CertanTeed Gypsum

Mining Company Goes Green

Algae-X® helps CertainTeed Gypsum save money, equipment, and the environment 

Between May and December of 2007, CertainTeed Gypsum, a large mining company in Arkansas, spent $3,300 replacing fuel filter elements on one of the two PC1800 Komatsu Shovel operating at the mine. The PC1800 has two Cummins engines per unit.

These 12 cylinder SAA6D140’s with 917HP per engine have two spin on fuel filters, for a total of four per shovel. Annually, the company would have spent in excess of $7,000 for each shovel just in filters, excluding downtime and labor.

To improve up time and reduce operating cost, Kevin Mahan, the plant Senior

Project Engineer had H&E Equipment Services of Little Rock, Arkansas, the local certified Algae-X dealer, install into each PC1800 shovel two Algae-X model 1500 fuel conditioners and treated the fuel with AFC-705 Fuel Catalyst in December

2007. After operating four months 24/7, these shovels have not had any clogged filters or any fuel related downtime in between scheduled preventative maintenance.

Based on these results, Kevin has decided to install fuel conditioners on all Tier II and Tier III equipment operating in the mine. He has also proactively treated the mine’s stored fuel with AFC-705 Fuel Catalyst and purchased an Algae-X MTC-3000 mobile tank cleaning system to remove the water and sludge from their storage tanks.

CertainTeed Gypsum has applied Algae-X green technology that has more than paid for itself by reducing emissions, lowering the consumption of disposable filters, improving engine performance, and increasing up time.