Industries that Heavily Benefit from the Use of Crushers
What are the industries that benefit from the use of crushers?
- Mining
- Industrial Recycling
- Food Processing and Recycling
In the world of heavy-duty equipment, there are many interesting and useful machines that are commonplace like the road roller, crane or even the bulldozer. However, one such machine that is relatively underappreciated is the crusher. It may seem like crushers have a niche use, but what most people do not realize is that crushers can be used in various ways in different industries aside from construction.
Knowing these other industries and applications can be important for you because the crusher can be a solution to a problem you might be facing at work, especially if you are part of the industries that will be mentioned below. In order to help widen your knowledge of industrial equipment while at the same time give you more tools for your disposal, here are some industries that benefit from the use of crushers.
Mining
The first and most common industry you would find a crusher at work would have to be the mining industry. Due to the nature of crushers, mining operations are simply easier when they are used. In the gathering of iron ore, big chunks of rock are often reduced to smaller pieces in order to specifically find the bits and pieces that contain the iron ore. Due to the worldwide demand and value of iron, crushers are used to process rock in an efficient and streamlined manner.
That being said, when not using a crusher, dangerous and inefficient ways of processing rocks will be used such as using explosives and manual crushing with hand tools. These, while feasible, can be detrimental to your mining endeavors because they are potentially harmful to the environment and the people involved. For these reasons, a crusher is a must.
Quarrying
Quarrying can be considered as a sub-type of mining mainly because the nature of the two processes is similar. The big difference between mining per se and quarrying is in the materials that are being processed and the environment it is being done in. Quarrying usually involves the processing of dimension stone, rocks, rock aggregates, and gravel among others instead of the ores and metals that miners are usually after. Quarries are also a type of an open-pit mine which means they are done on the surface level instead of deep-underground or within a mountain and other rock formations.
In the same way, crushers are efficient at processing rocks containing ore, they are also very effective at processing rocks for the purpose of construction materials such as concrete, asphalt, and cement. This is because crushers can reduce a stone’s size for different and specific uses. Mobile crushers can also easily maneuver around open-pit quarries making them excellent machines in similar kinds of environment.
Industrial Recycling
In connection with the previous entries, crushers are also great at recycling materials. The most common construction and demolition (C&D) waste include concrete, asphalt, wood, drywall, metals, plastics, and cardboard. When put through a crusher, these materials can be used for more construction applications instead of being dumped in landfills. For example, the first step of recycling concrete involves the crushing of used blocks of uncontaminated concrete. Only then can it be repurposed as a dry aggregate for new concrete, which is used to build structures or serve as a base layer for asphalt roads.
Not only do crushers help in the preservation of the environment, but they also provide materials for future projects – keeping many materials sustainable and helps support ‘green’ or eco-friendly production methods. Mobile crushers work best in this regard as they can be easily moved into construction or job sites for on-site recycling instead of being sent to recycling plants.
Food Processing and Recycling
Moving on to less popular uses for the crusher, the food industry also uses them for the purpose of processing and recycling. In that regard, one of the primary purposes of this machine is to reduce the size of food materials to a state where it can be further processed. Rotary crushers are specifically used to blend and churn soft to medium-hard food products such as ice, carbonates, chocolate, and other candy products. In terms of recycling food, crushers are also used to process food waste and repurpose it as animal feed, fertilizer and electrical or heat sources through anaerobic digestion.
Key Takeaway
As you’ve read above, crushers play an important role in the manufacturing and recycling processes of different industries such as the mining and food industries. Without crushers, many of their processes are left inefficient and efforts pushing for sustainable production methods will be potentially disabled. In an age of heightened environmental awareness and consciousness, that should not be the case.
Next time you are thinking of the best heavy-duty machinery around, look beyond the road roller or the bulldozer because the crusher has done far more than you think.
