CFlo in North America
Specification sand and mineral products made where the material is, sized on a study of your own sample.
CFlo builds modular wet and dry processing plants that turn sand, quarry by-product and low-grade mineral into a specification product: frac and silica sand, manufactured sand from crusher fines, recycled aggregate from construction and demolition waste, and product recovered from tailings. Plants for the United States and Canada are built for the destination market, with UL-listed control panels for the United States and CSA-certified panels for Canada, ship as containerized modules and commission on a prepared pad. Every project is sized on a Sample Study of the operator's own material at CFlo's own pilot plant and laboratory in India, with Pre-Engineering available to turn the result into a plant design while capital approval is still in progress. CFlo North America handles sales and support for the United States and Canada, and delivery is managed by CFlo Europe Limited.
What CFlo builds
Five platforms cover the range. Each is a factory-assembled modular plant that ships in standard containers and commissions on a prepared pad rather than being built up on site.
- Combo: the sand washing plant, taking crusher fines, screen oversize or pit-run sand and gravel to washed concrete sand and graded aggregate at up to 350 tonnes an hour (about 385 US tons) on one chassis, with up to 95% of process water recycled.
- Micrograder: the specification plant for frac, silica, glass and foundry sand, grading to a tested band with attrition scrubbing, precision fines screens, spiral gravity concentrators and upward-flow hydraulic classification.
- Aerograder: the dry air classifier, cutting fines from a dry feed below 5 mm with no process water, no cyclones and no baghouse, proven on dune sand for proppant.
- Oremax: the ore washing and beneficiation plant, proven on iron ore, limestone, chromite, quartz, bauxite, phosphate and manganese, and on slimes recovered from tailings.
- Reurban: the mobile plant for construction and demolition waste, excavation waste, contaminated soil and clay-bound overburden. A Reurban recycling operation is running in Canada; its details are not yet released and can be discussed under an NDA.
Two process modules come with every wet plant as standard. The Hydromax high-rate thickener returns the great majority of the process water to the plant, and the Easysettle sludge bay manager rigidifies tailings at the point of disposal so they dry to a trafficable cake without a pond. Plants for North America are built for the destination market: the PLC control panels CFlo designs and builds itself are supplied UL listed for the United States and CSA certified for Canada. CFlo holds the granted United States and Canadian patents on the Combo sand washing plant (US 11,185,869 B2 and CA 3,046,045 C), alongside patents in other markets covering the Oremax, Micrograder and Reurban platforms. CFLO is a registered trademark in the United States (Reg. No. 7,630,688).
Frac sand: two routes, chosen on the feed
The United States is the largest proppant market in the world and Canada's Montney is one of the most sand-intensive plays anywhere. The engineering problem is the same in both: hold a grade inside its designating sieves, remove the residual fines below the bottom sieve, and strip clay, silt and surface coatings, repeatably, at production rate.
The 200 mesh cut that decides the 40/200 and 100 mesh products is made on the dry side of a North American plant, and that is where the Aerograder sits: a water-free minus 200 mesh stage after the dryer and ahead of the finishing screens. In Abu Dhabi four Aerograder units grade local dune sand into proppant at 280 tonnes an hour combined, holding the product below the 1% minus 200 mesh ceiling on every unit, in a basin where water cannot be spared. Where the feed carries clay, silt or coatings and needs washing, the Micrograder is the wet route, recycling around 95% of its water. The frac sand and silica sand page for North America sets out both routes, the specification, and the measured results behind them.
Manufactured sand from the fines a quarry already has
Every hard rock quarry produces sand-sized material as a by-product of crushing, called crusher fines, screenings or stone dust depending on the state or province. Too dusty and too poorly graded to sell as sand, it stockpiles at the crusher or goes out as low-value fill. A Combo takes the minus 75 micron (minus 200 mesh) fraction out at a cut point set to the specification, scrubs off any clay, and grades what is left into concrete sand to ASTM C33 or CSA A23.1, keeping the lean 75 to 600 micron fraction in the product rather than losing it with the fines. The sand washing plant page for North America covers the specification, the nine Combo models and the water balance.
Recycled aggregate and tailings
The Reurban washes construction and demolition waste, excavation spoil and contaminated soil into graded recycled aggregate and sand, with the contaminants concentrated into a small dewatered residue rather than spread through the product. The Oremax recovers saleable product from mineral tailings and slimes, and the same Hydromax and Easysettle modules that recycle water on a sand plant let a tailings operation retire a pond. The construction and demolition waste and tailings and slimes pages have the detail.
