News

The Swiss canton of Ticino is known for its many hours of sunshine and Mediterranean flair. It is therefore also known as the “Côte d’Azur” of Switzerland. Dirty roads can spoil this image and are undesirable to the population, the authorities and tourists. For this reason, responsible contractors in Ticino also rely on MobyDick wheel washing systems, which reliably clean the wheels of trucks before they leave a polluted area (e.g. construction site, landfill, etc.). In addition to large-scale systems, the MobyDick product portfolio also includes small, inexpensive systems that can be installed quickly. One example is the MobyDick Dragon (see picture) which was recently installed near Lugano. This wheel washing system is used wherever the pollution is low or the problem is dust. The Dragon is capable of handling up to 100 vehicles per day and offers an excellent price/performance ratio.

This year the traditional Chinese New Year Festival “Chunjie“ is on February 1st. The date changes every year because it is decided by the Chinese lunar calendar. Chinese New Year is on a new moon day, usually the second after the winter solstice. The Frutiger factory in China is already decorated for the celebration. The tradition is to hang up red lanterns, paste Spring Festival couplets around the doors and also put the character “fu” on the windows, wishing everyone good luck and happiness in the New Year!

The Koelliken Hazardous Waste Landfill (SMDK) is a landfill for hazardous waste in the Swiss municipality of Koelliken that was operated from 1978 to 1985. After the landfill was closed in 1985, it was discovered that the toxic substances, which were mainly deposited in drums, could not simply remain in the soil.
The landfill was therefore to be dismantled from 2002 onwards. In January 2005, the overall clean-up finally began. A total of 664,100 tonnes of material had to be removed. To avoid noise and odour pollution during the dismantling process, the largest hall in Switzerland was built above the former landfill. To avoid excessive pollution of the roads, a customised MobyDick wheel washing system was used in the hall.
From mid-April 2018, the hall was dismantled, and the pit is now being continuously filled with construction waste and soil. As this has also changed the requirements for the wheel washing system, the operator recently decided to invest in a new MobyDick wheel washing system with improved cleaning capacity. The new MobyDick has now recently been successfully commissioned and will continue to ensure clean and safe roads in the future.

Shortly before the end of the year, FRUTIGER delivered and set up a very powerful MobyDick ONE 1000 wheel washing system for one of the oldest family-owned companies in the German building materials industry. Equipped with the “Powerflush” option with two special nozzles, a thorough mudguard wash with 900l/min per nozzle is possible in addition to an intensive cleaning of the wheels and the underbody. The electronics and the flocculant dosing system of this large system are housed in a special fully insulated and heated container and are thus perfectly protected for winter operation. The installed safety railing for the recycling tank provides additional personal protection in the vicinity of the recycling tanks. The 1000 cm long system is also equipped with the drip pad option, which collects the dirty water and feeds it back into the recycling tanks. This minimises water loss and prevents fines from being carried out onto public roads. The company, which produces high-quality and efficient building materials, now starts the new year with clean streets and happy neighbours.

For one of the largest manufacturers of drywall materials in the world, FRUTIGER has already installed a number of wheel washing systems at several locations in different countries. This November, FRUTIGER completed the installation of a MobyDick ConLine KIT Plus 600B-100P wheel washing system in Latvia for the company. The MobyDick system is located in the company’s own quarry and is equipped with a heating system that enables smooth operation even during severe winter periods. The system now washes around 140 trucks per day with wheels, that are soiled with highly sticky gypsum. The system was installed a few days ago and handed over to the satisfied customer, who from now on enjoys the clean roads around the quarry.

In summer, the cleaning of construction vehicles leaving the construction sites still plays a subordinate role in some cases. If the weather stays dry, excessive soiling of the roads can be controlled to a certain extent with occasional cleaning by a sweeper truck. However, when the rains increase in autumn, the area around the construction site becomes more and more polluted, which is usually accompanied by increasing complaints from the neighbourhood. Dirty roads also pose a considerable risk to all road users due to the increased risk of slipping. In such situations, a mobile wheel washing system can quickly improve the situation and prevent high costs due to the continuous use of a sweeper truck. For such cases, FRUTIGER maintains a large rental fleet of mobile wheel washing systems of the MobyDick brand in Europe and the USA. The model shown is a ConLine KIT Flex Mobile C wheel washing system that was recently commissioned in England and can clean the wheels of up to 120 trucks per day as they pass through.

Massa is an Italian town with just under 70,000 inhabitants and is located in the Tuscany, between Genoa and Florence. Along with the Carrara region, Massa is the main location for Tuscan marble quarrying. A common problem around marble quarries are polluted public roads caused by trucks transporting the extracted marble from the quarries. FRUTIGER was recently able to solve this problem for a renowned quarry in Massa with a MobyDick Dragon wheel washing system. Although the Dragon is the smallest wheel washing system in FRUTIGER’s product range, it is still suitable for cleaning up to 100 trucks per day. The system is used wherever the pollution is low, or the problem is dust.

FRUTIGER has recently delivered and installed a MobyDick ONE 720 wheel washing system for a leading company in the field of waste management, environmental services, and recycling in Northern Europe. The 720 cm long system cleans the wheels of the trucks thoroughly during two full rotations. In addition to two scraper conveyors for automatic sludge discharge, the wheel washing system also has a heater and two additional drip pads at the exit. Thanks to the “Bed Wash” option, there is also the possibility to clean the loading bridges of the trucks with a special water gun fed with water from the wheel washers recycling system. The electronics and the flocculant dosing system of the large wheel washing system are housed in a special container and are thus well protected from wind and weather.

Recently, FRUTIGER was commissioned to put a MobyDick ONE wheel washing system into operation at a leading gravel plant in the Zurich region. The 1000 cm long system cleans the wheels of the departing trucks during three full revolutions with up to 22’500l per minute. The Powerflush option ensures intensive cleaning of the mudguards. The water recycling concept that was implemented on site based on FRUTIGER’s plans should be emphasised. The polymer fibre concrete wheel loader basins have a capacity of more than 100’000l and ensure a good washing water quality even with high truck frequencies. The sludge is emptied cost-effectively using the plant’s own wheel loader.