ABHR March/April 2014



Competition in grain export facilities 



www.BulkHandling.com.au Volume 19 No 2

March/April 2014

First shipment from Newcastle Agri Terminal Qube launches Quattro Grain at Port Kembla



Sedgman on relocatable CHPPs



Stockfeed packaging line by Kockums



Peer reviewed paper



Feature: Conveyors, belt scrapers, ancillaries

THOR Telescopic Conveyors Versatile from Pit to Port

AUSTRALASIA PTY LTD

CONVEY

FLEXICON® Manual Dumping Stations allow dust-free dumping of bulk material from bags and other containers. Automatic reversepulse filter cleaning allows continuous, efficient operation. Available with integral bag compactors for total dust containment.

FLEXI-DISC™ Tubular Cable Conveyors gently slide fragile foods and non-foods through smooth stainless steel tubing routed horizontally, vertically or at any angle, over short or long distances, dust-free.

Single or multiple inlets and outlets.

CONDITION BLOCK-BUSTER® Bulk Bag Conditioners loosen bulk materials that have solidified during storage and shipment. Variable height turntable positions bag for hydraulic rams with contoured conditioning plates to press bag on all sides at all heights.

CONVEY PNEUMATI-CON® Pneumatic Conveying Systems move a broad range of bulk materials over short or long distances, between single or multiple inlet and discharge points in low to high capacities.

Available as dilute-phase vacuum or positive pressure systems, fully integrated with your process.

AUSTRALIA sales@flexicon.com.au 1 300 FLEXICON

DUMP

FILL SWING-DOWN®, REAR-POST and TWIN-CENTREPOST™ Bulk Bag Fillers can fill one bulk bag per week or 20 per hour at the lowest cost per bag. Numerous performance options.

Available to industrial or sanitary standards.

TIP TIP-TITE® Container Tippers dump bulk material from drums (shown), boxes or other containers into vessels up to 3 metres high.

Dust-tight (shown) or open chute models improve efficiency and safety of an age-old task.

USA UK SOUTH AFRICA CHILE

UNLOAD BULK-OUT® Bulk Bag Dischargers unload free- and non-free-flowing solids from bulk bags automatically.

Allows untying, discharging, retying and collapsing of bulk bags—all dust-free. Available with weigh batching controls.

CONVEY FLEXICON® Flexible Screw Conveyors transport free- and non-free-flowing bulk solid materials from large pellets to sub-micron powders, including products that pack, cake or smear, with no separation of blends, dust-free at low cost. No bearings contact material. Easy to clean quickly, thoroughly.

SUCCEED The FLEXICON® Lifetime Performance Guarantee* assures you of a successful result, whether you purchase one piece of equipment or an engineered, automated plant-wide system. From initial testing in large-scale laboratories, to single-source project management, to after-sale support by a worldwide network of factory experts, you can trust your process— and your reputation— to Flexicon.

+1 610 814 2400 +44 (0)1227 374710 +27 (0)41 453 1871 +56 2 2415 1286 BB-1240

©2013 Flexicon Corporation. Flexicon Corporation has registrations and pending applications for the trademark FLEXICON throughout the world. *Patents granted and/or pending.

CONTENTS

10

14

17

26

87

95

www.bulkhandling.com.au EDITOR Charles Macdonald Tel: +61 2 9080 4443 Email: charles.macdonald@informa.com.au REPORTER Oliver Probert Tel: +61 2 9080 4484 Email: oliver.probert@informa.com.au ADVERTISING SALES Peter Delbridge Level 2, 120 Sussex St, Sydney, NSW 2000 Tel: +61 2 9080 4478 Fax: +61 2 9299 4622 Email: peter.delbridge@bulkhandling.com.au

contents 8

MARCH/APRIL 2014

Sedgman on future of relocatable CHPPs

56 Spidler’s unique take on idler management

12 O’Farrell denies dust cover-up

60 Atlas Iron gets SEW-Eurodrive gearboxes

PEER REVIEW Ronda McCallum Tel: +61 2 9080 4354 Email: ronda.mccallum@bulkhandling.com.au

14 Kockums supplies stockfeed packaging line

62 Veyance bought by Continental

16 First grain shipped from Newcastle Agri Terminal

63 Aumund’s triple chain bucket elevator

18 Allied Grain builds pre-export system

64 Australian Belt Cleaning’s CleanScrape hits the mark

PRODUCTION MANAGER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER Magazines byDesign - Linda Gunek Tel: +61 2 8883 5890 Email: linda@bydesigngraphics.com.au

20 Navtech, Sam detail Port Hedland anti-collision system

66 Sean Kinder outlines conveyor productivity optimisation

21 Asciano tracking Aurizon down in Queensland

68 More Voith fluid couplings for Indo miner

FOR SPONSORSHIP & EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES Peter Delbridge Tel: +61 2 9080 4478 Fax: +61 2 9299 4622 Email: peter.delbridge@bulkhandling.com.au

22 Flexicon’s bag-smashing Block-Buster 24 De Gunst doubles bagasse loads with AZMEB tipper

68 Qube partners with Noble for Quattro Grain at Pt Kembla

26 Air Tip unveils ‘quantum leap’ for side-tipping

70 Takraf looking into gearless drives for big conveyors

28 Lynchborough-GPM profiles Maltra Foods plant

74 Remedying Australia’s under-performance in in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC)

PLEASE SEND ADVERTISING MATERIAL TO Ronda McCallum Email: ronda.mccallum@bulkhandling.com.au Tel: +61 2 9080 4354

30 Busch’s mink claw creates oil-free vacuums

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Peter Attwater

32 Bürkert pneumatic controller compact, versatile

SUBSCRIPTIONS Natalie Gardner – Tel: +61 2 9080 4447 natalie.gardner@informa.com.au

33 Flexicon’s vacuum receiver pneumatically-activated

32 CAPS distributes Ingersoll Rand’s new air compressor 34 ThyssenKrupp replaces FMG slew bearing 34 Camfil buys Handte

ABN 66 086 268 33

AUSTRALIAN BULK HANDLING REVIEW (ABHR) is published 7 times a year by Informa Australia Level 2, 120 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia PO Box Q1439, Queen Victoria Building Post Office, NSW 1230 Tel: +61 2 9080 4480 Fax: +61 2 9299 4622

ISSN 1444-6308 Circulaton: 5,983

78 Q & A with Sandvik on IPCC 78 SKM looks beyond Vale S11D project 80 Snowden says flexibility still priority for miners 80 MMD boss proud of Chinese, African contracts 82 Boral’s Locotrack at quarries in UK and Australia

36 Tenova to supply new Port Kembla stackers

TIPPLERS, TRANSHIPMENT & MOBILE CONVEYING

36 Higgo is Aurecon’s new mining director

84 Edge’s track-mounted unloader

38 PEER REVIEWED PAPER Dynamic Analysis and DEM Simulation of ROM Ore Inclined Apron Feeders, by Roberts/Donohue This paper has been peer reviewed by at least two independent referees.

43 First shipment from Base Resources’ Kenyan project

86 Daryl Gray transhipment and tippling update 85 Haver’s Hydro-Clean cleans ore with less water 88 Rockwell extends life of Arrium’s Whyalla Steelworks 90 Dust suppression no simple task, Tecpro expert says 91 Omron says SX series efficient, versatile 92 Kilic continues to grow

(audit period ending September 2013) Member Circulation Audit Bureau (Australia)

44 AspenTech director stresses importance of solids modelling

Copyright © 2010 Informa Australia Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the editorial or pictorial content by any manner without written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

While contributed articles to ABHR are welcome, return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings and photographs if they are to be returned and no responsibility can be assumed for unsolicited materials. All rights in letters submitted will be treated as unconditionally assigned for the publication.

All products listed in this magazine are subject to manufacturer’s change without notice and the publisher assumes no responsibility for such changes.

The publisher’s advertising terms and conditions are set out in the current Advertising Rate Card, which is available to read before placing any advertisements.

46 Calibre develops process operations simulator training

93 Don’t let ‘chiselling’ affect packing chain, Nelson Joyce warns

47 Hurll Nu-Way, iBulk pair up for dryer

94 Flexicon bulk bag discharging helps US dry milk producer

48 Alcoa closes smelter; 980 jobs gone 50 1,300 workers sacked as Forge collapses

92 Exair launches 205L drum vacuum Down Under

97 Universal Robotics’ robot-arms debut in Australia 98 US supplements producer uses Munson mixer

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

100 Arab Potash plant takes GEA Barr-Rosin dryer

52 Redispan pushes modular conveyor envelope

102 Atlas on-board weighers

54 Flexco modular conveyors move wastewater

102 T400 cone crusher Telsmith’s strongest yet Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

3

Perfection in

Dry Separation

Perfecting Particle Size

Three Sturtevant Models are available to meet a variety of needs:

Sturtevant Air Classifiers are designed and configured for classification, separation and recovery of dry metals and minerals without the use of water or auxilliary equipment.

• Whirlwind® Air Classifiers (pictured above) • Side Draft™ Air Classifiers • Superfine® Air Classifiers

www.sturtevantinc.com

EDITORIAL

Competition hots up in east coast grain exports

I

ncumbent east coast grain logistics champ GrainCorp is feeling the pressure as new contenders at Newcastle and Port Kembla muscle up.

By Charles Macdonald At Newcastle, where GrainCorp Editor – ABHR has a major facility with 188,240t of storage, new player Newcastle Agri Terminal (NAT) made its first shipment of 28,000t of durum wheat on February 21.

NAT’s $28m facility features 60,000t of storage and has the capacity to unload trains and load large vessels at 2,000tph.

With a brief to offer greater independent export access to grain growers in northern NSW, the business is headed by Jock Carter and Martin MacKay, and backed by grain exporters Glencore Grain, Olam and CBH Grain.

Moving south to Port Kembla, and at an earlier stage of development, Qube Holdings, with partner commodities trader Noble Group, is embarking on construction of a $50m grain export facility.

The 1.3mtpa facility will be called Quattro Grain and call options could see grain marketers Emerald and Cargill take 20% ownership stakes, reducing Qube and Noble’s 50% interests to 30% each.

Qube managing director, Maurice James said “This is a significant strategic project which we believe will alter the dynamics of the tightly controlled grain handling market.”

The new incumbents will offer stiff competition to GrainCorp,

which nearly came under the ownership of international grains giant Archer Daniels Midland in November 2013, before Treasurer Joe Hockey, prompted by his Nationals colleagues, pulled the rug from beneath the $3bn transaction.

Hockey, arguing against the deal, said that GrainCorp, which owns and operates bulk grain terminals at seven of 11 east coast ports, was a natural monopoly, and by implication a potential dictator of terms to farmers.

That argument, vigorously denied by GrainCorp and ADM at the time, looks a little flaky in the aftermath of the NAT and Quattro deals.

Competition is coming and farmers and traders will reap the benefits.

For the full stories on NAT and Quattro, see pages 16 and 68 respectively.

