First hot-gas generator is commissioned in France

Groupe Lingenheld, a major French building contractor, was looking to become sustainable and carbon-neutral. A new Benninghoven asphalt mixing plant has recently become an important part of the company’s strategy here and is now equipped with the first hot-gas generator in France. Thanks to this technology, Lingenheld can recycle 90 + X% of its asphalt while significantly reducing emissions.

The approval of the digitally planned plant was based on a photorealistic, three-dimensional visualization that accounted for all of the local conditions on site and therefore gave the project owners a clear basis for making their decision.

Benninghoven adds value even before construction work starts:

3D visualizations provide a picture-perfect presentation.

Lingenheld invests in green technology

The Alsace-based Groupe Lingenheld has demonstrated its commitment to sustainability in many different ways. As one example, the company has invested in a fleet of electric vehicles for its employees and has used tree-planting to balance out all of its CO₂ footprint. Alongside road-building, Lingenheld also offers a number of specialized services, such as the decontamination of buildings and terrain polluted with toxic substances.

The company is also a pioneer in the asphalt production segment, where it is now investing in eco-friendly recycling technology from Benninghoven. Lingenheld has recently acquired a type TBA 4000 asphalt mixing plant with a hot-gas generator. Offering market-leading recycling technology, this plant converts up to 90 + X% of reclaimed asphalt into new asphaltic mixture while simultaneously reducing emissions – especially total carbon (TC). To ensure the plant also meets stringent requirements for low-dust operation, a high-performance Benninghoven filter system with a capacity of 90,000 Nm³/h also extracts most of the dust produced.

The TBA 4000 also offers a huge performance boost. The 320 t of asphalt that Lingenheld can now produce and deliver per hour represents a doubling of the old plant’s capacity. Other components have been expanded accordingly, with a hot bin section of 130 t, a loading silo of 341 t in four bins (as well as 13 t of direct loading), which means that Lingenheld can store and process both large and small quantities of asphalt. A wide choice of feed systems ensures that many different recipes can be implemented. Additives, granulates, and adhesives can be dosed directly into the mixing process. All of which means that the target of 100,000 t of various high-quality asphaltic mixtures per year is easily achievable.

First hot-gas generator in France

The hot-gas generator was a key argument for an investment in Benninghoven technology. This technology not only helps Lingenheld to push forward with its low-emission strategy but also pays its way while doing so. Recycling rates as high as 90 + X% are simply not offered by any other system on the market. This is an advantage that Lingenheld is now benefiting from as the first customer in France. “We’re looking to achieve a lot with our new Benninghoven plant. It will make it very simple to use our milled material from renovation projects as raw input for new mixtures,” comments Sebastien Wolff, Head of Technical and Industrial Systems at Groupe Lingenheld. We will need much less virgin mineral, which is comparatively more expensive. So the use of recycled material is also very profitable from a business perspective.”

In terms of the current market situation in France, the company’s use of Benninghoven technology has put it in pole position. Asphalt production with large ratios of recycled material is a fast-growing segment. Multivariable feed systems, a technology for the gentle feeding of reclaimed asphalt without heating, already achieve recycling ratios of 40%. This cold feed system is now established on the French market and even this Benninghoven solution can already exceed the recycling ratios achieved by many competitors. However, an even more sustainable solution for producing asphalt is the hot feed system from Benninghoven – the hot-gas generator. By using hot gas for the indirect heating of reclaimed asphalt in a counter-flow system, a uniform temperature is achieved throughout the entire plant, since no plant component needs to be operated with excessive heat.

Benninghoven plants are state-of-the-art for recycling

This process is made possible by the use of the Benninghoven hot-gas generator. While direct firing would tend to “burn” the recycled material coated with bitumen, the hot-gas generator simply heats it indirectly and therefore raises it gently to the optimum application temperature. At the same time, the process keeps emissions at a low level – and below the figure set by TA-Luft regulations in Germany, for example. This is achieved by co-firing most of the hydrocarbons contained in the exhaust gas flow. An optional continuous emission meter on the plant’s stack can also monitor compliance with limit values in real time. This offers a decisive benefit in light of the trend towards increasingly stringent regulations and limit values.

Made to measure from the most advanced production facility for asphalt mixing plants

The installation of the new TBA 4000 plant in Alsace was organized so as to keep production downtime to a minimum. This meant that Lingenheld continued to operate the old plant while Benninghoven’s fitters set up the new TBA directly adjacent to it. These cramped conditions plus truck traffic carrying asphaltic mixtures created a challenging working environment. Careful planning ensured that the container modules for the TBA arrived exactly on time. It’s all in the name after all: TBA stands for Transportable Benninghoven Anlage [Plant]. This Wirtgen Group brand produces asphalt mixing plants sought after worldwide at its new factory in Wittlich. This production facility, the most advanced of its kind, lets Benninghoven meet a wide variety of market and customer requirements and ensure timely deliveries.

The project consultants used the 3D visualization to help the customer form a precise picture of the new target build beforehand, which enabled them to compare it with the current plant. “This is really helpful,” emphasizes Alexandre Richard, Benninghoven’s Area Sales Manager for the Wirtgen Group in France. “With 3D modelling, Benninghoven can stay true to its value proposition of staying close to our customers even when using the very latest technology.”