The combination of advancements in accessory coupling technology and new products means that material processing is increasingly occurring at the end of the excavator arm.
Excavator and hydraulic material handler accessories used by demolition contractors and recyclers have always had multiple functions, but this century has witnessed an increase in accessories that can be used as "mini" processing plants.
At the 2020 ConExpo-Con/Agg event held in Las Vegas in March, several existing and newly introduced accessories with processing capabilities were displayed.
Several exhibiting companies also highlighted the product features designed to help users of hydraulic material handlers more easily replace accessories or upgrade the hydraulic system that provides power for processing and cutting accessories.
When project managers and contractors consider how to pulverize, grind, screen, and chew materials cost-effectively on site, their increasing choices allow them to use only the excavator, its operator, and custom-designed processing accessories.
At ConExpo 2020, Engcon, a Swedish company headquartered in North Haven, Connecticut, stated that its display of tilter technology for excavator attachments attracted approximately 10,000 visitors.
The company says its tilt spinner is a component, often described as a flexible wrist between the excavator arm and its attachment, allowing the excavator to rotate the bucket or other attachment 360 degrees and tilt it 45 degrees.
Engcon technology was also exhibited at other OEM booths, including those of Doosan, Hyundai, John Deere and Kobelco. Tilt spinners are connected to various excavation equipment, allowing attendees to witness the actual application of the technology or demonstrate in person at the Engcon exhibition area.
"Thousands of ConExpo attendees were able to demonstrate the Engcon tilter," said Engcon CEO Krister Blomgren. "We have received a lot of praise for allowing customers to test drive excavators with our tilter technology-this is an interesting element for visitors and a great way to learn more about how tilters can change the world of excavation."
The company said that in addition to digging with a bucket, the Engcon tilter can also be equipped with a grab, a ripper, an asphalt cutter, a pallet fork and a broom.
Hydrauli Circuit Technology (HCT) in McDonough, Georgia, focuses on the hydraulic power required to efficiently operate the world's growing fleet of accessories.
According to Greg Hickman of HCT, the company's extreme load assist hydraulic kit (also called a "wet kit") can operate almost any attachment on an excavator ranging in size from 8 to 120 metric tons.
Hickman cites shears and multi-function processors (with or without rotating motors), including crushers and crushers, as accessory types that can see the operating advantages of using wet kits. "Other accessories may include grabs (with or without rotating motors), thumbs and quick couplings," he commented.
HCT technology is based on the company's modular design. Hickman added, "We can add or reduce certain suite features that customers may or may not be interested in."
He continued, “HCT regularly consults with excavator and accessory manufacturers and distributors to keep up with the many excavator models and machine series [on the market]. Our measure of success is to provide our customers with easy-to-install A well-assembled kit, and allows customers to obtain the maximum allowable performance of the machine and accessory design."
Werk-Brau Co. Inc., headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, stated that its new series of extreme load excavator buckets are designed to be durable and effective even under severe conditions, with "aggressive digging angles, wear-resistant Robust structural steel and horizontal wear strips from AR400 to AR500."
Werk-Brau stated that the extreme load buckets manufactured in the United States range in size from 3/8 cubic yard to 10 cubic yards. “There are various widths, and special designs and capacities are available on request.”
The company added: "The Werk-Brau extreme load excavator bucket is ideal for demolition work, gravel, abrasive applications, moderate prying, and material handling with thumbs."
The blade on the bucket is made of what Werk-Brau calls "extreme load T-1 [ASTM A514 steel] material", while other critical or high wear parts use AR400 to AR500 high carbon steel to improve strength and durability , Said firmly.
Werk-Brau stated: “Starting with a strong and reliable material, the bucket is designed for heavy-duty operations and can withstand excessive wear.” “In addition to the sturdy material, the bucket is designed with durability in mind. Horizontal wear strips And the extra-thick cutting edge supported by the wear plate covering the entire bottom of the bucket ensures greater durability. The side wear plate protects high wear areas to extend the life of the bucket."
