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Budrovich
Agile Harbor Dredging on the Mississippi With an
EDDY Excavator Dredge Pump Attachment,
After a self-propelled dredge proved unsafe in the Mississippi's current, Budrovich mounted a 10-inch EDDY Excavator Dredge Pump Attachment on a Cat 350 material handler, averaging 180–200 cubic yards per hour and reaching tight spots a full-size dredge can't.
CASE STUDY
A 10-inch EDDY dredge pump gave Budrovich the agility to excavate a harbor where a self-propelled dredge could not safely work.
Because of the strong current of the Mississippi River, a self-propelled dredge was not working effectively to dredge a harbor in Granite City, Illinois — just across the water from St. Louis, Missouri. Budrovich, a St. Louis-based construction company, turned to a 10-inch EDDY dredge pump with an excavator pump attachment to efficiently extract river material: a mixture of sand, silt, wood, and other materials whose concentration and density constantly vary.
CUBIC YARDS PER HOUR — AVERAGE HARBOR PRODUCTION
CONSISTENT SEASONAL PRODUCTION AT THE HARBOR
IN SERVICE WITH ONLY MINOR ISSUES
The Challenge: Dredging a Harbor in the Mississippi's Current
The Mississippi is one of the world’s major river systems in size, habitat diversity, and biological productivity. Barges and their tows move roughly 175 million tons of freight each year on the upper Mississippi through a system of 29 locks and dams — and even at the headwaters the average surface speed is about 1.2 miles per hour, roughly half as fast as a person walks.
Budrovich’s customer had been dredging the harbor with a self-propelled dredge — the wrong tool for moving water. As Marine Division Manager Mindy Brundick put it, a self-propelled dredge should not be used in a body of water that has current, so it was unsafe on the Mississippi. Budrovich needed a safer, more capable solution, and began researching EDDY Pumps.
The Solution: A 10-Inch EDDY Excavator Dredge Pump Attachment
- 10-inch EDDY dredge pump with an excavator (cutterhead) attachment
- Installed on a Caterpillar 350 material handler, cutter head at the end of the boom
- 700-horsepower power pack driving the pump and cutterhead
- Boom mounting leaves room to adjust pump placement — and the unit can also be hooked to a crane
- Reaches smaller, tighter, shallower areas where a large dredge simply cannot fit
- A density meter monitors pressure in real time, so the operator can react instantly if the cutterhead meets an obstruction
“Because it’s on the boom of an excavator, you have room to play with the pump placement — you can also hook it to a crane. The EDDY pump can go into areas where a large dredge could not fit. The agility of the equipment is its best feature.”
MINDY BRUNDICK · MARINE DIVISION MANAGER, BUDROVICH
The Power Of EDDY Pump Technology
The EDDY Pump Excavator Dredge Pump Attachment pins into an excavator’s existing bucket linkage and runs off its auxiliary hydraulics; a Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU) drives it when a job demands more power. It can be attached and deployed the same day, run by a single operator from land or a floating barge — and any excavator operator can be trained on it in a couple of hours.
At its core is the patented EDDY Pump — not a centrifugal, positive-displacement, or vortex pump, but a geometrically designed spinning rotor that harnesses the principles of a tornado to create a synchronized eddy current, moving a higher percentage of solids with less water.
On a floating barge, a 10-inch attachment can pump sand nearly a mile with 80 feet of elevation without a booster pump, reaching production rates up to 400 cubic yards per hour at solids rates up to 70%.
The Results: 180–200 CY/hr, Two Years in Service
- Replaced an unsafe self-propelled dredge with a solution suited to the river’s current
- Consistent 180–200 yd³/hr production during harbor excavation
- Runs about six months of the year and has been in service ~2 years with only minor issues
- Agility to reach tight and shallow areas a large dredge cannot fit — boom- or crane-mountable
- Density meter plus the EDDY pump keep the operator ahead of pressure changes and obstructions
- EDDY Pump’s service team troubleshoots and customizes the rig (e.g. reinforced bearings) to push production even higher
About Budrovich
Budrovich is a St. Louis-based construction business built on safety, excellence, and teamwork. Sam Budrovich began the company in 1945, shortly after trading his mule for a grading tractor to use on the family farm — leveling land and digging ditches for friends and neighbors. The business grew with the post-war 1950s construction boom, and in the 1960s, having purchased one of the first large cranes in the St. Louis market, Budrovich established itself as a market leader with the most modern, productive equipment available.
About Eddy Pump Corporation
Founded in 1984, EDDY Pump Corporation delivers breakthrough technology and service to industries including the U.S. Navy, oil & gas, mining, wastewater, paper/pulp, dredging, fracking, and chemical. At its core is the patented EDDY Pump — not a centrifugal, vortex, or positive-displacement pump, but a geometrically designed spinning rotor that harnesses the power of a tornado into fluid dynamics, handling material once deemed impossible or cost-prohibitive.