Hot Mix Asphalt Plant Capacity

In the asphalt mixing plant industry, production capacity is one of the core indicators for measuring equipment performance. The hot mix asphalt plant capacity is usually determined by its design and equipment configuration, and is generally expressed as tons of asphalt mixture produced per hour. Common production capacity ranges for hot mix asphalt plants are roughly as follows:
1. Small asphalt mixing plants: Generally, production capacity is 20-60 tons/hour.
2. Medium-sized asphalt mixing plants: Production capacity is 60-120 tons/hour.
3. Large asphalt mixing plants: Production capacity is above 120 tons/hour, and some can even reach 300 tons/hour.
The specific production capacity is also affected by various factors, including the type of equipment, production process, the nature of raw materials, and the skills of the operators.

As a technical professional, I break down this parameter from the perspective of technical implementation path and engineering adaptability. Taking our exported LB1000 asphalt mixing plant as an example, its rated production capacity is 80 tons/hour. While seemingly "compact," it is actually a high degree of integration of mechanical precision, thermal efficiency, and control logic within a limited space.
 

An 80-ton/hour capacity corresponds to a 2000kg-class mixing cylinder, whose mixing cycle is designed to complete the entire dry-wet mixing process within 40 seconds—more compact than the 45-second cycle of large equipment. We reconstructed the mixing arm layout using 3D fluid simulation: changing the traditional symmetrical arrangement of biaxial mixers to an asymmetrical design with denser front and sparser back. This shortens the aggregate tumbling path by 30% during the dry mixing stage (18 seconds), while increasing the number of tumbling cycles to 22, ensuring uniform asphalt film coverage. The wet mixing stage (22 seconds) employs "dual-speed blade" technology—blades near the mixing shaft have a linear velocity of 1.0 m/s, while edge blades reach 1.3 m/s, forming a composite flow field of "core shearing + edge pushing." The measured mixture uniformity coefficient (CV value) is below 1.5%, better than the industry average of 2.0%.
 

Small and medium-sized hot mix asphalt plant equipment, due to their compact size, are more susceptible to environmental interference in their thermal systems. At a project site in the Philippines, the aggregate moisture content often reaches 10% during the rainy season. We maintained production capacity through a triple technological breakthrough: First, we reduced the diameter of the drying drum from the conventional 2.2 meters to 1.8 meters, but extended its length to 12 meters, creating a "slender" heat exchange chamber, increasing the contact time between hot flue gas and aggregate by 25%. Second, we added a "vortex generator" to the burner nozzle, compressing the flame diameter from 0.8 meters to 0.6 meters, making heat radiation more concentrated, and increasing the measured unit volume heat intensity by 18%. Finally, we installed a "temperature gradient sensor array" in the exhaust duct to monitor data from eight temperature measurement points in real time. The frequency of the induced draft fan was dynamically adjusted via PLC to stabilize the exhaust temperature at 160±5℃, avoiding fuel waste due to temperature fluctuations. Ultimately, even with an aggregate moisture content of 12%, the equipment maintained a stable output of 75 tons/hour, with a capacity reduction rate of only 6.3%.
 

The metering system for the 80-ton/hour hot mix asphalt plant equipment needs to achieve higher accuracy within a smaller flow range. Our asphalt scale employs a "dual-piston" design, using two 50mm diameter hydraulic cylinders working alternately to reduce the minimum measuring unit from the conventional 5kg to 2kg, with a measured asphalt-aggregate ratio fluctuation within ±0.15%. At a project site in Indonesia, where the density of local volcanic ash powder is only 2.2t/m³, measurement deviations are easily caused by dust during transport. We innovatively introduced "negative pressure compensation" technology: a micro-negative pressure zone of 0.01MPa is set at the top of the powder silo, and dust is re-drawn into the metering silo through a venturi tube. Simultaneously, the screw pitch of the screw conveyor is adjusted (from 80mm to 60mm) and the speed (from 45rpm to 30rpm), improving the stability of powder flow rate by 40%. More importantly, the additive metering system uses a "titration" control logic—continuously injecting at a flow rate of 0.1L/min using a high-precision peristaltic pump, avoiding concentration fluctuations caused by traditional pulse injection. After 5 hours of continuous production, the additive dosage error was still controlled within ±0.3%.
 

To reduce overseas transportation costs, we designed our 80 ton/hour hot mix asphalt plant equipment with a "detachable modular structure": the drying drum uses a two-section flange connection, allowing it to be disassembled into two sections, each 1.8 meters in diameter and 6 meters long, for transport, reducing the total length to 12 meters (compared to 18 meters in traditional designs); the dust removal system uses a foldable bag filter frame, reducing the height from 4.5 meters to 2.8 meters during transport; and the control cabinet is integrated into the bottom of the mixing tank support, forming an "integrated base," reducing the number of independent components. At a project site in Vietnam, the entire set of hot mix asphalt plant equipment could be transported using three 40-foot containers and one 20-foot container, shortening on-site assembly time from the usual 72 hours to 48 hours, with a 100% success rate for initial ignition after assembly.
 

From a technical perspective, hot mix asphalt plant capacity parameters are the product of the intersection of multiple disciplines, including equipment design concepts, materials science, and control engineering. The core competitiveness of our exported equipment lies not in simply pursuing numerical breakthroughs, but in transforming production capacity into reliable, stable, and adaptable engineering solutions for diverse operating conditions through technological innovation. This technologically-driven approach to production capacity represents the "effective production capacity" that customers truly need.