Managing waste muck remains a persistent technical bottleneck that restricts progress and compliance in earth pressure balance shield tunneling. Excavated clay, sand-pebbles, and weathered rocks form a high-viscosity, non-Newtonian fluid after mixing with bentonite, foam, and polymers. Direct transport of this slurry consumes land resources, incurs high logistics fees, and triggers slope landslide risks. The shield muck treatment system from KOSUN utilizes multi-stage separation and fluid dynamics to provide an economic, compliant fluid-driven solution for global municipal contractors.
Modular Architecture and Multi-Stage Separation Processes
The system employs a compact modular configuration to optimize transport and fast assembly within confined urban workspaces. The complete process chain integrates slurry preparation units, coarse shale shakers, sand washers, fine shale shakers, desander hydrocyclones, slurry pumps, manifolds, and filter presses. This setup controls drilling waste at the source through three specific workflows:
- Material Disaggregation and Primary Screening: Slurry preparation units dilute and disaggregate high-viscosity muck. The fluid then flows across high-frequency coarse shakers, which intercept and dewater large-diameter sand and pebbles. This protects downstream pumps from cavitation and excessive erosion.
- Hydrocyclone Node and Secondary Classification: Heavy-duty slurry pumps force the sand-bearing fluid into desander hydrocyclone manifolds. The resulting high-acceleration centrifugal field performs secondary solid-liquid separation. Extracted fine sand enters sand washers and fine shakers for deep dewatering to produce high-purity recyclable aggregates.
- Final Filtration and Closed-Loop Water Reutilization: High-pressure filter presses accept the micro-grade thick sludge from the hydrocyclone overflow. Mechanical pressure transforms the sludge into dry cakes for volume-reduced transport. Concurrently, the system routes clarified water back to the front-end slurry units, achieving zero liquid discharge without consuming fresh water.
High-Efficiency Application in Shenzhen Metro Construction
During a specific shield tunneling section of the Shenzhen Metro, engineers encountered challenging geological strata of highly sticky clay and weathered rock. Faced with abundant groundwater, heavy polymer dosing, tight urban space, and strict environmental audits, the project team deployed the customized shield muck treatment system from KOSUN. The equipment demonstrated exceptional particle compatibility and mechanical stability, shortening traditional drying cycles significantly. The processed sand and dry mud served directly as premium raw materials for simultaneous grouting and low-grade eco-bricks in surrounding construction. This approach eliminated traditional mud pits and liquid waste hauling costs, lowering the total lifecycle cost of the project substantially.
Project Value of the Shield Muck Treatment System
The shield muck treatment system from KOSUN utilizes optimized flow channels and robust components to transform construction waste into valuable urban mineral resources. Successful installation helps project managers maximize daily drilling progress while reducing total environmental operational expenditure.