HCT's wet kit is designed to make on-site installation not only possible, but also seamless, Hickman said. He said: “Most HCT kits are based on actual internal installations in our 35,000 square foot manufacturing facility in McDonough.” Hickman added: “HCT has professionally trained product support technicians who can provide Or customers who repair our kits provide first-class after-sales support."
Atlanta-based Geith is another manufacturer of excavator and material handler accessories, focusing on coupler technology at ConExpo 2020, where it first launched the G4 quick coupler.
"The connectors produced by Geith's design and manufacturing team work very well with the excavator," said Adrian Kelly, Geith's sales manager. "We have brought 60 years of experience and expertise to this new coupler, and the result is one of the safest and most efficient couplers on the market, with outstanding durability."
G4 includes a variable pin center design that allows operators to easily pick up and replace various OEM accessories. In addition, the connector can reverse the bucket, allowing the operator to dig against the wall and under the pipe.
Geith said that the G4's multi-pin pickup system is designed to easily pick up accessories with different needle diameters, thereby increasing efficiency when changing accessories. This configuration also allows the operator to change accessories without leaving the cab.
"As always, we focus on safety," Kelly said. "When designing new products, we will look for ways to make the work site safer with Geith accessories. G4 continues this tradition."
Among the new or emerging processing accessories in 2020 is the bucket crusher from Epiroc, Sweden, which has an office in Broomfield, Colorado, USA.
The company stated that its bucket crusher “combines low maintenance and high performance while processing a variety of materials, including aggregates, asphalt, and concrete.” According to Abato, the bucket crusher enables contractors to increase The versatility of the carrier, especially in demolition, recycling and road construction applications.
The company said: “These attachments have powerful components that allow transport truck operators to smash up to 110 tons of material per hour,” and pointed out a drive system that includes two hydraulic motors and a timing belt designed to “ Generate the required high torque" to provide power for the crushing jaw. "
Epiroc also stated that its internally installed drive system eliminates protruding components to minimize the risk of dust entering the hydraulic system and protect key components from flying debris. "In addition, the operator can control the diameter of the crushed material by easily adjusting the jaw exit without any special tools," the company said.
Another Swedish company focused on versatility is Brokk Inc., which has a North American office in Monroe, Washington. Brokk, which makes remote demolition machines, also introduced the BCP planer attachment for so-called "controlled material removal from walls, floors and ceilings for cleaning, renovation and restoration applications."
The three models in the BCP series are designed to be used with the company’s remote control demolition machine, "and provide up to seven times the speed of the handheld option, while providing higher precision for grinding, brushing or removing concrete, glue, carpet, and ceramic tiles. And safety and other materials," Brock said.
Lars Lindgren, President of Brokk, said: "With the BCP planer, our customers can confidently handle more jobs in more industries." "This accessory does not require bulky scaffolding and additional manpower, simplifies the removal application, and provides The accuracy that the handheld option can’t match.”
The Allu Group, headquartered in Finland, has a North American office in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and showcased its new Transformer series of screening crusher attachments. The series uses the company’s new TS blade structure to "transform the unusable The soil, construction waste, and green waste are transformed into valuable materials, ultimately changing the way contractors and manufacturers work."
According to Allu, the TS blades in the Allu TS drum "rotate between the combs." The company stated that the size of the final product is determined by the space between these combs. “It has now developed an updated Allu TS blade structure that provides a higher level of versatility, efficiency and productivity.”
The company said that the new TS component can get more fragment sizes from the same unit. "The single-blade setup places two or three blades in one position, with a screening comb between each blade. Operators can now double or even triple the blades and combs, allowing sizes from 8 mm to 105 mm The size of the fragments has changed threefold."
