November 6 - Sarens has utilised its Liebherr LR 1350/1 crawler crane to hoist five rotary kiln components at HeidelbergCement's facilities in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Initially there were plans to use a 600-tonne capacity crane as a result of the planned component weights, says Liebherr.However, due to the restricted space and the storage capacity in the plant, it was only possible to use a 350-tonne class cranes.
Sarens received the order to hoist the various components to a height of 11 m. The Belgian crane contractor set up the 350-tonne capacity crane with a 42 m main boom and a 27 m derrick boom, as well as 85 tonnes of superstructure ballast and 75 tonnes of suspended ballast.
After hoisting the components, weighing up to 144 tonnes, the crane had to move 20 m on a specially prepared track so that the load could be positioned for the installation work.
Once all five pipe sections of the rotary kiln had been positioned, they were aligned and welded together by fitters from Thyssen-Krupp. The finished kiln had a net weight of 452 tonnes and measured 68 m in length.
