Chinese construction machinery manufacturer Zoomlion revealed on the 20th that an environmentally friendly production line capable of producing 150 tons of high-quality manufactured sand per hour was recently put into operation in Jishou, Hunan. The system has applied for more than 20 national patents and possesses multiple independent intellectual property rights.

The production line can produce high-quality manufactured sand around the clock without interruption, and its fully enclosed structure ensures “zero emission” of pollution. Industry insiders commented that this is a major technological innovation in China's sand and gravel equipment industry, ranking at the top level globally in the field of sand and gravel equipment, and is expected to change the situation in which traditional sand mining and production damage the ecological environment and dust pollution is difficult to control.

This is the official commissioning of Zoomlion's world-first 150-ton-per-hour tower-type dry manufactured sand system, which is likewise regarded by the industry as a “major move” by Zoomlion to transform and seek diversified development. As Zhan Chunxin, Chairman of Zoomlion, said, “The Chinese economy is transforming, the global economy is moving toward green growth, and the construction machinery industry has entered an era where efficiency and quality reign supreme.”

According to industry experts, high-quality manufactured sand can replace traditional sand and gravel materials in concrete production, and can improve concrete strength and various indicators while reducing cement consumption, thereby enhancing the quality and service life of buildings and reducing carbon dioxide emissions and smog.

Data show that China's concrete consumption is close to 60% of the world's annual output. As one of the most important raw materials for concrete, sand and gravel aggregate is consumed in huge quantities, with annual output exceeding 10 billion tons and an industry scale of more than 500 billion yuan. However, natural sand and gravel aggregate faces increasingly scarce resources, soaring prices, and prominent supply-demand contradictions; traditional manufactured sand has poor particle shape and is difficult to meet relevant national grading standards, and has been criticized by industry experts as a bottleneck constraining technological progress. Both have become culprits affecting concrete quality.

From a social perspective, high-quality manufactured sand is green and environmentally friendly and conserves resources, and can significantly improve building quality. In 2013, China's commercial concrete reached 2 billion cubic meters. If high-quality manufactured sand were used entirely, 100 million tons of cement could be saved each year. Calculated at 300 yuan per ton of cement, this could save 30 billion yuan for the entire industry. Producing each ton of cement requires 0.14 tons of standard coal and generates 0.7 to 0.8 tons of carbon dioxide. If high-quality manufactured sand were used entirely, 14 million tons of standard coal could be saved each year, and 70 million to 80 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced.

From the industry perspective, the equipment upgrading of the sand and gravel industry, through the introduction and vigorous promotion of high-quality manufactured sand production lines, will significantly promote equipment upgrading in the sand and gravel industry, gradually change traditional backward production methods, and accelerate the regularization and standardization of the sand and gravel industry's development. On the other hand, the domestic commercial concrete industry currently faces overcapacity, continuously rising raw material costs, increasingly intensified competition, and shrinking profit margins. High-quality manufactured sand production lines can reduce concrete production costs by lowering cement consumption and improving sand and gravel quality, enhance the profitability of commercial concrete customers, create favorable conditions for the concrete industry to extend its industrial chain into the sand and gravel industry, and strongly boost the transformation and upgrading of the commercial concrete industry.