Allu stated that its Transformer attachment series can be used in conjunction with wheel loaders, excavators, skid steer loaders and backhoe excavators, "screening, crushing, crushing, aerating, mixing, mixing, separating, and feeding materials in one stage. And load materials to improve operational efficiency and profitability.” ”
The number of companies dedicated to research and investment to increase accessory productivity may convince presentation contractors and material recyclers that their industry is getting the right attention.
The author is a senior editor of Recycling Today Media Group and can be contacted at btaylor@gie.net.
Big Sky Land Management invested in a bucket crusher to save time and money in land clearing and subdivision construction plans.
In May 2019, as part of the Big Sky mountain subdivision construction project in Montana, Big Sky Land Management was responsible for clearing the land, so moving the mountains, or more precisely, the instability of the glacier was one of the main obstacles to its scope of work .
Glacier irregularities are rocks carried by the glacier, sometimes hundreds of miles, and then left behind when the glacier melts. These rocks can come in many sizes, ranging from pebbles to huge boulders. Unfortunately for the company, they got a full color gamut, where the largest rock is a 20-foot-high, 20-ton boulder.
Big Sky Land Management is located in Big Sky and has been providing excavation, landscaping and forestry services in the Big Sky area for more than 10 years. The company's excavation services include site work, road and trail construction, residential and commercial foundations, excavation and cleaning of public utility lines, etc.
Although the company is accustomed to dealing with obstacles in the project, the irregular size and number of glaciers during the segmented field work brought some major financial and logistical challenges. In other words, Big Sky Land Management stated that these unstable conditions have brought complexity related to site time, accessibility, and traffic to its 12 staff.
Initially, the company’s system consisted of hammering the boulder to a manageable size using a hammer attachment on an Atlas Copco Case CX350D excavator, and then sending the resulting material to the trash. field. At the same time, they are waiting for trucks to bring aggregate filler materials from a quarry in Bozeman, Montana, at a cost of $40 per yard.
"We [are] working in a very remote work location here and [overall] trucking is a big problem. Justin Miller, CEO and founder of Big Sky Land Management, said that sometimes carrying materials It may take up to two hours. Even after waiting for the materials to arrive, they only received 10 yards at a time.
"The biggest challenge," Miller said, "is trying to find a way to turn a useless product into something we can use on the job site."
In remote work locations, it is more expensive to have trucks transport materials for them and to pay for handling these unstable costs than they are in more accessible locations. When expenses began to accumulate, Big Sky had to reconsider their processes, costs, and whether their systems would allow them to proceed as planned and within budget.
When it was determined that their current system was not conducive to their efficiency, they decided to consider other options. Their first task is to find a solution to manage the instability of the glacier and solve the additional traffic challenges that the project brings.
After doing some research, the owner of Big Sky Land Management discovered MB Crusher's BF120.4 crusher bucket and became interested when the unit seemed to inspect all the boxes. BF120.4 is a portable machine that can be easily transported to the job site. In addition, due to its versatility, it allows operators to smash glacier irregularities to a size below 3/4 inch. Most importantly, by allowing contractors to process materials on site, it will eliminate the need to transport irregular items to the dump, as the materials can be used to fill roads and foundations in the subdivision.
Productivity has also aroused their interest. When processing materials under 5 inches, their productivity can reach 62 cubic yards per hour, and can even crush half an inch if necessary.
However, before investing in the device, Big Sky contacted MB Crusher to learn more about the device, its compatibility with the Case CX350D excavator, and to explore other options in the series if the series is not suitable . After talking with MB Crusher's team, Miller finally decided to buy the device.
"The BF120.4 crusher bucket is very suitable for Big Sky Land Management because of the challenges they face on the job site," said a spokesperson for MB Crusher. "Because their site is located in a remote area, it takes up to two hours for the trucks to bring their equipment, and they also throw away the materials that can be used. In addition, due to the working weight of the machine and the productivity required for the job, the crushing The machine is very suitable for their excavator."
