Following on from the purchase of the first Develon DX1000LC-7 100 tonne crawler excavator in Europe, Estonia-based Kiviõli Keemiatöötus (KKT), part of the Alexela Group, has now bought the company’s second DX1000LC-7. As well as joining the existing machine, the new DX1000LC-7 excavator is now working alongside Develon DX800LC-7 80 tonne and DX490LC-7 50 tonne models already working at KKT’s oil shale mine at North Kiviõli in Estonia.
Like the first excavator delivered at the end of January 2023, the new DX1000LC-7 has been supplied by INTRAC Group, the Develon Authorised Dealer for the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The purchase decision to replace one of the other brands of 80 tonne machines on site with the DX1000LC-7 is based on the successful performance of all three Develon machines, with which KKT is burning far less fuel than the competitive machines, for the same production output. The first DX1000LC-7 has already completed well over 13000 hours of operation in only two years and five months, working 15 hour days faultlessly throughout the 29 months it has worked at the North Kiviõli oil shale mine.
Designed to Increase Productivity
The second DX1000LC-7 promises even more efficiency gains. Driven by the most powerful engine in the 100 tonne class, the DX1000LC-7 also has the highest hydraulic flow for this size of machine, providing best-in-class performance, with higher productivity, lower fuel consumption and smoother controls. Equipped with a 6.8 m3 bucket, the DX1000LC-7 is certain to offer even greater productivity.
The DX1000LC-7 excavator is powered by a well-proven Stage V diesel engine, providing a high power output of 469 kW (629 HP), more than any other machine in this class. The high output of the engine is combined with a Virtual Bleed Off (VBO) hydraulic system (D-ECOPOWER+), providing a best-in-class hydraulic flow of (3 x 523) – 1569 l/min and a high system pressure of 360 bar, together contributing to the best performance in the 100 tonne market.
Estonia Oil Shale Dates Back Over 100 Years
Estonia discovered more than 100 years ago that the stone at the North Kiviõli mine contained oil inside and from that time onwards started to extract it. The process to obtain the oil remains unchanged. First the stone is taken out, after around 8 m3 of overburden is removed, providing around 1 m3 of the precious oil shale. To remove the overburden, different techniques are used. The first involves blasting and loading trucks with the 80 or 100 tonne excavators. Another uses a 50 tonne excavator equipped with a breaker and one of the larger excavators for loading trucks. The third method employs an 80 tonne excavator, equipped with a vibrating hydraulic ripper (Xcentric) and another 80 tonne excavator equipped with a bucket to load trucks.
After removing the overburden, the extraction of the oil shale starts, again using different techniques. These include direct use of an excavator to load a truck or using a surface miner to extract the precious material, crush it and load it into a truck at the same time. The transformation process to produce oil from the stone begins with the stone being crushed and then loaded into a reactor unit, where it is heated to between 400 to 800 oC depending on the size. As well as oil, phenol is also removed from the stone. Overall, the process takes around two hours. Generally, a kg of stone can be 20 to 30% comprised of oil and the mine operator is moving around 10 million tonnes per year (combining the overburden and oil shale).
Oil Shale is Primary Energy Source in Estonia
The oil shale industry in Estonia is one of the most developed in the world. The National Development Plan for the Utilisation of Oil Shale 2016–2030 describes oil shale as a strategic resource. Estonia is the only country in the world that uses oil shale as its primary energy source. In 2018, oil shale accounted for 72% of Estonia’s total domestic energy production and supplied 73% of Estonia’s total primary energy. About 7300 people (over 1% of the total workforce in Estonia) are employed in the oil shale industry.
Highest Quality Dealer Support
INTRAC is solely responsible for sales and servicing of the Develon crawler, wheeled and mini/midi excavator, wheel loader, articulated dump truck and attachment ranges in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
INTRAC’s sales and service centre for Latvia in Riga is acknowledged as one of the best in the Baltic region. The company also has impressive facilities at its branches in Vilnius and Tallinn, which are the focal points for the service INTRAC provides in Lithuania and Estonia, respectively. In total, INTRAC has 13 outlets with workshops and 55 fully equipped service vans in the Baltic region. INTRAC customers benefit from superb on-site service networks, covering everything from emergency repairs to routine maintenance. The company’s factory-trained engineers have many years of hands-on experience of repairs and servicing of plant and machinery.
For more on Develon, please visit the website: https://eu.develon-ce.com/en/
