Pit & Quarry, February 2017
DREDGING Next generation dredging A sediment collection system in use at the Port of Cleveland has crossover potential for sand and gravel operations STORY AND PHOTOS BY KEVIN YANIK he 30 ft long speed bump sits alongside the river serving as a tangible example for curious passersby of T the hardware thats submerged in the waters below That visible speed bump which sits behind a Kurtz Bros Inc facility in Independence Ohio is actually a collector thats capable of capturing sediment on the riverbed as it moves upstream Sediment can be processed into salable sand and as Jason Ziss manager of business development at Kurtz Bros points out the technology can be effective in a number of applications I see this equipment as a really good fit for people who are running sandand gravel operations especially people who are using river dredging as their source of raw material says Ziss whose Cleveland area company supplies bulk landscape material and offers services related to recycling construction waste disposal and the environment Kurtz Bros was introduced to the sediment collection system through a multi party initiative to prevent sediment dredged in the Cuyahoga River from being dumped into connecting Lake Erie According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer the U S Army Corps of Engineers dredges more than 200000 cu yd of sediment each year from the riverbed to ensure the Cuyahoga River remains navigable Sediment from the river used to be dumped into the lake but the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency EPA no longer allows such dumping because of concerns the lake is being polluted To that end the Port of Cleveland sought an alternative destination for the river sediment One solution was found through a partnership with Kurtz Bros which ultimately processes excavated Cuyahoga River sediment into salable sand A second solution is the sediment collection system a fully automated setup that also delivers salable sand The Port of Cleveland which collects a royalty on harvested material received a grant from the Ohio EPA and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that essentially paid for its own sediment collection system The system has met the ports expectations It definitely works says Jim White the director of sustainable infrastructure programs at the Port of Cleveland We produce really high quality material Its cheaper to operate than we thought it would be and it doesnt take nearly the footprint we expected it would Perhaps of most interest to sand andgravel operations however is this new method of dredging material along riverbeds This is the next generation for those people says Randy Tucker president and CEO at Streamside Technology who developed his companys sediment collecting technologies 10 PIT QUARRY February 2017 pitandquarry com
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