Once BF120.4 arrived and installed on their excavator, Miller said they immediately saw the benefits. After pulling the boulders from the ground, the Big Sky team hammered the required boulders into a pile, and then used a crusher to shovel them and smash them into smaller pieces.
Miller said that after investing in BF120.4, the team found that the efficiency of the project was significantly improved.
"The speed of BF120.4 in a negative value of 5 inches may be 60 yards per hour, so we are moving on. It changes our dump truck laps from two hours to approximately 15 minutes."
Considering the amount of material that needs to be processed and the size to which the team needs to reduce the material to, Miller said the bucket crusher is critical to helping the team achieve its goals.
Without BF120.4, Miller said that Big Sky Land Management would have to continue to use their previous processes, which would cost them money and cause unnecessary downtime to wait for materials.
Miller said that being able to turn irregular things into useful materials that don't need to be shipped off-site helps the company significantly recover project costs.
"Turning useless rocks that we almost had to throw away into fillings... saved us a lot of money," Miller said. "We are doing more crushing now. We are using [crusher] at other sites. Currently, we are doing a similar project in another location. We are now able to keep all the rocks inside, which saves a lot of customers Money. In the [Big Sky] project and the projects we are currently working on, we may have saved approximately $250,000 for each contractor, because we are on-site using materials that are already part of the project for all shredding projects. There is a little bit The cost accompanies us to crush it, but all in all, it is successful."
Therese Arenas is the marketing assistant of MB Crusher, you can contact us at marketing@mbamerica.com.
National regulations on the disposal of C&D debris may have adverse consequences for recyclers.
As the construction and demolition (C&D) recycling industry struggles to cope with the shrinking end market and the reduction in numbers caused by the coronavirus pandemic, recyclers are now facing another battle with national regulations that may threaten their operations.
An example of this can be seen in the recent Environmental Justice Act (S-232) signed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on September 18, which requires the State Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to assess certain environmental and public health pressure source. When reviewing certain permit applications, the facility may have an impact on overburdened communities.
These facilities can include transfer stations or solid waste facilities, recycling facilities that receive at least 100 tons of recyclable materials per day, scrap metal facilities, landfills, medical waste incinerators, etc.
According to William Turley, executive director of the Construction and Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA), this means that any of the above facility proposals require the preparation of an Environmental and Health Impact Statement (EHIS) and a public announcement in the community before allowing the operator The hearing submits a license application to the state.
These requirements not only mean that operators face more regulatory obstacles, but also increase costs.
“The cost of EHIS is between US$30,000 and US$50,000. This is an investment that hardly anyone would make before obtaining the NJDEP permit procedure. Ironically, according to regulations, recycling facilities explicitly exclude preparations for EHIS, so This is a huge reversal of public policy," Terry said.
In addition, Turley stated that the biggest obstacle to the bill may be related to Title V's main air pollution facility. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the main source of Title V is emissions or potential emissions (PTE) of any standard pollutant or hazardous air pollutants (HAP) with levels equal to or greater than the main source threshold (MST).
As stated in the bill, when renewing the primary source permits of existing facilities, all Title V facilities also need to prepare EHIS and allow the project to accept public hearings in the community where the facilities are located.
"New Jersey has 260 Title V facilities. They represent all major environmental infrastructure in the state, such as landfills, large-scale incinerators, every power plant and power station, all sewage treatment plants, most colleges And universities," Terry said. "Although this [legislation] is now for Article 5, what can prevent the state from expanding to other levels of facilities in the future?"
In July, the Waste Recycling Industry Association (ISRI) submitted a written testimony against the bill to the Environment and Solid Waste Committee of the New Jersey State Assembly.
In the statement, Jarred Dorfman, chairman of ISRI's New Jersey chapter, expressed support for the concept of responsible environmental justice legislation, but pointed out ISRI's concern that if there is no amendment, S-232 will impose onerous restrictions on New Jersey and its recycling goals and need to be updated. NJDEP permits the cost of recycling facilities.