Editorial Advisory Panel Peter Arnold: Emeritus Professor, Key Centre for Bulk Solids & Particulate Technologies, Faculty of Engineering; Consultant, Bulk Materials Engineering Australia, University of Wollongong. Alan Roberts AM: Consultant, Key Centre for Bulk Solids & Particulate Technologies, and TUNRA Bulk Solids Handling Research Associates. Peter Wypych: Director, Key Centre for Bulk Solids & Particulate Technologies, Faculty of Engineering, and Bulk Materials Engineering Australia, University of Wollongong. Gary James: Bulk Materials Handling Specialist Calibre Global Pty Ltd. Mark Jones: Professor, Director Centre for Bulk Solids & Particulate Technologies, University of Newcastle. Stephen Davis, Technical Director Materials Handling, WorleyParsons Canada

Gra in Solutions

With nation-wide resources, Ahrens has a proven track record in the design and construction of smart, cost effective and reliable materials handling solutions for the grain industry.

materialshandling@ahrens.com.au

6

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

I

www.ahrens.com.au

I

08 8521 0017

Our symbol. Your guarantee.

SCREW CONVEYORS

Archimedes supplies screw conveyors to Vietnamese mine Bulk handling manufacturer and supplier Archimedes Engineering has supplied screw conveyors to a polymetallic mine in northern Vietnam.

A

rchimedes, which specialises in the design, manufacture and delivery of screw conveyors, bucket elevators and other material handling equipment, delivered the screw conveyors early last year.

The mine has significant deposits of tungsten, fluorspar, bismuth, copper and gold, Jay Baker, Archimedes’ operations manager tells ABHR. The screw conveyors were for the transport of material in the mining of bismuth, Baker says.

“Archimedes has been supplying equipment to the Vietnam mine for the past three years. We were approached due to our proven quality of equipment and experience.”

The first conveyor, a 400mm diameter twin screw conveyor, is to accept discharge from the bismuth leach recess plate residue filter located immediately above, and conveys and discharges the cake into a repulp tank on a slow, even basis to ensure proper repulping without the risk of overwhelming the repulp agitator (See figures 1 and 2).

The filter operates on a batch cycle basis which may produce up to 2.4m3 of 40mm thick filter cake per batch, with a batch cycle time of approximately 44 minutes.

The mass of this discharge is approximately 7.2t based on an expected ex filter chamber cake bulk density of 3000kg/m3.

Cake falling vertically from the filter plates will be broken up to an extent by a chain breaker grid, provided in the filter discharge chute, directly above the screw conveyor. This chain grid will also reduce the impact of material falling onto the screw, to some extent.

However, Baker notes, sturdy construction of the screw to withstand impact loading from the falling filter cake was required.

The ‘break up’ of filter cake produced by the chain grid is expected to produce an effective volume approximately twice that as discharged from the filter plates which will considerably reduce the effective conveying bulk density of the material to approximately 1500kg/m3.

Cake is discharged progressively from the hydraulic cylinder end of the filter,

Figure 1 & 2: The 400mm twin conveyor is to accept discharge from the bismuth leach recess plate residue filter located immediately above.

Figure 3 & 4: The 300mm centreless screw conveyor is designed to be the plant’s bismuth cement conveyor.

one plate at a time, working towards the other end of the filter until all 58 chambers have been discharged. It is expected that the time to discharge all 58 chambers will be approximately six minutes.

A cake slab is discharged approximately every six seconds with the discharge location effectively working backwards at a rate of 70mm a discharge. Upon discharge, the 4.8m3 cake volume will be at an approximate level of 1.2m in the conveyor trough, which will submerge the 400mm diameter screws by approximately 800mm, necessitating it to act as a feeder whilst discharging into the repulping tank.

“Even discharge was the predominant requirement with uneven drawdown of cake in the hopper being inconsequential,” Baker explains. “A variable pitch screw was required without the use of centre shaft support in middle.”

The other conveyor supplied by Archimedes (see figures 3 and 4) to the north Vietnamese mine was a 300mm diameter centreless screw conveyor.

It will act as the plant’s bismuth cement screw conveyor, designed to accept

discharge from the bismuth cement recess plate residue filter located immediately above.

The screw conveys and discharges the cake into 100L drums slowly and evenly, such that the filling process can be manual.

Like with the first conveyor, cake falling vertically from the filter plates will be broken up to an extent by a chain breaker grid provided in the filter discharge chute directly above the screw conveyor. This chain grid will also reduce the impact of material falling onto the screw.

Thus, upon discharge, the 0.9m3 cake volume will be at an approximate level of 1000mm in the conveyor trough which will submerge the proposed 300mm diameter screw by approximately 700mm, necessitating it to act as a feeder whilst discharging into the drum.

The drum has a diameter of approximately 600 mm.

Archimedes has recently supplied screw conveyors and bucket elevators to PNG, Hong Kong, Indonesia and New Caledonia, in addition to Australia.

Contact: www.archimedes.net.au

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

7

COAL HANDLING AND PROCESSING

Sedgman talks future of modular relocatable CHPPs David Proud, manager of business and project development at mineral processing plant designer–constructor Sedgman, says relocatable modular coal handling and preparation plants (CHPPs) can be a key asset for miners looking to trim costs in mining’s new age of austerity, Oliver Probert reports.

Photos show Sedgman’s three generations of modular plants. West Senakin CHPP, Indonesia (1992) above, was one of the company’s first generation modular plants, largely fabricated off–site, then shipped from Australia and in the final stages by barge up the Barito River for assembly on site.

F

lexibility, efficiency and timeliness.

Those are the three cornerstones of modular CHPPs that miners should be taking advantage of, according to Proud, who spoke with ABHR from Sedgman’s Brisbane office in February.

“I think the real driver is the low capital cost of modular plants while still delivering high efficiency,” Proud said of modular CHPP construction. “That’s attractive to mine operators.”

Modular plants are significantly cheaper to set up than non–modular

8

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

– or ‘stick build’ – plants. Steel and some equipment for the modular components is sourced from China, and the modules are fabricated and pre–assembled over there, before being shipped to their destination and put together in around 10 weeks of on–site work.

“We could deliver one of these in about nine months,” Proud explained.

“Design time is really minimised, because it’s like buying a Holden or a Toyota; it’s ‘here’s the design, you’ve only got to configure it a little.’ All up we’re saying from

placement of order to operating on site in about nine to 10 months.”

That’s quick – especially for a full timeline starting at decision time by the miner right through to ribbon cutting – and it’s particularly attractive for Sedgman’s target modular market of smaller, time and cost conscious, miners.

“To put it in comparison, a conventional stick–build or even a pre–assembled, large plant could take between 11 and 14 months on–site,” Proud estimated. “Plus, there would be another nine

A Revolution in Feeder Technology MORE FEED | LESS SPACE | CHANGE OF DIRECTION Transmin’s Low Profile Feeder™ (LPF) is an original hybrid feeder delivering the advantages of both belt and apron feeders. It holds the unique ability to change direction using a bend transition within a single feeder; improving space utilisation, flexibility of plant layout and reducing capital expenditure.

Change of Direction Lowest Profile

Lime Mixing

Rockbreaking Systems

Heavy Duty Bin Isolation Gates

Roller Mounted Ball Mills

Rockbreaker Automation

Safe | Efficient | Reliable

2012

WINNER INNOVATION EXCELLENCE AWARD

2012

WINNER

C.Y. O'CONNOR AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

Innovative solutions for Bulk Materials Handling since 1987.

Please contact us for a detailed product overview brochure.

For more information, call 1300 640 359 or visit www.transmin.com.au/abhr

Flocculant Preparation

COAL HANDLING AND PROCESSING

Blair Athol CHPP, Bowen Basin (2000) – Sedgman’s second generation relocatable modular plant stood the test of time.

Designed to operate for five years, the plant was upgraded from 250tph to 300tph in 2003, ran for 13 years and is still capable of being re–commissioned.

Sedgman’s newest Relocatable Modular Plant – “generation 3“ comes in fully contained modules requiring only minimal connections and can be fully operational on site months ahead of conventional style plant design and builds.

months leading up to that.

“All-up the delivery time for a normal plant is about two years, and [the re–locatable modular plant construction] can bring that down to about nine months. So it’s significantly quicker.”

Sedgman got its start in the modular processing plant industry in the early 1990s, building three plants in Indonesia – Petangis, East Senakin and West Senakin – between 1990 and 1993. It barged modules of its first generation plants up the Barito River, for delivery to the three sites.

“It was almost the reverse logic of what we’re doing now, because we built and pre–assembled them in Australia and then shipped them to Asia, so we’ve had a bit of a change of thinking now.”

10

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Sedgman’s second generation of small modular CHPPs debuted in 1998, when the company built a plant for the Rio Tinto Coal Blair Athol mine.

The Blair Athol plant was designed to be in service for about five years and then was supposed to be relocated. “That plant’s still standing there now,“ Proud noted. “It only stopped being operated about six months ago, and it will probably go back into service again. We haven’t had the chance to relocate it yet.”

Since 1998, Sedgman has built and delivered dozens of plants incorporating modular elements, and Proud said the company’s engineers have continued to develop and refine the plants’ design.

The third generation plants are made up of 11 to 15 modules, and are

capable of processing 300tph.

“We’ve advanced the structural engineering design, but what the guys have done now is taken it beyond the structure, and focused on full pre–assembly of entire modules, including mechanical, electrical and piping components,” he explained. “They have changed the electrical designs of the plant so that we can do an almost ‘plug–n–play’ type setup.”

This plug–n–play idea, creating a fully modular plant, allows Sedgman’s customers to tailor the specifics (flowsheet options) of their CHPPs to cater to their exact needs and specific coal types, on a site–by–site basis. And as part of its transition into producing a third generation of modular plants, Sedgman has also focused on making construction easier, quicker and safer.

“Take the concrete design: usually it can take two or three months to pour concrete footings for a processing plant on site; the [engineering] guys have designed pre–cast concrete modules that can just be implanted on reasonably solid, flat ground, and that really cuts down on construction time.”

Sedgman’s third generation plants will allow an operation to process about 2.2mt of run-of-mine (ROM) coal.

“The true modular plants – our third generation of modular plants – are for small operations, or start–up operations. The next generation of modular plants we’ll develop will be up to 500– 700tph capacity, so that will handle up to around 5mtpa.”

Proud said the current generation of smaller modular plants already had valuable applications for bigger miners.

“Coal prices are falling and one of the ways miners compensate for that is they produce more tonnes,” Proud explained.

“This supplementary production scenario is something that we’ve looked at for a few clients over the last few months.

The current question is, ‘how can we squeeze a few more tonnes out of our current assets?’ Well one of those ways could be supplementing it with a small plant on the side.”

He said Sedgman has also looked into finding niche applications for its plants, for miners who are looking to improve recovery.

“Because the modular plant is broken up into small, discrete modules, clients can add individual modules with new technology, or more fines or tailings capacity, to bolt onto their existing plants. I think that’s an avenue the modular plant is going to open up in the near future.”

Contact: d avid.proud@sedgman.com or www.sedgman.com

NEWS

‘I won’t say what orifice he’s talking out of’ Barry O’Farrell has lashed out at claims that the government-owned Australian Rail Track Corporation doctored the results of a study into dust emission levels from uncovered coal wagons.

N

SW Labor, the federal Greens Party, and community group Hunter Community Environment Centre have all questioned the results of a study into particulate emissions from uncovered coal wagons in the Hunter region.

