Ryan Zenor of Sennebogen shows the electric relay system featured on the Sennebogen 818 E to Pinellas County employees
Boasting one of the most advanced waste management systems in the Southeast United States, the Pinellas County, Fla., Solid Waste Management Facility has been a part an aggressive solid waste management program for several decades.
The county has an energy incinerator, which allows it to burn a significant amount of its solid waste, and in the process, convert the energy into electricity. As a result, the county is sending fewer items to the landfill, which extends the life of the landfill, while at the same time producing enough energy to power 50,000 homes. Using this process, the county has been able to make a profit from its solid waste management operations.
“We are very proud of what we have done here in Pinellas County, and we're always looking for ways to improve, said Michael Merrell,” solid program waste manager of Pinellas County. “Our current landfill has the capacity to operate until 2104, and anything we can do to extend the life expectancy of the landfill benefits everyone. Anything that we are unable to burn in the incinerator, goes into the landfill, so logically, the more material we can send to the incinerator, the more energy we are able to produce and less material goes into the landfill, thus extending the life of the landfill.”
Recently, Pinellas County took delivery of a Sennebogen 818-E–Series mobile scrap handler from Great Southern Equipment Company, Tampa, Fla., to expand its efforts.
“We have about 100,000 tons that we could burn if it were smaller for the plant,” said Merrell. “We think we could shred about 50 percent of what goes to the landfill now.
“Our current goal is to burn more and bury less, but our biggest obstacle to incinerating more solid waste is the size of the items that the current feeding system can deliver into the incinerator. The feeding system design limits us to incinerating items that are three-and-a-half feet in surface area or smaller.”
According to Merrell, the design of the Sennebogen 818 E–Series will be part of the solution for Pinellas County.
“We are the process of creating specifications and bidding out a shredder that will meet our needs,” said Merrell. “However, before purchasing the shredder, we needed to purchase a material handler to feed the shredder. That's why we purchased the Sennebogen 818 E –Series.”
Several features of the Sennebogen 818 E–Series are working well for the county, including its 360 degree one half yard rotating grapple and the bird's eye view from the elevated cab, which eliminates the need for another set of eyes to monitor the progress of the grinder as materials are added. The grapple on the Sennebogen 818 E–Series also is suited for handling tires, which due to the high level of pollutants, cannot be fed directly into the incinerator. However, if the tires are ground and mixed with other combustible materials, the emissions are no longer an issue.
The Sennebogen 818 E is specifically designed to work in the landfill environment. It offers robust performance in harsh, dirty environments and boasts low fuel consumption. The system, which relies heavily on hydraulics, requires less support than an electronic system.
Merrell also had high praise for his dealer, Great Southern Equipment Company.
“It was great to work with Steve Tuton of Great Southern Equipment Company,” said Merrell. “When I first talked with Steve, I told him what the plan was for solid waste with the bulky waste program, and asked for his recommendation. Initially, Steve asked me what size shredder we would be using and what type of product would we putting in it. He took the time to make sure we would be satisfied with his recommendation, and he made sure we purchased the right size material handler. I enjoyed the time and experience of learning from Steve. We not only got a great piece of equipment, but we also got exceptional service.
For more information, visit www.gsequipment.com.
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