Mud Cat™ MC 915 ENV tested by the Remediation Technologies Program of Environment Canada's Great Lakes 2000 Cleanup

Conventional dredging technologies, both mechanical (open clamshell bucket, excavators. etc.) and hydraulic (e.g. suction pumps), are still commonly used in the Great Lakes. These technologies are dated and can no longer remove contaminated sediments adequately in ports and harbours throughout the world. Alternative sediment removal technologies must be developed and tested in order to remediate those areas.

One such alternative tested was the Mud Cat™ 915 ENV. This technology was manufactured by Ellicott International of Baltimore, Maryland, United States, and owned and operated by Auburn Contractors Incorporated of Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The Mud Cat™ is probably one of the most popular portable dredges used in the dredging industry.

A modified Mud Cat™ 915 was tested by the Remediation Technologies Program (RTP) of Environment Canada's Great Lakes 2000 Cleanup Fund in October and November of 1991 in the lower portion of the Welland River.Standard Mud Cat™ suction dredges are designed to operate in shallow marine environments and include a proven sediment removal system consisting mainly of a boom-mounted horizontal auger and a centrifugal slurry pump. Although not specifically built to address environmental concerns, the dredge was relatively easily modified to include innovative components designed to satisfy the environmental requirements of the project.Several modifications were made to the standard Mud Cat™ 915 in order to satisfy the RTP's requirements for environmental dredging:

• Special auger and boom assembly:one auger head with hydraulic forward tilt and manual transverse tilt capabilityone dual convergence, variable-pitch, multi-flight augerfull rear shroud behind augerRemoval vibrating front shroud including:removable front screentop mounts for vibrating motors
• Special MC-920 type-truss boom assembly including suction hose

In order to assess the project and dredge performance, an instrumentation/data logging package was added to the dredge. Analog displays provided the dredge operator with real-time indicators of dredging performance. The instrumentation included:

• one nucleonic densitometerone electromagnetic flowmeterone dredge head vibration sensorone dredge head turbidity sensor
• analog displays for above-noted sensors

Source: Globaltechs Fact Sheet