The questions raised by the groups have led them to allege a cover-up by the ARTC, and the Environmental Protection Authority (which ordered the study) by association, who are accused of working in the best interests of corporations involved, and not local residents.

But the NSW premier has rejected those accusations.

NSW Labor’s shadow minister for environment, Luke Foley, says documents released through a freedom of information act show that the ARTC and the EPA were wrong to promote the final results of the study as fact.

O’Farrell didn’t mince words when it came to Foley’s opinion.

“Well, I won’t say which orifice he’s talking out of,” the minister for Western Sydney told reporters on Sunday.

“The EPA and the Office of the Environment and Heritage have sent [the reports] to a third party to see which was correct, and that work’s currently being done,” he said. “But no one has ever denied that the movement of trains on rail lines where coal is being moved, that we don’t get particulate and dust matters are produced.”

The controversy dates back to June last year, when the ARTC was first accused of adjusting the results of the study in an effort to keep happy the Monthly figures are cumulative. corporations which lease its track in the Hunter.

Throughput at Newcastle Port is climbing every year, and the majority of that is coal exports, which have travelled The final draft of the report, made public by the to the port via rail.

ARTC, differed quite significantly from a leaked draft of the report, dated six days earlier. In fact, of the leaked report’s 18 conclusions, 15 were changed in to underestimate the number of statistically significant differences some way for the final draft. observed in the data.”

Katestone Environmental, the consultant hired to perform Professor Louise Ryan, of the University of Technology, Sydney, the survey and produce the report, says the difference between performed the second peer review, and like Knibbs found flaws in the leaked draft and the final draft was due to an error – a “disthe analysis of the data, saying: “There are some serious limitations crepancy in train data in the draft report,” which was “immewith the data analysis that has been used.” diately reviewed” and corrected, resulting in the data shown in The ARTC, meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing on its part, the final report. saying: “ARTC are not technical experts in the area of air quality But the results of the study have since been thrown even furmonitoring and have relied upon the EPA’s expert advice in finalisther into doubt, after a pair of EPA-ordered peer reviews of the ing the report.” study found there was a major error with the statistical analysis And the EPA, too, has defended itself, with chairman and chief undertaken by Katestone, and that the data should be re-analysed. executive Barry Buffier expressing his disappointment at the accu“Some of these issues are fairly minor in nature, and their imsations of wrongdoing on his agency’s part. pact on the findings may be negligible,” the University of Queens“If the [Hunter Community Environment Centre] has eviland’s Dr Luke Knibbs wrote in his peer review. dence of any wrong doing then they should take that evidence “However, there is a major error in the statistical analysis of the to ICAC,” Buffier said, referring to the Independent Commisdata that is very likely to obscure the true statistical significance of sion Against Corruption. the comparisons undertaken.

“The purpose of these studies to monitor coal trains, which the “This error affects many of the conclusions drawn, and is likely

12

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

NEWS

EPA required the ARTC to undertake, was to investigate whether coal dust from coal trains produced more particulate matter than other types of trains and determine whether covering coal wagons would have an impact on reducing particles.

“It is important to understand that trains produce particulates,” he continued. “That is not what the studies were addressing.”

Buffier said the study released in May last year showed that coal trains do not produce more particle matter than other types of freight trains.

“In order to ensure scientific rigour the EPA commissioned an independent peer review … this review found that additional statistical analysis of its data was required before any conclusion could be made.”

Despite Buffier’s ‘not so fast’ stance, the opposition, the Greens, and local community groups are still not satisfied.

“State and federal governments are protecting coal company profits by trying to hide or misrepresent crucial evidence that reveals high pollution levels linked with transporting coal in uncovered rail wagons,” Greens NSW senator Leigh Rhiannon said in a pointed statement.

“The ARTC has the power to help reduce the public health impacts of coal transportation and they should move immediately to have mining companies pay the costs of covering all coal train wagons.”

Luke Foley, the environment shadow minister with NSW Labor, said that if the ARTC’s reports were indeed doctored, then state environment minister, Robyn Parker, had to re-assess her support of the EPA and ARTC on the matter.

“If the minister has unknowingly misled the parliament, as a result of false advice from the EPA leadership, she must correct the record immediately,” Foley said.

Parker’s office responded to the accusations, saying: “All of the minister’s statements to parliament and the community have been made on the basis of the best available evidence and science. They are also consistent with the latest advice available from her agencies.”

The Hunter Community Environment Centre has focused heavily on statements made by the EPA and Parker, saying that if the results of the ARTC’s study were in question, then environmental officials should not be treating its results as a point of fact.

“There has been a systematic cover up that warrants a parliamentary inquiry,” said HCEC spokesperson, Dr James Whelan.

“The EPA’s position that coal trains do not significantly increase particle pollution contradicts the results of ARTC’s monitoring and we now know through freedom of information that they locked in this position before they received ARTC’s reports,” said Whelan, who chairs HCEC’s Dust and Health Committee,

which initiated its own community-funded monitoring study in 2013.

According to its study, particle pollution levels increase by 1300% when coal trains pass.

“The EPA’s mission is to protect the NSW environment including human health,” Whelan continued. “They have disregarded this mission, refused to regulate industry and, instead, engaged in deception and spin.”

Additional analysis of the data from the ARTC survey in question is expected back in two weeks, according to the EPA.

VACUUM LIFTING SOLUTIONS Our vacuum lifters can lift and move a huge range of products from 10kg to 2,000kg.

The cover story The process of adding or removing a cover from a coal wagon may seem like a small ask at first glance.

But given the massive scale of coal mining and export operations, which can involve the loading and unloading of hundreds of thousands of coal wagons each year, the addition of one step at both ends of the process is indeed a hefty one.

And that explains the industry’s (and therefore the state government’s) hesitation in covering coal wagons.

The negative aspects of incorporating covers into coal transport are counterbalanced by positives: adding covers to their coal wagons would not only get environmental groups off miners’ backs (in this instance, at least), it would also reduce the risk of losing product, and some have even suggested it would make the wagons themselves more aerodynamic, thus saving on fuel.

NSW’s state government, by not enforcing covers on wagons, is also going against the recommendations of the federal government.

A federal Senate committee – the Standing Committee on Community Affairs – last year performed an inquiry into air quality, and recommended that all states and territories enforce the covering of wagons to their respective coal mining industries.

“The committee recommends that states and territories require industry to implement covers on all coal wagon fleets,” the committee’s report, released on August 16, 2013, said.

“The potential for coal trains to cause dust emissions was a key issue throughout the committee’s inquiry. While the amount and nature of pollution emanating from coal trains was a contested point, it did appear that coal trains are a source of air pollution.”

HCEC’s Fee Mozeley and Bev Smiles don’t see the negative side of adding covers.

“It’s time Premier O’Farrell and his ministers took action to protect the health of the tens of thousands of people who live close to coal trains in the Hunter Valley, Newcastle and other parts of the state,” Mozeley said.

CALL US NOW ABOUT THE NEW JUMBO FLEX 50

Lift sacks, cartons, buckets, drums and almost anything weighing up to 50kg

LIFT AND MOVE SACKS EASILY WITH ONE HAND FREECALL

1800 992 211 sales@millsom.com.au www.millsom.com.au

NEWS

KBS supplies automated packaging line to stockfeed company Powder handling specialist, Kockums Bulk Systems has supplied an automated grain and feed packaging system to the Young, NSW plant of AMBOS Stockfeeds.

E

stablished in 1949, AMBOS Stockfeeds is a family-owned and operated feed milling company. It started life as a commercial poultry egg enterprise, and the name AMBOS is derived from a local indigenous word for eggs.

AMBOS has progressively expanded and extended its feed milling and manufacturing operations, with the capacity to produce pelleted products, along with meals and mixes. The company manufactures and distributes a full range of bulk and bagged supplements for cattle and calves, sheep, pigs, poultry and horses. Product can be supplied in bulk, in one tonne bulka bags, or in 20kg and 25kg bags.

AMBOS is headquartered in the large and thriving country town of Young, located in the fertile south-west slopes region of New South Wales, around 400kms south of Sydney and 150kms west of Canberra.

The Young mill, which capitalises on one of Australia’s most reliable premium grain-growing areas, has the capacity to manufacture a full range of compound feed types including pellets and crumbles, meals and mashes, grain mixes, mineral mixes and blends.

A second mill site at Cootamundra has the capacity to grind fibre materials from bales or bulk loose, and to process and incorporate these into pellets and nuts.

In 2013, AMBOS expanded its Young plant to include a large distribution warehouse for storage and despatch of bagged products.

The new warehouse includes an automatic animal feed packaging system – supplied by KBS in a move away from laborious manual handling.

According to AMBOS proprietor, Alan Threlfall – son of the company founder – “the new sack filling and palletising equipment enables the quick switch of products for responding directly to 14

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Completed pallets, with Alan Threlfall on left and Ian Spencer on the right.

Pallet storage in warehouse.

clients” needs.

“The higher rate of handling and the efficiency gained lead to consideration for export sales as a possible direction of expansion.”

The new system also allows AMBOS to meet a growing market demand for sack supply of feed products, with product supplied in attractive pre-printed

sacks colour coded for individual customers. This trade is centred on NSW with expansion underway into Northern Victoria, Southern Queensland and South Australia.

“Marketing is done by partnering through merchant networks, not selling direct to the public, but strategically supporting them,” explained Threlfall.

NEWS

Bag pick up by Payper bagging machine.

Bag layers on TMG palletiser.

Complete pallets from wrapper.

“However, personal relationships are maintained for understanding the users’ needs and satisfying them.

“We achieve particular customer requirements by working with specialist external consultants for the formulations, and our products are free of animal by-products.”

Threlfall and AMBOS general manager, Ian Spencer, carefully assessed suppliers before selecting KBS. “We sought high quality and operational standards from a company that had proven products meeting Australian standards; staff with good product knowledge and experience, and a switched-on installation and service team,” said Threlfall.

“Financial investment considerations are important to ensure a viable return but we were prepared to pay that little extra for quality, in keeping with our own standards and to maintain the trust of our client base.”

The installed equipment commences with a Payper open-mouth bagger that picks bags from a conveyor and offers them to the filling spout. When filled they move forward to the sewing head, then to the TMG automatic palletiser. From there they move forward as a pallet load to the Unitech automatic wrapper. Throughput is 700 to 900 sacks per hour.

Equipment is expected to perform 24/7 and to be continually available for many years of service.

“KBS has a wide variety of sack filling, palletising and wrapping equipment and the experience necessary to assist the client with the choice to best suit their needs,” said Peter Burrup of Kockums Bulk Systems.

Alan Threlfall said that: “AMBOS’ business philosophy has been built on a high level of service and availability to satisfy clients’ needs, especially in urgent situations. Consequently, the business can run 24/7 and we even have three of our own trucks to be able to guarantee special deliveries.”

Contact: P eter Burrup, KBS email: p.burrup@kockumsbulk.com.au

Your Material Handling Solutions Celebrating 50 years of Service to Australian Industry

Acromet (Aust) Pty Ltd provide innovative solutions for a wide range of Material Handling demands.

• • • • • •

Customised Design Detailed Manufacturing Comprehensive Factory Testing Professional Installation Reliable Service Spares Ex-stock

DESIGN

MANUFACTURE

Acromet’s extensive experience and proven track record, delivers a cost effective material handling solution to meet the client’s operational demands.

