant it was difficult to produce a mix with 20-percent RAP content," Graham says. "The inefficiency of the undersized baghouse was a big obstacle in increasing RAP without increasing emissions. But now our emissions output is much lower even when we're adding more RAP to the mix design."