"For reasons not provided, the legislation specifically mentions recycling and scrap metal facilities and does not cite other common industrial and commercial activities," the testimony stated. "Most importantly, by targeting recycling and simultaneously promoting the growth of recycling through the simultaneous efforts of the New Jersey legislature, such as S-2515 (which sets recycling content requirements for various take-out packaging), the legislature is creating a Possible state of the recycling industry in this state."
ISRI also warned that the bill may prevent facility operators from seeking to invest in new environmental protection equipment, expand operations, and even develop new facilities that use the most advanced technologies, including reducing pollution.
Terry said that when the state economy is hit by COVID-19, the bill may effectively shut down any new environmental infrastructure development projects in the future.
"We agree that no community should take a disproportionate share of the adverse environmental and public health consequences that accompany state economic growth, and that these communities [should] have a meaningful opportunity to participate in the licensing process, but the bill will give them The right to make the company too easy to fail," he added.
California can also feel similar pressure from the C&D recycling industry. The 1994 California Supreme Court ruling has a lasting impact on some recycling facilities in the state.
The landmark ruling between Rancho Mirage and the City of Palm Springs and their franchisee "Desert Waste Management" redefines the materials that can be legally used within the scope of the exclusive solid waste franchise granted by public entities, thereby establishing a "service "Fee" to check whether the material is solid waste.
Brock Hill, owner of the San Jose-based Premier Recycle Co., said the ruling "changed California's definition of solid waste composition and recycling."
"What the bill is trying to do is to put the intention of the California solid waste collection industry and infrastructure on reducing the amount of waste in landfills," he said. "Now, when the California Supreme Court's case is decided, what they are doing is imposing a tax called a'service charge'. So, this means that if a piece of material has no value in currency, then it will Become solid waste and subject to [each city]’s exclusive waste transportation franchise."
According to the Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA), this puts C&D recyclers in trouble. Since the legislature declared that landfill is harmful to the environment, the association stated that granting franchise rights including mixed demolition and construction can be said to lead to more landfills, so it needs to be carried out in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Environmental review.
Premier Recycling, a hybrid C&D recycler with a fully licensed recycling facility in San Jose, has experienced the consequences of this ruling firsthand. Although San Jose allows C&D to compete openly, many surrounding cities, such as Sunnyvale and Mountain View, have exclusive franchise rights covering C&D.
"Our company is eager to expand, but there is no guarantee that when we build another facility elsewhere, we can still use the same materials," Hill said. "For example, suppose we want to build a sorting facility in Oakland. After five years, we cannot guarantee that Oakland will not become an exclusive franchise city. We may not be able to obtain a contract for the material.... For companies that want to build sorting facilities but cannot guarantee access to materials, this is a big gamble."
Although the inclusion of construction and demolition materials into urban waste concessions can be seen across the state, cities like San Francisco are moving in the opposite direction.
According to the New York Times, part of the reason is that a 1932 decree granted the right to collect urban garbage to individuals or couples operating organizations that hold the city's 97 existing route permits.
Soon, all license holders joined forces. The license became an asset of a company, initially jointly owned by 97 license holders, and the company developed into what is now Recology.
"[San Francisco] is currently the only city I know of, and their referendum believes that they cannot have an exclusive city franchise. Therefore, due to the restrictions on the city government, they must be creative in how to achieve the recycling rate, so They have made countless plans, and I think these plans are very successful for the city of San Francisco, not specifically for the franchise city of San Francisco," Hill said.
The author is the assistant editor of the "Construction and Demolition Recycling" magazine, you can contact him at hrischar@gie.net.
West Salem Machinery provides wood processing solutions for Red Rock Biofuel's ambitious biomass project
West Salem Machinery (WSM), located in Salem, Oregon, has more than 70 years of experience in the wood products industry and is no stranger to adapting to demand.
Since its establishment in 1947, WSM has evolved from the original sawmill machinery area supplier to a manufacturer of integrated wood waste processing machinery and recycling systems.