14 Winterton Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168 P O Box 1105, Clayton South, Victoria 3169 Ph: (03) 9544 7333 • Fax: (03) 9543 6706 Email: chemex@acromet.com.au www.acromet.com.au

TESTING SCAN ME

INSTALLATION Partners in Material Handling

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

15

GRAIN HANDLING

Newcastle Agri Terminal ships first grain A state-of-the-art shiploader, using a cascade chute, is just one feature of the newly completed Newcastle Agri Terminal (NAT), which made its first shipment on February 21.

F

or the first shipment, 28,000 tonnes of durum wheat was loaded onto the North Princess, destined for Algeria on behalf of the Australian Durum Company.

NAT is Newcastle’s second grain export facility and the first major grain port development in NSW in more than 25 years.

NAT features 60,000 metric tonnes of storage and will have the capacity to unload trains and load large vessels at 2000tph, thanks to its shiploader, which features a Cleveland cascade chute.

“As we are still in the commissioning phase, we loaded this cargo at a significantly lower rate in order to test and refine the various systems and components,” NAT joint executive director Jock Carter said.

“Overall we were pleased with the performance of our conveyors and state of the art shiploader,” he added.

Cargotec supplied NAT with the 2000tph Siwertell SBL 1600TTL loader, as well as the chute and a 182m long enclosed jetty belt conveyor with tipper, designed to promote a dust-free grain transfer.

The goal for NAT is to provide greater independent export access to grain growers in northern NSW. “We believe this project is a great example of the ‘working port’ concept where Australian growers achieve more efficient access to export markets with minimal impact on local portside communities,” Carter said.

NAT is operated by CTC Terminals, a business headed by Carter and Martin MacKay. Investment for the project, which cost roughly $28m, came from CTC and three grain exporters: Glencore Grain, Olam and CBH Grain.

“We are fortunate to have a great team of investors,” MacKay said, “who have a real interest in introducing innovation and efficiency to the grain supply chain.

“However, it’s a testament to our position as an independent service provider that our first customer, ADC, is not one of our investors.”

16

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Jock Carter and Martin MacKay. All photos courtesy Justine Potter.

View of the Newcastle Agri Terminal (NAT).

NAT shiploader.

GRAIN HANDLING

Silos at the new Newcastle Agri Terminal (NAT).

ADC director Peter Howard said that his company’s first export from NAT was made possible thanks to the support of 35 durum growers.

“The new terminal will add value for growers on the Liverpool Plains and in northern NSW generally,” he said.

“NAT has been extremely helpful in organising the cargo which augurs well for future shipments.”

ADC is part of the Graintrend Group, specialising in the export of pulses to the Indian subcontinent, wheat to

First shipment from NAT.

South East Asia and sorghum and barley to China.

“Graintrend is excited about the prospect of exporting bulk vessels of chickpeas from NAT as this was not possible from Newcastle previously,” Howard noted.

MacKay hopes some healthy competition can be just that – healthy – for the businesses in the region.

Newcastle’s other grain export facility, operated by GrainCorp, is significantly larger than NAT – capable of

Shiploading.

storing as much as 188,240 tonnes of grain for export at any one time.

But the option of a second terminal should, in principle, still promote competition, and MacKay believes NAT has the potential to reinstate Newcastle as the key export facility in eastern Australia.

“Competition and increased efficiency has a ripple effect right up the regional supply chain,” he said.

Contact: www.naterminal.com.au

GRAIN HANDLING

Allied builds pre-export grain storage and fumigation system Agricultural storage builder Allied Grain Systems is delivering GrainCorp a pre-export grain storage and fumigation system, at the conglomerate’s Geelong Port Terminal.

GrainCorp’s new Geelong Port Terminal storage and fumigation facility is under construction.

T

he project, one of Allied’s biggest capital projects for grain silo storage in the last decade, involves the construction of a new sealed grain storage system that can be used for automated fumigation of all grain prior to export.

Bulker Bag Unloading System Jacmor’s design team has ensured that safety, minimum maintenance, ease of operation & simple erection have all been incorporated.

JAC 033

Victoria Head Office 20-22 Macquarie Drive Thomastown Vic. 3074 Australia Telephone: 61 3 9463 0888 Facsimile: 61 3 9465 8788 E-mail: info@jacmor.com.au FreeCall 1800 334 005 Web Site: www.jacmor.com.au

Fumigation of grain prior to export is becoming increasingly important to exporters as worldwide consumer standards for an insect-free grain product continue to rise.

The automated fumigation system, designed by Allied, works by measuring the grain mass, then calculating the desired amount of fumigation gas required.

That gas is then injected into the grain and recirculated around the silo, giving a comprehensive insect kill, according to Allied.

The storage facility also allows for automated container loading of shipping containers that are to be exported from Geelong.

B double trucks are able to drive through an automated loading station, specifically designed to weigh and fill containers at a constant flow of around 12 containers per hour.

In total, Allied’s contract required: • all preliminary earthworks at the existing site in Geelong to allow for construction • all civil works, including concrete road design and construction, and all silo base foundations, which required over fifty 12m deep piers (as the ground condition close to port were found to be quite poor) • design and fabrication of all structural components, including structural elevator towers nominally 50m tall • container loading structures, including automated tilting panel operator access to containers on trucks • construction of five 1500t, conical based, gas-tight storage silos • design, construction and implementation of automated fumigation system • comprehensive grain weighing system • operators’ rooms and facilities • design and supply of the conveying system including 50m tall elevators and a 200m long, 500tph elevator • full electrical package including design installation and automation The new facility is due for completion around May 2014.

Allied says the Geelong facility is a signature project for its business.

“This project places Allied Grain Systems as one of the Australia’s premier grain storage and conveying design and construction companies,” the company told ABHR. “With a new warehouse and workshop recently completed in our Rockdale Road premises, Allied Grain Systems are confident that future large commercial projects will be contracted to guarantee their workers a secure future.”

Contact: www.alliedgrainsystems.com.au

18

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

CONVEYOR SAFETY

Anti-collision system eases stress at Port Hedland Navtech Radar and Sam Technology give ABHR a case study detailing the installation of their Safeguard anticollision solution on an iron ore loader at Port Hedland.

I

n north-west WA’s Pilbara region, loading of iron ore into ships by conveyer belt is a 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week, 365 daysa-year operation.

Loading ships is not a simple task and it is critical to take account of the ship’s movement, be it side-to-side or up and down.

It is also vital that balance is maintained throughout the process, and this necessitates constant monitoring of the loading process, to make sure the iron ore goes into the correct hold compartment.

On top of all this, the working environment in the Pilbara is also very challenging, with high temperatures, blustery winds and dust.

“Iron ore ship loaders are huge and very expensive machines in their own right,” says LogiCamms consultant Andrew Pasquale, “but the product they convey represents an even larger asset.

“Each loading machine can convey several thousand tons of iron ore per hour and, with each ton of iron ore being worth approximately $110, it is essential to keep the loaders operating with minimal downtime.

“If a loading machine gets damaged, or the loading is hampered for any reason, the loss per machine is likely to be a minimum of approximately one million US dollars per day rising to as much as twelve million.”

Pasquale says one mining company exporting out of Port Hedland had experienced a number of incidents that hampered loading, and after an independent investigation into laser, radar and ultrasonic camera technology, they chose to implement a Navtech Radar SafeGuard anti-collision system.

Australian engineering supplier Sam Technology and UKbased Navtech Radar developed the SafeGuard solution in an effort to give iron ore shiploader operators an easier job.

Sam Technology and Navtech Radar have collaborated in the installation of the SafeGuard system for iron ore ship loaders in the Pilbara.

“In most outdoor industrial operations there is the potential for pieces of equipment to collide, or for individual machines to collide with and injure personnel operating in and around the same area,” Navtech Radar’s Stephen Clark explains.

“Therefore, early detection and prevention of collisions is vital for safe and efficient operations. This applies in manned operations and also, increasingly, for machines that are operated remotely or, even, autonomously.

“Whilst dependable detection is a prerequisite for any safety system, so is reliable operation with alerts only being raised in genuine circumstances.”

Radar has been used successfully, for some time, in the outdoor industrial automation of various vehicles.

The technology is not affected by bright sunlight, rain, fog, or dust in the atmosphere or on the sensor itself. Changes in environmental conditions have little effect on the detection performance, Clark says.

The Navtech SafeGuard system comprises a high frequency radar sensor and a software system called Witness.

Witness receives radar data directly from the Navtech 1-200 scanning radar, and interprets it to detect and track objects within user-defined areas of operation.

Alert messages can be sent to the machine controller to 20

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

The SafeGuard system in action.

enable corrective action to be taken. Various interface options are also available.

Navtech Radar says the SafeGuard system gives very few false alarms, is easy to commission and use, gives early detection from a long range detector, and requires minimal maintenance and no routine cleaning.

Pasquale says LogiCamms is happy to be in a working relationship with Navtech Radar and Sam Technology, and says he’s been impressed with the system from day one.

“We did feasibility trials with laser and with radar and were impressed with the SafeGuard software design,” he says.

“We also found that other technologies lacked proven experience in the required application. We were looking particularly for a solution that would help avoid the loader hitting hatches, light poles, cranes and the ship’s bridge.”

For ship loader operators, seeing everything around them, and reacting to it all in time, can be a hard task, Pasquale points out.

“The operator works in a small cabin at the very end of the boom close to the ship … It should be remembered that the long conveyer belt is full of iron ore and has considerable inertia that the operator has to take account of.”

Pasquale says he can see further opportunities for SafeGuard elsewhere along the Australian coastline.

“Preliminary discussions indicate that as the SafeGuard systems continue to perform, other sites are increasingly interested. The business case for a successful solution is overwhelming.

Previous attempts using various other technologies have failed to provide the levels of robustness and performance that this harsh environment demands.

“The current step-by-step approach is more cautious and pragmatic and we are confident that as we achieve our goals we increase the probability of long term success.”

Contact: www.navtechradar.com

COAL HANDLING

Aurizon profits on the slide as Asciano’s coal presence grows Asciano subsidiary PN Coal has taken a bigger share of Australia’s coal haulage market, as rival Aurizon’s profit dropped almost 40% in the second half of 2013, Oliver Probert writes.

Net profit was down from $176m to $107m for the Queensland-based haulier.

Nonetheless, managing director and chief executive officer, Lance Hockridge, was upbeat about the company’s position.

“This is a strong result because it reinforces the traction Aurizon is getting with its transformation program and reaffirms we’re on target for an operating ratio of 75% in FY2015,” Hockridge said.

“Aurizon is driving out costs and lifting productivity across operations in a persistently challenging economic environment where resource investment has moderated and general freight activity remains flat.”

Hockridge said coal was a particular strong point for Aurizon in the first half of 2013/14; he added that it has stayed strong early in 2014.

“The strong coal haulage volumes seen in 1H FY2014 have continued in January and February, therefore our expectations for FY2014 have increased to 207-212 million tonnes versus the previous guidance of 200 - 205mt,” he said.

Aurizon’s coal operations grew in the first half of 2013/14, but not quite as fast as PN Coal’s.