Start with a sample
No plant is engineered from a catalog. Sizing starts with a Sample Study at CFlo's own pilot plant and laboratory at Howrah, a DSIR-recognised in-house R&D unit, which runs bench-scale and pilot-scale programs on bulk samples as a connected circuit, so the interactions between stages are in the result rather than assumed. What comes back is a report: feed characterization, stage-by-stage results, a mass and water balance, product grades and yields against the specification the product will be sold on, tested by that standard's own methods, and samples of the products to put in front of your own customer. The usual path is a review of your existing gradation data, then a 20 kg (45 lb) bench sample by courier, and a pilot sample only if the bench result justifies it. Samples travel to the CFlo works in India on a DDP basis with the paperwork agreed first, so the first conversation is about how much to send and how to take it. Pre-Engineering follows only if the numbers work, and runs in parallel with capital approval so that manufacture starts on the supply contract rather than after a further design loop.
Send us a sample
Tell us about the material and an engineer will come back with how much to send, how to sample it, and what the programme would cover.
Who you deal with in North America
CFlo North America handles sales and support inquiries for the United States and Canada on +1 587 883 2657 or [email protected]. Delivery is managed by CFlo Europe Limited in Belfast, whose territory covers the UK, Europe, North America and Oceania, so the team that is delivering CFlo's frac sand plant in Australia is the team behind a North American project. Plants carry UL-listed control panels for the United States and CSA-certified panels for Canada, ship in standard containers from CFlo's works, and the contact page lists every regional office.
A career spent building wet processing plant for quarries in Britain and Ireland, having previously helped build a global wet processing brand.
What to send us first
A representative sample or a recent gradation of the feed, a chemical analysis if you have one, the moisture as it arrives, the specification the product has to meet, the tons or tonnes per hour you want to produce, and how much water the site has. If sand is currently being hauled or railed to your operation, the landed cost per ton is useful too, because it is the number a local plant has to beat. Send it through the form above, or contact CFlo North America, and we will scope the Sample Study with you before you ship anything.
Frequently asked questions
Does CFlo supply plants in the United States and Canada?
Yes. CFlo North America handles sales and support for both countries on +1 587 883 2657 and [email protected], delivery is managed by CFlo Europe Limited in Belfast, and control panels are supplied UL listed for the United States and CSA certified for Canada. A Reurban recycling operation is already running in Canada, and CFlo holds the granted United States and Canadian patents on its Combo sand washing plant.
Are the plants rated in US tons or metric tonnes?
CFlo rates its plants in metric tonnes an hour, and the North America pages give the US ton equivalent alongside. A Combo rated at 350 tonnes an hour is about 385 US tons an hour. Proppant grades are stated on the standard US sieve designations, 20/40, 40/70 and 70/140, the grade sold as 100 mesh, with micron equivalents.
Can frac sand be graded without process water?
The 200 mesh cut can be. The Aerograder makes it with no water, no cyclone and no baghouse on feed below 5 mm at below 2% surface moisture, which is the dry side of the plant after the dryer, and in Abu Dhabi it held the product below the 1% minus 200 mesh ceiling on all four units. A feed carrying silt, clay or surface coatings still needs washing, which is the Micrograder's job, recycling around 95% of its water.
How does a Sample Study work from North America?
Programs are sized in bulk from 20 kg (45 lb) for a short bench program up to 2500 kg (5,500 lb) for a full pilot campaign, depending on the stages involved. Samples travel to the CFlo works at Sankrail Industrial Park, Howrah, India, on a DDP basis with the paperwork agreed first. How the sample is taken matters as much as how much is sent, so the scoping conversation comes before anything ships.
Who supports a CFlo plant once it is running?
Installation and commissioning are managed by CFlo Europe Limited, and CFlo North America is the first call for sales and support in the United States and Canada. Plants ship with the PLC control panel CFlo designs and builds itself, and the contact page lists every regional office.
Is CFLO a registered trademark in the United States?
Yes. CFLO is registered as a word mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Registration No. 7,630,688, in Class 7 for machines and installations for washing, cleaning, classifying, sorting, de-dusting, filtering and recycling sand, aggregates and minerals. CFlo also holds the granted United States and Canadian patents on the Combo sand washing plant.