"Our mission [always] is indeed to find ways to increase the value of waste and convert [wood] waste into reusable, marketable...fiber," said WSM President Mark Lehman. "In the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, we focused on sawmills and wood products industries, and then as recycling began to become a thing, we entered the recycling world with some grinders."
Today, the company provides a combination of mills and systems for industries such as green waste recycling, construction and demolition (C&D) recycling, biomass and organic matter.
"Every day, I discuss the processing of these materials and how to make them into a form that they can use with customers all over the world," Lyman said. "Sometimes it is used for energy production, sometimes it is used for soil and mulch, and sometimes it is used for particleboard. There are all these different markets. This is what we are concerned about-how to make these materials into products that can be used by our customers."
Lyman said that among the industries served by WSM, biomass is the main source of interest to customers in particular.
"What we see from [customers] is that more and more people are looking for alternative energy and carbon neutral fuels," he said. "Biomass is considered to be a renewable fuel source, so we have developed some new machines and are actively involved in... Alternative biorefinery applications, where people are trying to convert biomass materials into renewable gas."
According to WSM, the increased demand for raw material feed for the production of finished biomass products means that the grinding, screening and processing machinery used in the process needs to be good at handling a variety of available raw materials.
"One of the advantages of being application-centric is that our factory has a testing laboratory that can import materials and conduct tests," Lyman said. "It allows us to develop different types of tool kits based on the types of materials processed by our customers. So, for example, if you are dealing with some very viscous fibrous materials, we will provide our grinder with a specific tool kit so that we can process the Materials. If we deal with large pieces of solid wood, we also have tool kits to deal with."
The company said that WSM's wood fiber processing system can grind pallets, pallet waste, construction wood waste, dry edging and other dry waste. A typical system first loads the material in batches into a chain metering box. When the remainder is sent to the primary grinder to reduce the material, the box transports the waste wood to the disc screening machine.
Recyclers can use our company's super shredder with air assist or full air discharge to produce finished fibers, and can use vibrating screens or vibrating screens for more precise classification according to the specifications of the finished products, thereby increasing the value of fibers.
To help WSM's wood processing customers make the most of their residues, the company stated that it first configured individual components or a fully engineered integrated system designed for each application.
"We have a variety of machine sizes to choose from, so we can handle small wood recycling operations up to some of the largest C&D facilities in North America and around the world," Lyman said.
An example of WSM system customization can be seen in the company's project for Red Rock Biofuels in Fort Collins, Colorado, which is a subsidiary of IR1 Group LLC. Located in Lakeview, Oregon, the project aims to convert approximately 166,000 dry tons of waste woody biomass into 16.1 million gallons of low-carbon, renewable jet fuel each year. Red Rock's biorefinery plant is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2021.
The estimated cost of 320 million US dollars facility will use the Fischer-Tropsch method, a scientific process developed by Germany during World War II to make fuel. Red Rock will inhale woody biomass products and heat them to approximately 1,800 degrees in an oxygen-free, high-pressure environment, thereby converting the material into gas. The liquid hydrocarbons produced are then refined into jet fuel, diesel fuel and naphtha fuel.
Red Rock CEO Terry Kulesa said that woody biomass will come from forest by-products collected by thinning projects around Lakeview to reduce fire fuel.
"For Red Rock, they have a variety of feeds or materials they want to process, and their conversion process requires a more finely ground product so that the particle size and shape of the material remain consistent," said Lehman. "We tested them around the use of various raw materials to show them what our machines can produce in terms of product size and capacity, and then based on this, we chose our gears to reduce the size and prepare their materials. Good to go through their conversion process."
Kulesa said the WSM equipment will be used to grind the material into "half the size of a toothpick" before it enters the gasifier.
Funding for the project came from grants provided by the US military under the National Defense Production Act, which were awarded to Emerald Biofuels, Port Arthur, Texas; Fulcrum BioEnergy, Pleasanton, California; and Red Rock. These grants are used to build biorefineries to produce cost-competitive general-purpose military biofuels.