A

urizon, which dominates the Queensland market, having formerly been a part of the government-owned Queensland Rail, did see a growth in net tonne kilometres (NTKs) for its coal operations, which went up from 21.9bn in the first half of 2012/13 to 25.5bn in the same period this financial year.

But with that increase of just over 16%, Aurizon didn’t keep pace with the smaller PN Coal, which saw a 26% rise from year to year, recording 14.5bn NTKs in the first half of 2013/14.

PN Coal got half of that growth from Queensland, Aurizon’s heartland, while maintaining its strong lead over Aurizon in the south eastern region (mostly NSW).

What’s more, PN Coal appears to be handling its coal more cost-effectively than Aurizon.

PN Coal in the first half of 2013/14 recorded $582.4m in revenue, meaning it earned roughly 4.0 cents per tonne kilometre.

Aurizon’s coal operations, meanwhile, recorded a revenue of $958m in that same time period – equating to earnings of 3.8 cents per tonne kilometre.

When costs were applied, PN Coal’s operations looked even more efficient.

PN Coal’s EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) was $159.6m, while Aurizon’s coal operation’s EBIT was $187.0m. That translates to about 1.1 cent of EBIT per tonne kilometre for PN Coal, and just 0.73 cents of EBIT per tonne kilometre for Aurizon.

Aurizon positive on coal, despite profit drop Regardless of PN Coal’s growth, Aurizon is still the dominant figure in east coast coal haulage.

But when Aurizon’s entire operation was taken into account (including coal operations, iron ore operations, and freight), its net profit in the first half of 2013/14 was down 39% on the same period of 2012/13.

ALLIED GRAIN SYSTEMS

Grain Silos & Conveyor Systems FOR GRAIN STORAGE AND CONVEYING ALLIED GRAIN SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN DESIGNING & CONSTRUCTING WORLD CLASS PROJECTS FOR YEARS • Project Design & Construction • MFS Commercial Silo Range • Comprehensive Range of Conveyors including Bucket Elevators, Screws, Drag Chains & Belt Conveyors • Structural Steel Fabrication including Walkways, Towers, In-Ground Hoppers Young NSW Ph: 02 6382 7474 Fax: 02 6382 5149 Email: john@alliedgrainsystems.com.au www.alliedgrainsystems.com.au

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

21

COAL HANDLING

Asciano chief executive and managing director John Mullen.

PN carries Asciano through tough period John Mullen, managing director and chief executive of Aurizon’s rival, Asciano, was also pleased with his company’s performance in the coal sector.

PN Coal, in a sense, carried Asciano through another tough six month period.

The transport and logistics specialist is seeing softening numbers in its grain, container and automotive freight arms, and is, in many ways, leaning on its coal haulage business.

“PN Coal reported another strong six month period delivering a 6.1% increase in EBIT,” Mullen said. “A 26.1% increase in

NTKs for the period [was] driven by the contribution from new contracts commenced over the last twelve months and strong underlying market growth.”

PN Rail, meanwhile, saw a 19.9% drop in EBIT. The container and other bulk arm of Pacific National, Asciano’s rail subsidiary, had a tough six months, recording EBIT of just $85.5m, down from $106.7m a year prior.

“PN Rail had another difficult six month period,” Mullen said, adding that it was “impacted by lower export grain volumes and weak intermodal rail volumes.”

Terminals & Logistics, the Asciano subsidiary which includes Patrick Container Terminals, also saw a decline in EBIT, of about 1.2%.

“Following a stronger than expected first quarter, Terminals & Logistics, as predicted at the time, experienced very soft market dynamics in the second quarter of FY14,” Mullen explained.

He said the slumping figures were due to a strong performance in the prior period, ongoing market disruption caused by consortium changes and weak domestic demand.

“The logistics business also suffered from lower demand for its rail services,”

NEW PRODUCT

Flexicon’s Block-Buster to smash bulk bags into line Bulk handling specialist Flexicon has debuted a bulk bag conditioner dubbed ‘Block-Buster’, designed to crush and loosen materials that solidify in bulk bags during storage and shipment.

B

lock-Buster is purpose built for mining applications, and is specifically designed to loosen filter cake, ammonium nitrate, lime, thiourea and other materials, from bulk bags.

Two hydraulic rams drive contoured conditioning plates against opposite sides of the bulk bag to crush and loosen compacted mining materials, promoting flow and enabling bulk bag unloaders to discharge it through bag spouts.

A hydraulically-actuated turntable allows automated in-frame bag rotation and conditioning of bulk bags at variable heights. The number and pressure of hydraulic ram actuations, the height of the turntable, and the degree of rotation are user-programmable, Flexicon says.

An optional cantilevered I-beam with motorised hoist and trolley allows

22

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Bulk bags containing filter cake, ammonium nitrate, lime, thiourea and other materials that solidify in bulk bags, can be raised, lowered and rotated for conditioning at all heights on all sides, allowing discharge through bag spouts.

loading and unloading of bulk bags without the use of a forklift, and the unit is offered in stationary or mobile configurations designed for interior or

exterior installations.

It is available diesel- or electric-powered, with system controller and hydraulic pump mounted on the exterior of the safety cage, or remotely.

The device is fully enclosed on all four sides for operator safety, and includes full-height doors that are interlocked to disallow operation of the system when the doors are open.

Flexicon is recommending the conditioner for heavy-duty applications involving dense, abrasive, lumpy, and other materials prone to solidifying to the point at which pneumatically-actuated flow promotion accessories integral to bulk bag dischargers are inefficient or completely ineffective.

Contact: www.flexicon.com.au

Gearmotors \ Heavy Industrial Solutions \ Electronics \ Decentralised Systems \ Services

No Matter What You Move: We Drive It As a key supplier to the Australian mining industry, SEW-EURODRIVE believes in quality and efficiency when it comes to drive technology. Supplying a range of industrial gear units, motors and drives for especially large torque requirements, SEW delivers more than just products to heavy industry. A team of talented engineers develop effective and timely solutions based on customers’ drive specifications, which are backed by after-sales commissioning & product support.

SEW-EURODRIVE also understands that time is money, so units may be delivered within a matter of weeks from local assembly plants, rather than waiting months for items to be shipped from overseas.

SEW-EURODRIVE – Driving Australian Industry

www.sew-eurodrive.com.au 1300 SEW AUS (1300 739 287) to be directed to your nearest office Melbourne (Head Office) I Sydney I Brisbane I Townsville I Perth I Adelaide

X Series • Robust gear housing • Flexible mounting capability • Worldwide service • Local stock holding and assembly • Thermal housing “Mining Drive” option • Torque range 58-475 kNm

TIPPERS

Bagasse loads doubled with side tipper Located in the Queensland regional city of Bundaberg, De Gunst Transport undertakes bulk haulage contracts for the local sugar and mining industries.

O

ne major product which De Gunst carries is bagasse, the fibre which remains after the extraction of the sugar-bearing juice from sugarcane.

Traditionally using walking floor trailers to carry this material, the company recently commissioned an AZMEB High Volume Side Tipper (HVST) for the contract, which has doubled daily loads of this low density material.

De Gunst Transport has a long history in Bundaberg. Beginning in 1988 as a single-truck operation, today its fleet includes 60 prime movers and 140 trailers, along with a range of earthmoving plant and equipment.

Owner Bob De Gunst credits his company’s sustained growth to hard work and forging strong relationships with local customers and suppliers.

“Certainly, keeping up to date with the latest technology available has helped to keep us at the forefront of the industry,” he continues. “For a number of years, we have used walking floor trailers to transport bagasse for the local sugarcane industry. More recently, I approached local trailer manufacturer, AZMEB, about their side tipping trailer that doubles the amount of drops we are able to make per day.”

The HVST is a side tipping trailer with a lower tub complemented by a hinged upper body, providing the volume and appearance of two tubs on one trailer.

Volume can reach up to 85m3 per single trailer or 120m3 per B-Double.

AZMEB national sales manager, Grant Kemp, says that the HVST is a highly unique product. “The HVST can’t be found anywhere else in the world,” says Grant. “Its unique ‘double tub’ construction provides a higher capacity than other side tippers and it can unload up to 10 times faster than most walking floor trailers.

“The tub of the AZMEB HVST is typically constructed of 450 grade wear plate steel and the upper body of aluminium. The unit is available in rigid body, lead, tag, B-Double and road train configurations.

“Importantly, operators can carry high volumes of low density loads, such as bagasse, in the HVST, but they can also carry high density loads such as sand and gravel by simply loading only the lower half of the two part body and side tipping 24

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

AZMEB’s High Volume Side Tipper (HVST) is a side tipping trailer with a lower tub complemented by a hinged upper body, providing the volume and appearance of two tubs on one trailer.

De Gunst Transport’s HVST tipping bagasse at a transfer plant. The HVST is able to unload up to 10 times faster than a walking floor trailer.

as normal. This makes it a multi-purpose, high utilisation unit.”

Bob states that it’s the increased unloading speed which has made all the difference to his business. “Particularly due to the short-trip nature of our bagasse haulage, where we transport the bagasse from the sugar mill to the storage site and back again, fast unloading is critical,” he says. “We are now achieving 48 tips per day. We managed only half that with walking floors, so it’s an enormous step forward.” Consequentially, De Gunst Transport has been able to deliver more tonnes of bagasse per day. “I thought we’d be able to reach up to 15 tonnes, but we have far outreached that, actually

Tipping is via a cordless remote.

getting 19 tonnes per load, which is just intimidating,” says Bob, who concludes by saying that HVSTs are well and truly in the frame for future fleet additions.

Contact: www.azmeb.com.au

TIPPERS

Air Tip side tipper is cheaper and more efficient, inventor says Side tipping specialist Air Tip says its transport trailer represents “a quantum leap” for side tipping technology, which is used in the transport of bulk materials for road construction, mining, quarry work and farming.

T

he technology’s inventor, Clarke Petrick, now works as a geophysicist in the mining sector. But he grew up in a family transport business, and says he understands firsthand the dynamics of both industries.

Petrick first came upon the idea to use air as a tipping mechanism while working in the bush, with a truck with air suspension. He told ABHR he noticed the ease of operation to raise and lower the vehicle, and thought the technology could be a major cost saver for the mine he was working at.

“The need to increase the efficiency of mine haulage to port became apparent to me when working on mine economics,” he said.

After three years of development, he said the result is a smart, clean and light system which can be used on any prime mover.

The Air Tip trailer system uses the infrastructure already installed on the prime mover; it runs off a standard truck air compressor. It uses the airlines as a standard trailer, and takes approximately five minutes to charge the trailers for tipping.

Once charged, all the trailers – for instance triple road trains – can be unloaded at the same time.

“It’s a similar time for a single trailer as it is for multiple trailers, the difference from other systems is it can tip three trailers in the same time as one trailer,” he explained.

Petrick said Air Tip’s bin and chassis have been integrated into one super strong unit giving it a monocoque design, which saves on overall weight and adds strength to the system.

The device’s main benefit, according to Air Tip, is that it doesn’t need a Power Take Off (PTO) to operate the tipping mechanism, and doesn’t need a hydraulic pump or the subsequent oil tank. This means much lower set up costs, maintenance costs and with the tare weight reduced the result is a greater payload capacity.

“Initial savings include the price of a PTO for the truck and the costs in getting it and the oil tank fitted, which is approximately $12,000,” Petrick outlined.

