Belle steps on the gas

5 July 2023

Altrad Belle has again demonstrated its innovation, as well as its commitment to sustainability, by installing a nitrogen production plant at its factory in Sheen, Derbyshire. 

The bold move has helped cut costs and is enabling the business to step up production as demand for its equipment continues to grow. 

MD Ray Neilson tells me that last year Altrad Belle installed additional laser cutters (below), robotic welders and presses at the facility to boost production of components for products like the DX 1000HT 1-tonne high-tip dumper and reversible plate compactors. 

“We had been outsourcing some production of some parts to outside fabricators to keep pace, but now we can do it all in-house,” he says. 

Using nitrogen gives faster operation and facilitates processes involving thicker steel plates, but the liquefied gas had to be brought in by lorries. Also, when refilling the large storage canisters, a proportion of any remaining nitrogen had to be purged to waste, and production had to stop during the process. 

Richard MacPhail, Altrad Belle’s Quality & Maintenance Manager, tells me that many lorryloads of nitrogen were previously being delivered each week, which was expensive - and not very environmentally friendly. 

The new system, which was supplied by Atlas Copco, extracts the nitrogen from the atmosphere and compresses it. The cost is reduced and the equivalent of 2.1 tonnes of CO2 a week is saved. 

“Also, a useful by-product of the process is heat which we can use to warm the factory in winter,” adds Ray.