Volvo CE rocks heavy metal in Qatar
Machines used to sort metal scrap in Masaieed
Volvo CE’s scrap handling excavators feature hydraulics ready-made for a range of waste and recycling attachments.
Volvo Construction Equipment machines are playing a key role at a scrap metal sorting plant in Masaieed that feeds into Qatar Steel’s enormous reprocessing plant.
50 kilometres south of Doha, Qatar Steel has its 707,000 m2 reprocessing plant, staffed by 1,650 employees. To meet the growing demand for steel in the region, Qatar Steel has embarked upon a series of initiatives aimed at increasing its production capacity, and there is a further 375,000 m2 reserved for future developments. The company takes small amounts of the scrap metal at a time and puts it through its furnace, casting and rolling process in order to produce sheets of recycled metal.
Saba Engineering, located on the coast of Masaieed’s industrial city, is contracted by Qatar Steel to provide it with scrap metal, with ships transporting large bulks of scrap metals to the site every day from countries across the region, where it sorted into categories for processing.
16 operators on site use two Volvo EC240 B-Series excavators, one EC460 B-Series, two EC240 B-Series with magnetic plates attached to attract certain metals to the attachment (making it easier for the machine to sort through the scrap metal pile) and three EC240 B-Series excavators with specialised grabs.
The scrap metal is crushed and sheared into smaller pieces to make it more manageable. The metal is then transferred to a hauler, which transports the loads to Qatar Steel’s processing plant for melting.
They work surrounded by different types of scrap metal, including hardened processed metals that will be re-processed and mountainous ready-to-use metals that are imported. Volvo CE’s scrap handling excavators feature hydraulics ready-made for a range of waste and recycling attachments, including shears and grapples. Volvo offers 20 different attachments that can be programmed into the excavator’s memory.
“We use our Volvo machines 20 hours a day and each on average consume 300 liters of fuel every day,” says Yameena Ahmad, site supervisor at Saba. “We have had the machines for six years and they are still in good condition and look new.”
The EC240 B-Series has a turbocharged, 4-stroke diesel engine with water cooling, direct injection and charged air cooler. With 134 kW (180 hp), the engine has been developed especially for excavator use, providing good fuel economy, low noise levels and a longer life.
Saba has been working with Araco, Volvo CE’s dealer in Qatar for more than six years.