“Then you add in the maintenance savings of a hydraulic fitter of approximately $5,000 a year. A one tonne additional pay

26

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Air Tip’s tipper technology cannot be retrofitted to existing bins, but Air Tip is manufacturing the bins within Australia.

All three bins on a truck like this one can tip simultaneously with the Air Tip system.

load will lead to significant savings.”

With the lack of extra equipment, he added, prime movers have the ability to work across numerous transport applications giving managers more flexibility in equipment operations.

“The ability to call in regular freight subbies to capitalise on larger short term contracts is a really big positive with having this simplified system,” he said.

On the environmental side he said that with no possibility of a hydraulic spill, the device could also potentially save days per year of downtime on mine sites doing paperwork to explain an environmental issue.

He also said safety increases, as the operating pressure of the Air Tip system is dramatically reduced from 2000psi to just 100psi.

The system can’t be retrofitted to existing side tippers, but Air Tip is manufacturing bins in Australia.

“We are keeping our manufacturing arm in Australia to be close to the operators working in our extremely harsh and demanding conditions so we can develop a product fit for the purpose,” he explained.

Contact: B oris Bosnich, chief operating officer, Air Tip, Email: boris@airtip.com.au

POWDER HANDLING

Evolution of Maltra Foods’ plant Lynchborough-GPM tells ABHR about its 2011 assignment, setting up Maltra Foods’ new processing premises in Clayton, Victoria.

The three mixing lines installation.

The plant’s tipping station, and computer controls.

I

n 2010, Maltra Foods outgrew its facility in Moorabbin, Victoria, and planned a move to a custom-designed premises in Clayton, with a vision to be able to work with a wider range of small and medium enterprises and multi-nationals.

Maltra, which is involved in the manufacture of cocoa-based beverage drinks, worked with bulk materials handling and processing systems expert Lynchborough-GPM on the move.

“Considerable design time was spent by Lynchborough-GPM with Maltra Foods to achieve the optimal plant layout for their new facility to give the most efficient product flow though the plant,” a representative of Lynchborough-GPM told ABHR. The bulk handling expert undertook the relocation over the Christmas 2010 shutdown period. This included designing and constructing a new purpose built structural framework for Maltra’s batching and blending plant.

“Although support steelwork seems unimportant to the process and is often overlooked this was specifically conceptualised to achieve a ‘clean design’,” the representative wrote.

“The main frame work, being portal design, is integrated into the walls. The mezzanine floors are clear span through each room therefore eliminating bracing or columns within each room.”

Lynchborough-GPM says this clear floor design results in the 28

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Twin IBCs and packer.

day-to-day cleaning of the batching and blending rooms being quicker and easier, and also results in a reduced risk of crosscontamination with less places for dust to settle.

All conveying lines and services are located outside the rooms or inside the steelwork and only have localised penetrations at termination points, the company said.

During the relocation the blending lines were installed into their own dedicated rooms with separate conveying systems, in an effort to reduce cross-contamination and improve product changeover and cleaning time.

Each line can be shut down for cleaning while the remaining plant can continue operating.

The entire batching and blending plant is fully controlled by SCADA computer, including links to management software and direct recipe download.

The system includes three mixing lines automatically batched and weighed via ‘gain in weight’ systems. Ingredients are batched from a 35 tonne bulk sugar silo, three bulk bag dischargers for macro ingredients, and dedicated hand dumping stations for minor ingredients.

Bulk materials are vacuum transferred to the weigh hoppers.

Intermediate bulk containers are utilised for moving batches

“Quality solutions for quality products“

GEA Nu-Con for all your Powder Handling needs.

Our Rotary Valves come in a range of materials and configurations from a standard valve to fully demountable for easy cleaning without the need for tools. We supply to a wide range of industries including Chemical, Plastics, Minerals, Food, Dairy and Pharmaceutical. engineering for a better world

of finished product to a storage area and then onto the packing room, which now consists of six packing lines including eight IBC discharge stations.

Lynchborough-GPM followed what it calls a ‘master plan’ throughout the process.

Keys to the bulk handling expert’s master plan were designing a system to fit within the client’s budget, that was operator friendly, achieved in excess of the expected production output,

458 The Boulevarde, Kirrawee NSW 2232 Phone: +61 2 9545 2600, Fax: +61 2 9545 1846

sales.nucon.au@gea.com, www.nucon.com

GEA Process Engineering

Rotary Valve_Horizontal Burg Bground.indd 1

A weighing hopper and sifter.

GEA Nu-Con Pty Limited

7/17/2013 12:13:41 PM

had low maintenance requirements, and – most importantly – one that would be able to be semi-automated and expandable.

Future expansion was fitted into LynchboroughGPM’s plan for Maltra: designed into the new facility is space for a future automated macro/micro ingredients batching system, raw material further processing and a fourth specialised blending line.

Maltra Foods had to make a move after it grew out of its old facility. Lynchborough-GPM worked with the food Maltra’s 35 tonne bulk sugar silo at its new plant producer on its old plant, in Clayton, Victoria. too: in 2002 it was approached to design, supply and install a simple mixing system to consist of manual hand additions into a one cubic metre capacity ribbon mixer, to discharge into a packing machine.

Prior to the 2002 installation, all product was mixed in drums and then hand-packed.

Since then Lynchborough-GPM has worked closely with Maltra Foods on many further upgrades, and of course worked with Maltra in building its new facility.

Contact: www.lgpm.com.au

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

29

PNEUMATIC CONVEYING

Mink claw creates oil-free vacuum for pneumatic handling Vacuum pumping specialist Busch is touting the success of its oil-free vacuum technology for pneumatic material feed, which it achieves through the use of its ‘Mink claw’ system.

O

ne of Busch’s clients, which produces various compounds, now relies exclusively on the Mink claw vacuum pump technology for the pneumatic conveying aspects of its 11 production lines, having transitioned away from oil-based vacuum technology, Busch says.

The client uses a compounder to produce various compounds in batches, ranging from 20 to 500 tonnes. Some of these compounds have been produced using the same recipe for many years, whereas others are mixed in smaller volumes according to a recipe stipulated by the customer.

For that reason, a relatively large quantity of raw materials and additives are kept in stock – in silos – so they can be fed to the extruders via weighing containers as required.

Once weighed on the scales located directly above the extruders, the granulated or pulverised raw materials are pulled by gravity into twin screw extruders. Following their exit from the extruder, the finished compounds are immediately granulated and transported pneumatically to silos or bottling systems where they are packed into octabins, big bags or sacks according to the customer’s specifications.

Some compounds are stored temporarily in silos and then loaded directly into silo vehicles.

“The company started producing compounds in 1991,” Busch told ABHR. “Back then, the conveyor systems were equipped with oil-lubricated rotary vane vacuum pumps.”

In 2005 the company installed its first four Mink claw vacuum pumps for testing.

Rather than using oil or any other type of agent to generate the vacuum, Busch’s Mink claw vacuum pumps employ a completely dry process, made possible by the special operating principle of the Mink claw (see figure 1).

The twin screw machine contains no moving parts that come into contact with one another. A minimum clearance is always maintained between the claw rotors as well as between the claw tips and the inner wall of the housing, in order to prevent friction and frictional heat, and to avoid wear.

This means there is no need for any 30

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Figure 2: A Mink vacuum generation system for pneumatic material transport

lubricating or cooling agent, which means that no devices such as separators or filters are required within the vacuum pump to recover the agent from the outgoing air, Busch says.

“The only item requiring maintenance in a Mink claw vacuum pump is the gear oil, which needs to be changed after 20,000 operating hours.”

Following the trial period in 2005, and a two-fold increase in production capacity, Busch’s client company invested in new conveyor systems fitted with Mink claw vacuum pumps (see figure 2). Today, the client uses around 80 Mink claw vacuum pumps in three-shift operation.

The vacuum pumps are assembled into complete vacuum systems and assigned to a specific conveyor system. Each individual pump is connected to the process control system so that its function can be monitored on a continuous basis.

“The compounder is always operated with vacuum pumps of the same size. This makes it easy to adapt the individual vacuum systems to changing parameters on the conveyor systems

Figure 1: Sectional view of a Busch Mink claw vacuum pump

and also to swap individual vacuum pumps with each other.”

Busch also supplied the company’s degassing systems on the individual twin screw extruders, which themselves use identical Mink claw vacuum pumps as base units.

“This means that Mink claw vacuum pumps of the same size are used throughout the facility,” Busch noted.

Contact: www.busch.com.au

Pneumatic Conveying Specialists MOBILE Systems

Unload of a standard Containers with the Suck-Blow module.

Unloading a modified container

A typical use for the Microveyor, attached to a hopper under a filtration system.

Our primary Test Rig For full scale pneumatic conveying of all materials.

This enables a guarantee of the throughput rate.

Use clean dry instrument air to economically send powder to a remote location.

IN-PLANT Systems Other Major Products: Bulk bag filling, and discharging systems; IBC systems; manual and automatic sack emptiers; flexible wall feeders; silo discharge systems; inflatable seat valves; sack filling m/c’s; vacuum assisted lifting; automatic palletisers, robot palletisers; wrappers and hooders.

QR code

The Professionals in Powder Handling

ABH1415

Head Office VIC - Tel: (03) 9457 8240

www.kockumsbulk.com.au

PNEUMATIC CONVEYING

Bürkert pneumatic control unit Bürkert Fluid Control Systems’ type 8697 pneumatic control unit, with position feedback and LED status indication, has been released to fit all classic and element valves, the company says.

T

Bürkert Fluid Control Systems’ type 8697 pneumatic control unit.

he IP65/67 8697 head has mechanical or inductive position switches, and an integrated pneumatic pilot to control single-acting actuators. This replaces the type 1062, Bürkert says, offering one-button commissioning for decentralised automation for small drives.

Designed as a more compact version of the type 8690, Bürkert says the type 8697 unit boasts a larger scope than its predecessors.

“The new type 8697 is available as a pneumatic unit or feedback for element valves with 50mm actuators, as well as a pneumatic control unit for classic valves with actuator sizes 40/50/63mm,” the company detailed to ABHR. “The head can also be used as a feedback for classic actuators of all sizes, 40-225mm.”

The type 8697 replaces the type 1062 in Bürkert’s range. The 1062 previously offered

position feedback (but no pilot) for classic valves.

But beyond just replacing the type 1062, Bürkert says the type 8697 offers original advancements such as an integrated pilot valve with manual actuation, and LEDs for indicating device status.

“The type 8697 asserts itself with mechanical self-adjusting valve position switches as two and three wire inductive or micro switches. LED integration illustrates switch position.”

Utilising the type 8697 as a pneumatic control unit creates a decentralised device, eliminating the need for a control cabinet with hoses leading to the respective valve. This simplifies system design and minimises the control air consumption for drive switching, Bürkert says.

Contact: sales.au@burkert.com, sales.nz@burkert.com

CAPS distributing IR’s Centac C800 Ingersoll Rand says its Centac C800 answers an industry need for a smaller, more energy efficient centrifugal air compressor.

D

istributed Down Under by CAPS, the C800 is built on Ingersoll Rand’s latest generation technology: an integrated and simplified centrifugal compressor platform.

