Creating a custom acoustic enclosure for a resource recovery plant

Initial project requirements:

Elan Energy Matrix have pioneered a unique process of resource recovery from waste tyres. They recover energy-efficient raw materials from the tyres, breaking them down into their three core components: energy-efficient carbon matrix, beneficial light oil, and quality milled steel.

Yet this revolutionary way to recycle waste tyres is a heavy industrial procedure that is excessively noisy. Used tyres are first crushed in a rotating crusher (similar to that used for mining rocks), before the steel belts are separated from the rubber, which is incinerated before being turned into useful resources. Elan Energy currently loads their machinery using a forklift, but have future plans for installing a feed belt which will go through to the machine.

Thanks to this very noisy process, Elan Energy needed to ensure that there would be no OH&S issues. They needed a way to:

• Quieten the crusher machinery
• Allow nearby employees to work safely, and
• Avoid noise issues for their neighbours.