With these grants, these companies are expected to produce military-spec fuel, and the weighted average cost of the US military is expected to be less than $3.50 per gallon. Compared with petroleum-based fuels, this is not only cost-competitive, but also reduces emissions by 50% compared to traditional fuels.
In addition to government funding, Red Rock has also won contracts from FedEx, Southwest Airlines and Shell to sell low-carbon fuel for the project.
According to the September 2014 contract, Southwest Airlines signed an agreement with Red Rock to purchase 3 million gallons of biofuel each year, and FedEx soon signed a similar contract in 2015. Recently, Red Rock and Shell signed a cellulosic fuel procurement and sales agreement. In October, Shell will distribute biofuels to Red Rock’s existing airline customers and sell Red Rock’s renewable diesel fuel.
Once operational, the site will be the world's first commercial-scale plant using waste woody biomass from forests to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel. Kulesa said that the project not only has the potential to be economically viable, but also can be used as an environmentally conscious raw material processing model.
"This is one of the most destructive wildfire seasons on record," Culeza pointed out in a recent press release. "We are seeing an increase in the intensity, size, and damage to public health and the environment of wildfires. One of the many potential benefits of this plant is the reduction of waste woody biomass on the forest floor, which may help reduce the spread of wildfires. ."
The author is the assistant editor of the "Construction and Demolition Recycling" magazine, you can contact him at hrischar@gie.net.
Construction & Demolition Recycling's biennial list of top demolition contractors shows the performance of contractors from coast to coast in 2019.
If there are any signs in the Top 40 U.S. Demolition Contractors by Construction & Demolition Recycling magazine, the rich are getting richer in 2019—at least for many of the highest-paid contractors in the field.
The list is based on income related to demolition and is compiled every other year through voluntary submissions by the country's top contractors. This year's list shows that, thanks to a strong economy and a healthy backlog of work, business in 2019 remains strong.
NorthStar Group Services remains the top company on our list, and its revenue has grown from US$461.9 million in 2017 to US$575.7 million in 2019. Brandenburg ranked second in 2017 and 2019. On the basis of these two years, revenue has grown from US$208 million to US$271 million-year span. Penhall, who did not submit 2017 information, occupied the third place in this year's list with US$245.5 million.
In general, the top 10 in this year's list iteration generated a total of US$1.7 billion in revenue, which is higher than the US$1.4 billion of the top 10 in 2017.
It should be noted that the participation of more contractors in this year's list allows us to expand the number of highlighted companies from the usual 20 to 40. Although this may make it more difficult to compare lists one by one year after year, the increase in the number of participants allows the situation of the entire industry to be better represented.
The 40 contractors on this year's list span the east and west coasts, with total revenues of more than 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.
Although the reality of COVID-19 may inhibit some opportunities in 2020, we hope that there will be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel that can inspire new opportunities in 2021 and beyond.
The editors of "Construction & Demolition Recycling" thank the demolition industry for their cooperation in compiling our latest list of top demolition contractors. We know that you are busy, so calling back, replying to our emails and filling out our online forms have not been overlooked. Your answers help ensure the accuracy of our research. Without your cooperation, it would be impossible for us to publish such an article.
Although we are very happy to receive such a good response, it is likely that several companies did not appear on this list-either because they refused to participate, or because they experienced enough growth in the past two years that we didn't know. They won a place.
If you work for one of these companies, or know another company that you suspect should be on this list in 2022, please let us know and we will make sure to let our readers know. You can contact aredling@gie.net via email or call (216)393-0278 to contact editor Adam Redling.
Every time we compile and present this list, we hope that the demolition company can be proud of the hard work of its employees, and hope to occupy its proper place in the list created to recognize the most successful people in this field.
The author is the editor of the "Construction and Demolition Recycling" magazine and can be contacted at aredling@gie.net.