The model is an extension of the Centac C1000 product line. Providing 100% clean, oil-free air, the C800 has been certified as ISO 8573-1 Class 0, and is designed to minimise downtime and lower the total cost of ownership.

According to Ingersoll Rand: “The Centac C800 reduces energy use by up to 6% at full load, significantly reducing overall ownership costs, whilst the unit’s backward-leaning impellers were designed with leading edge software and computational fluid dynamics that maximise peak efficiency and provide greater turndown.”

Furthermore, the manufacturer adds, inlet guide vanes (IGVs) are standard on the new C800 delivering up to 10% additional energy savings at partial load.

32

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Ingersoll Rand’s Centac C800 air compressor, distributed in Australia by CAPS.

“Reductions in energy use with the C800 can lead to savings of tens of thousands.”

With the single largest contributor to lifetime cost for centrifugal compressors being loss of production, the Centac C800 is designed with features to ensure more uptime.

“Lost production caused by unscheduled downtime is the largest contributor

to a compressor’s lifetime cost,” said Paolo Lazzari from CAPS. “Ingersoll Rand manufactured the C800 with fewer parts, integrated components – and easily accessible critical components – to increase the compressor’s reliability and efficiency.”

Preventative service and maintenance tasks have become easier with the C800 air compressor, with a onepiece removable inducer, in-place rodable coolers, bull gear inspection ports, and open cooler casing which offer increased access to critical components, Lazzari said.

The fully configured C800 compressor package is also designed for efficient installation, with no special foundation or grouting required.

The single inlet and outlet connections for cooling water also reduce installation time and cost, CAPS said.

Contact: www.capsaust.com.au

PNEUMATIC CONVEYING

Vacuum receiver with pneumaticallyactuated dump valve Bulk handling provider Flexicon has introduced a vacuum receiver with a pneumatically-actuated dump valve for dilute phase pneumatic conveying systems.

C

onstructed of stainless steel, Flexicon says the vacuum receiver features a rugged, clamp-together design that facilitates rapid, tool-free disassembly for filter cleaning and maintenance.

The unit’s modular design permits the addition of cylinder segments for increased holding volume, the provider adds.

The device’s flaptype dump valve is actuated by a pneumatic cylinder via manual Flexicon’s high capacity vacuum receiver contact closure, or profeatures a pneumatically-actuated dump valve grammable controls and quick-release clamps designed for rapid based on weight gain, interior access. elapsed time or other user-defined parameters.

“Unlike conventional filter receivers that employ multiple small filter elements, this unit employs a single, large diameter filter cartridge facilitating rapid filter changes, and automatic reverse pulse jet cleaning of the filter element to maintain conveying efficiency during operation,” Flexicon explains.

Flexicon’s vacuum receivers separate solids from the air stream using filter media and gravity, and are generally specified when materials contain smaller particles that are prone to dusting and/or when dust containment is a primary requirement.

According to the company, the new filter receiver handles a wide range of capacities but is particularly suited to high volume applications above storage vessels or process equipment such as blenders and bulk bag fillers.

Contact: s ales@flexicon.com.au Web: www.flexicon.com.au

PERFECT FLIGHTS PERFECT FIT, PERFECT ALIGNMENT

Every time. Time… after time… after time Saving time and money If you experience problems with mis-fitting flights, talk to us and save money!

Every time you fit a BulkNet TruHelix flight it fits perfectly, Saving you time and money.

No gaps on centre tube.

No flight end misalignment.

Less welding.

Shorter assembly time that will save you money And you get a better finished product!

BulkNet’s Australian made TruHelix flights are the best in the world due to our revolutionary new production method.

We know that every BulkNet flight will be Perfect… and that’s a big claim.

Would you like to know more?…

Email: vic.sales@bulknet.com.au or go to www.BulkNet.com.au or 1800 069 675

CASE STUDY

FMG ship loader slew bearing change In August 2012, ThyssenKrupp Materials Handling (TKMH) completed a slew bearing change-out on FMG’s SL701 ship loader at Port Hedland, WA.

FMG Shiploader SL701.

T

he ship loader’s slew bearing weighed eight tonnes, and had a diameter of 10.4m. It was moved by barge, adjacent to the wharf, to minimize the access restriction that would have occurred if the wharf roadway had been used, TKMH said.

FMG had to shut down the ship loader for 10 days for the swap to be made, but this was two days less than was planned, according to TKMH. Protection covers were also used throughout the installation, meaning the adjacent SL702 could continue to operate.

The changeover was finished with no LTIs, MTIs or first aid treatments.

“The success of this project was down to the great relationship with the client and

their representative and the use of experts in the required fields to bring this project in ahead of schedule,” TKMH said.

Clockwise from top left: slew bearing on barge; slide out table; slew The engineer says it has since bearing on slide out table; new bearing in place; slew bearing installed; covers reinstated. completed various other large change-out projects in the Pilbara site safety and supervision on the project for various clients including one slew bear(WA677). Site management and supervision ing change, three bucket wheel changes covered a workforce of up to 45 personnel. and various other machine upgrades.

Engineering for the project was started TKMH utilized the services of engifive months prior to site mobilization and neering services company MIE Enterpriscompleted by TKMH engineers working es, to provide mechanical labour, and also out of the company’s Perth Office. relied on the ICM Group to provide electrical labour.

Meanwhile, TKMH handled the engiContact: R obin Moran, TKMH services manager, email: robin.moran@thyssenkrupp.com neering, design, project management and

NEWS

Camfil to acquire Handte German environmental company Handte will become part of Camfil Air Pollution Control as part of a deal announced early in February.

C

amfil APC announced in February that its parent company, Camfil, will buy Handte Umwelttechnik in Germany, and Handte’s operations in Switzerland, the Czech Republic and China.

The acquisition at time of writing was pending approval from the authorities in Germany, but is expected to close in the first quarter 2014.

Handte will be part of the Camfil APC business unit, which specializes in industrial dust and fume collection.

Handte is a German manufacturer 34

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

and provider of environmental engineering products, filter technology processes and air pollution control applications.

With more than 120 years of experience, the company is a recognized specialist in exhaust air purification for a wide range of manufacturing industries, Camfil said.

“Handte has a full line of dust collectors, mist collectors and wet scrubbers that strategically complement the Farr Gold Series cartridge dust collection line,” Camfil APC president Lee Morgan said.

“The integration of these product lines will broaden our portfolio and strengthen the company’s industrial air pollution control offerings to customers in the US and internationally.”

Key applications for Camfil APC’s products include metalworking and machining, automotive, foundry, mining, and dry processing industries including chemical, food and pharmaceutical.

Contact: fi lterman@camfil.com www.camfilapc.com

Complex materials handling solutions... for any size project.

From standard equipment through to a full custom designed turnkey solution, IBS will work with you to achieve your specification within your budget & delivered to your requirements.

No matter how big or small . . .

Talk to us about our alternative pricing and project delivery options to ensure the success of your project

(03) 9585 6391 integratedbulksystems.com.au

Solutions for all your bulk material handling needs

NEWS

Tenova wins Port Kembla stackers contract NSW’s Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT) and Tenova Takraf Australia have entered into a contract for the design, supply and construction of new stackers, after working for a number of months to ensure technical specifications and contractual issues were resolved.

T

he stackers will replace the current Italimpianti machines that have been in operation at the terminal for some 30 years.

The contract won by Tenova is divided into three distinct stages subject to final commitment by PKCT to proceed.

Phase one is for the detailed design of the new stackers and has received funding and commitment by PKCT with a practical completion date of November 2014. The following phases are subject to financial commitment from PKCT. Phase two is for the supply and construction of three Takraf machines, one with a bypass facility, and two units with direct tripper feed to the stacker. Current planning has financial commitment and commencement planned for July 2014.

Phase three is an option for the supply of a fourth machine if required for facility capacity.

The machines, when committed, will be fabricated in Australia, using Australian steel, pre-assembled off site with a major degree of commissioning completed prior to sea transport to Port Kembla.

They will be transported as almost complete machines to the stockyard area on self-propelled trailers.

Tenova Takraf’s stackers will replace old Italimpianti stackers at the Port Kembla terminal, pending final approval.

Two of the machines will be finalised and dry commissioned on extended stockyard rails before being moved into the stockyard proper. It’s hoped that this will minimise interference with the day to day operations of the terminal.

The third machine will be built over the operational yard conveyor in a similar large modular format approach.

“A key factor in the evolvement of the negotiations from tender to contract has been the engagement from the

outset of the tender proposal of key suppliers for fabrication-supply and construction,” Tenova’s Geoff Gynn said.

“These suppliers have been involved in direct negotiations with PKCT and have formed a valuable part of developing an integrated team to ensure successful delivery of this project in conjunction with the PKCT project delivery members.”

Contact: www.takraf.com

Aurecon appoints Higgo as mining director Engineering company Aurecon has made Garth Higgo its new industry director for mining, where he will lead the strategic growth of the company’s resources business globally.

S

tephen Wells, Aurecon’s chief business development officer, said Higgo would benefit from his past industry experience from around the world.

“Garth brings a wealth of knowledge from his background in the African and Australian mining industry, which spans more than 30 years,” Wells said.

“With strong leadership skills and a sound understanding of the resource industry, Garth will play a pivotal role in continuing to foster and maintain strong long-term client relationships and building our resources business globally.”

Prior to joining Aurecon, Higgo was global director of Calibre Global’s rail and transportation group for nearly four years.

“During this time he grew the business into the largest heavy haul rail

36

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Garth Higgo, Aurecon’s new industry director, mining.

project delivery and engineering company in the world,” Aurecon said last week.

Higgo has also held executive

positions with Firestone Energy, Consolidated Minerals and Anglo Platinum.

His experienced is centred around civil engineering, banking, mining corporate finance, business development, mining operations and engineering services/EPCM, according to Aurecon.

Higgo said he was confident in the future of the mining sector.

“I believe there are still very good opportunities globally for those miners who understand the risks and can innovate by using the best skills and technology to drive down costs,” Higgo said.

“I look forward to working with our mining clients to develop solutions that will drive continuous and sustainable improvements.”

Contact: www.aurecongroup.com

THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE BEST CONVEYOR BELTS NOW ALSO

SERVICE THEM. Whether your mining operation is surface or underground, Veyance now offers a complete range of service, repairs and maintenance for all types of conveyor belts.

• Belt installation • Splicing • Scanning • Belt repairs • Pulley lagging • Condition monitoring Because we’re a total service provider, Veyance will also deliver full certified trained technicians. We believe prevention is the key to lowest cost per tonne conveying, which is why we offer regular maintenance checks to help keep you running in peak condition. Our Veyance Services network is now operational in Mackay and Karratha and will soon to be up and running in the Hunter Valley.

