Dallas Contracting Co., Inc. Completes Large Demolition Project at Cement Plant in West Virginia

Dallas Contracting Co., Inc. (http://www.dallascontracting.com) was contracted by Essroc Italcementi Group (Essroc) to demolish sixteen (16) cement and sand storage silos, several outlying buildings and also excavate out an area of property containing basements and foundations from former buildings and structures at the Essroc Cement Plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia. A portion of the plant needed to be demolished prior to Essrocs planned site renovation, representing a total investment of $320 million. Essroc is a leading North American cement producer headquartered in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, with an annual capacity of 7 million metric tons. Essroc is a member of Italcementi Group, one of the largest cement producers in the world, based in Bergamo, Italy.

The standing silos and buildings comprised the bulk of the above grade demolition work. Eleven (11) of the silos were 26 feet in diameter by 45 feet high and were 60-75% filled with sand or cement. Five (5) of the silos were clustered and measured 26 feet diameter by 80 feet high and were filled 75-85% with sand or cement. The standing buildings varied in height from 1 to 3 stories with an average footprint of 25,000 square feet.

Prior to demolition, several of the silos required asbestos abatement of the roofs. While this was being accomplished, Dallas Contracting developed a Site Specific HASP/Work Plan and detailed demolition notification to the West Virginia DEP.


The Old Plant Site

Each silo was filled to a varying degree with aggregate and finished product as well as a residual coating of cement on the outside of the structures. The large amount of dust and cement powder, posed a significant dust control issue for Dallas Contracting employees and plant employees during the demolition phase. Dallas Contracting selected the patent-pending DustBoss dust suppression system for its air quality management. Two (2) DustBoss units with portable generators were utilized to create a dust barrier between the area to be demolished and the active plant. The dust control measures were very effective in controlling fugitive dust emissions.

To accomplish the demolition of the silos and buildings to grade, Dallas Contracting utilized several different pieces of heavy equipment including a Komatsu PC 450 LC with a fabricated steel rake attachment, a Komatsu PC 400 LC with concrete pulverizer attachment, a Komatsu 300 with concrete pulverizer, a rubber tired wheel loader with 5 cubic yard bucket and a Cat 236 skid steer loader. A 200 ton P&H lattice boom crane with wrecking ball was also utilized on the 80 foot tall silos to reduce them to a height of 40 foot, enabling the PC 450 excavator to safely complete the process.

Demolished concrete was placed in a nearby stockpile for crushing where as cement and sand materials where trucked to a separate storage area using two (2) John Deere 250D articulated off road dump trucks and two (2) Caterpillar D350D articulated off road dump trucks.

The silos were constructed of a substantial amount of rebar with inner I-beams for additional reinforcement and support. As the silos were demolished a substantial amount of scrap metal was generated that was sorted from the cement and sand debris, loaded into containers and trailers and then sent offsite for recycling.

Once the structures were demolished to grade, Dallas Contracting proceeded to remove all slabs, foundations and footings. This work was accomplished utilizing the mentioned heavy equipment with the addition of a Komatsu 300 with 8,000 psi hammer, a Komatsu 200 with 5,000 psi hammer and a Cat 963 track loader.

A massive excavation program was then undertaken to remove additional buried footings, foundations and structures as well as buried waste materials to make room for new pilings and footings foundations. The new foundations will provide for two new storage silos to be erected by Essroc. To meet the growing excavation demands,(2) additional Daewoo 420 Excavators were added to the equipment roster. For several months, Dallas Contracting had twelve (12) pieces of heavy equipment, twelve operators, a site supervisor / health and safety officer, project manager and assorted support vehicles to complete this phase of the project. A substantial amount of excavation was done through rock and difficult soil conditions. The rock excavation was expedited using the (3) hammer equipped excavators to first break the rock, while the excavators with buckets would undermine the rock and load the materials into the articulated trucks. Over 150,000 yards of material was excavated, sorted, transported and stockpiled.

Broken concrete from slabs, footings, buildings and silos was then crushed onsite using a Fintec 1007 track-mounted jaw crusher. Powered by a 273-kW Deutz diesel engine, the 42-tonne track-mounted Fintec 1107 incorporates the rugged new Sandvik Real J11 1100x700 single-toggle jaw crusher and the Sandvik Roxon 4000x1000-mm grizzly. For optimum intake and crushing characteristics, the unit is equipped with a 6 m3 hopper with hydraulically foldable sides, a reversible hydrostatic crusher drive and a 40-125 mm hydraulically adjustable closed-side setting (CSS). The unit was also equipped with radio controlled tracks, an overband magnet and dust suppression equipment. The Fintec 1107 has a production rate of between 150 and 300 tonnes per hour, depending on the characteristics of the feed material and the product size required. The crushed materials were utilized onsite as structural fill, road base, and backfilling depressions.

Safety was paramount on this project due to the proximity to the edge of the quarry as well as the remaining active plant structures and roadways. MSHA and OSHA regulations were strictly adhered to and enforced. A significant portion of the project was observed directly by an onsite MSHA officer. The entire project was completed in approximately 4 months without incident or injury.

Dallas Contracting Co., Inc.
1260 New Market Avenue
South Plainfield, New Jersey 07080
P: (908) 668-0600
F: (908) 668-0601
Contact: Damon Kozul, PE, CHMM
Email: dkozul@dallascontracting.com
Website http://www.dallascontracting.com

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