Learn how to speak the language of the belts at: www.goodyearep.com Mackay 0408 292 538

Karratha 0429 728 703

The GOODYEAR (and Winged Foot Design) trademark is used by Veyance Technologies, Inc. under license from The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

Goodyear Engineered Products are manufactured and sourced exclusively by Veyance Technologies, Inc. or its affiliates. ©2011 Veyance Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

14308 A4 MM

PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEW

PEER REVIEWED

Dynamic Analysis and DEM Simulation of ROM Ore Inclined Apron Feeders

By Timothy J. Donohue, Alan W. Roberts TUNRA Bulk Solids, University of Newcastle, Australia

Abstract Open front inclined apron feeders are used widely in the mining industry to transfer run-of-mine ore into primary crushers. In the design of these apron feeders it is necessary to understand the mechanics of the feeding action at the hopper/feeder interface to allow for accurate determination of the power requirements of the drive unit. The focus of this particular study is to present current theory that can be used for the prediction of the shear force at the feeder belt interface and the corresponding power required for the feeder. A continuum theory approach is presented in conjunction with Discrete Element Modelling (DEM), with both of these results then compared to experimental results from the laboratory.

1 Introduction Open front, inclined apron feeders, as illustrated in Figure 1, are used in the mining industry to feed run-of-mine (R.O.M.) ore into primary crushers. The feeders are usually quite large and are used in conjunction with hoppers which receive the R.O.M. ore from dump trucks. Typically R.O.M. ores have a very wide lump/ particle size range from rocks of one to two metres average diameter to fine particles less than 100 µm. It is because of the large lump or rock size that conventional shear-gate type feeders, as used for handling processed ores and materials of controlled top particle size, cannot be used for R.O.M. ores.

The previous work of Roberts [1] involved pilot scale testing on a scale model of an open front apron feeder in which general flow observations were made along with measurements for power. This particular study revisits this previous work and seeks to compare Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) to continuum calculations for the forces and power measurements. Basic details of the scale model that was used include a length of approximately 2.1m, feeder belt width of 300mm, with bauxite being the bulk material used.

2 Scale Model Apron Feeder Referring to Figure 1, the dump hopper should be of mass-flow design to ensure reliable gravity flow of ore onto the apron feeder. Since there is no front face in the hopper and shear gate, the feeding action in this case is made possible by both the large inclination angle θ and release angle ψ. Typically, inclination angles range from 18 º to 26º. These angles formed the basis of the particular study, the objective being to ascertain the influence of inclination angle and speed on the feeder performance.

The operation of the feeder is depicted in Figure 2. As indicated, there are four zones, the hopper zone, transition zone, shear zone and skirtplate zone. There are two release angles ψh for the shear zone beneath the hopper, and ψt for shear zone beneath the transition zone. The release angle ψt defines the angle of the plane on which shear takes place in the shear zone and is controlled by the tapered converging section of the hopper which forms the transition zone, see plan view of Figure 2.

The scale model dump hopper and feeder test rig used in the previous work [1] is shown in Figure 3. The dump hopper has a hopper half-angle of 22.5º, the opening width between skirtplates is 145 mm and the length of the feeder is 2.1 m. The previous 38

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Figure 1: Open front, inclined apron feeder.

Skirtplate Zone Hopper Zone Transition Zone Shear Zone

Hopper Zone

Transition Zone

Shear Zone

Skirtplate Zone

Figure 2: Relevant details of dump hopper and apron feeder.

work focussed on the scale up of a pilot scale test rig to a full scale feeder. However, the focus of the work presented in this paper is on the predictive capabilities of DEM and continuum theory. The power measurements from the laboratory testing are based on torque measurements from the variable speed hydraulic drive motor.

Figure 3: Scale model inclined apron feeder.

3 Theoretical Predictions The use of continuum theory, coupled with assumptions for the mode of flow, can be used to predict the different components of the shear force acting to determine the power required for the feeder drive. These components are presented below.

3.1 Throughput The throughput may be measured in terms of the flow through the skirtplate zone. Referring to Figure 2, the throughput is given by (1)

3.2 Feeder Load and Power The feeder loads and power may be determined in accordance with references [2, 3].

3.2.1 Hopper Zone Resistance Assuming a flow stress field exists in the mass-flow hopper, the vertical load on the feeder is given by, (2) Where qf = non-dimensional surcharge factor and L1 = length of hopper. For the

model hopper, qf is determined in accordance with [2,3]. The shear force, Fsh, can then be calculated via equation (3) with the coefficient of friction, µEh, calculated via equation (4).

(3) (4)

Assuming that the yield condition on the shear plane is governed by the maximum shear stress, then the friction coefficient for internal shear is given by µ s = sin(δ), where δ is the effective angle of internal friction.

3.2.2 Transition Zone In the transition zone, the converging section of the hopper resists forward movement against the hopper wall causing a stationary boundary layer. There is likely to be some forward movement of a central wedge-shaped block of width B due to internal shear along vertical faces.

If this motion occurs, then the resistance is estimated using the following analysis for the average vertical load (Ftv) and the shear load (Fts).

(5) (6) Where K = ratio of lateral to vertical pressure = 0.4 (based on Janssen), Ht = average height of material above shear plane in transition zone and µtz = sin(δ) for internal shear.

3.2.3 Shear zone In the transition zone, the vertical load on the shear plane is Ftv as per equation (5).

The force parallel to the feeder surface, Fss, to shear the bulk solid is given by; (7) Where µ Et is given by equation (4) with ψh replaced by ψt.

3.2.4 Skirtplate zone Here the resistance is due to the skirtplates for the two sections, the shear zone and the extended zone beyond the hopper transition section.

3.2.4.1 Shear zone section In the shear zone section, the weight of the bulk solid in the skirtplate section

PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PE

PEER REVIEWED

PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEW

PEER REVIEWED

below the shear plane, Fspv, is given by equation (8), and the skirtplate shear resistance (Fsp1) is given by equation (9).

(8) (9) Where Htz = average height of material in transition zone below shear plane, Kv = ratio of lateral to vertical pressure, Ftv is defined by equation (5) and µ sp is the skirtplate friction. Normally Kv = 0.4 but may be as high as 0.7 if the bulk solid is in a fairly loose state. Given the likely state of the bulk solid in the skirtplate zone, a value of Kv = 0.7 is generally assumed in this case.

3.2.4.2 Extended zone section In the extended zone section, the vertical load due to weight of the bulk material, Fspev, is given by equation (10), and the skirtplate shear resistance (Fsp2) is given by equation (11).

(10) (11) 3.2.5 Load slope resistance A load slope resistance, Fsl, is also added to the total force due to the bulk solid in contact with the vertical walls of the feeder, shown in equation (12).

(12) (13) 3.2.6 Total Resistance The total resistance is then the summation of the individual resistances; (14) 3.2.7 Power The power required can then be calculated using FT, the apron feeder speed (v) and the drive efficiency (η).

(15)

4 DEM Modelling The DEM software used for the modelling presented in this paper is Rocky, developed by Granular Dynamics International. This software uses a hysteresis linear spring model for the normal force interactions (based on [4]) and an elastic-frictional force model in the tangential direction.

Rolling resistance is implemented according to the type C model described in Ai et al. [5], while adhesive forces between particles and walls and cohesive forces between particles and particles are included through a simple constant force model.

40

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

the test can be seen on the right in Figure 4. After each test, the internal shear angle of the material was measured in the top container, while the formed angle of repose was measured from the bottom container. Performing this test in the DEM environment a number of times over a range of parameter sets resulted in the values presented in Figure 5. Each of the data points presented in this figure is an average over 5 tests, meaning that a collective total of 250 simulations were used in the formation of the results presented in Figure 5.

For the DEM calibration undertaken in this study, the only parameters that were investigated were particle sliding friction and particle rolling resistance, as these parameters were estimated to have the largest effect on the modelling outcomes.

Loading stiffness was set to be 1e7 N/m2 and the coefficient of restitution was set to be 0.3. Particle diameter that was used in both the calibration simulations and the feeder simulations was 15mm, with spherical particles being used in conjunction with a rolling resistance. For the work presented in this paper there was no inclusion of any particle/boundary cohesion/adhesion effects.

As the results in Figure 5 show, the rolling friction parameter has much more influence on the resulting angles. It can be seen that using a low rolling resistance (almost independent of the particle friction used) corresponds to a relatively free flowing material where the angle of repose matches the internal shear angle, while using a higher rolling friction of 0.5 corresponds to higher angles for both the internal shear angle and the angle of repose.

The DEM parameters of 0.9 for particle sliding friction and 0.5 for particle rolling friction results in a shear angle of approximately 55º and a repose angle Figure 4: Bench top test rig used in the calibration of DEM parameters. of approximately 40º, which approximately match the flow property data. It is expected that the use of a cohesion model will further improve the similarity of the DEM model to the flow property data, however this lies outside the scope of this initial study. While the Authors acknowledge that the topic of DEM calibration is an important and current Figure 5: Results from the DEM parameter study from the bench top test rig.

Calibration of DEM parameters is a widely published area, with the work of Coetzee and Lombard [6] and Wensrich and Katterfeld [7] being recent examples.

The correct calibration and selection of DEM parameters is one of the most important steps in discrete element modelling, and in the field of bulk solids handling there are a number of commonly used tests. For the modelling used in this research, calibration of the DEM model was done via a combination of bench top testing and flow property data.

As discussed previously, the material used for the experimental testing was bauxite. Standard flow property testing was performed for this material including a Jenike Shear test and bulk density tests. The internal strength of the bauxite sample indicated an effective angle of internal friction of approximately 55-60º, while the bulk density of the bauxite was approximately 1250 kg/m3. Angle of repose testing for this bauxite revealed an approximate angle of repose of 35-40º.

In order to calibrate the DEM parameters to the bauxite flow properties measured in the laboratory, a bench top test rig was used. This test rig can be seen in in Figure 4. The test rig utilised a top and bottom control volume, with the material initially slowly poured into the top enclosure as seen on the left in Figure 4.

A combination of slide gates and swing gates were then used to firstly set the opening size, and then rapidly open the gates to allow the material to flow into the bottom container. The final state of

PEER REVIEWED

Figure 6: Screen shot from DEM simulation for 18o inclination and 0.085 m/s feeder inclination.

discussion, the main focus of this study is on the predictive capabilities of both continuum theory and DEM modelling, and as such the relatively basic calibration method in this paper is presented only to determine approximate DEM parameters.

5 Results The laboratory experiments were carried out for 5 feeder inclination angles, being 18º, 20º, 22.5º, 24º, and 26º, and 3 feeder velocities, 0.055 m/s, 0.085 m/s and 0.127m/s. DEM simulations and continuum theory calculations were made for the same range of tests, with the exception of 22º in the simulations rather than 22.5º. A screen shot from one of the simulations can be seen in Figure 6, which shows the mode of flow for a feeder inclination angle of 18º and a feeder speed of 0.085 m/s. The results for the throughput and the feeder power required measured from the experiments can be seen in Figure 7, while the results for the throughput and the feeder power required from the DEM simulations can be seen in Figure 8. The feeder power required from the experiment was measured via torque measurements from the drive pulley, while the feeder power required from the DEM simulations was calculated via the summation of the shear forces acting on the feeder belt multiplied by the feeder velocity.

It is noticeable that in the experiments both the measured throughput and the power are both greater than in the DEM simulations. In the case of the throughput, it is expected that the reduced throughput in the DEM simulations is due to local bulk density reductions in the bulk solid on the feeder belt, specifically in the region where the bed height is constant. This is due to the limitations of using mono-size 15mm spherical particles, as in the experimental situation the same bed height of material, compared to the DEM simulation, will have a higher mass per unit length due to the ability of the smaller particles (fines) to pack into the voids of the larger particles. Comparisons for the feeder belt power reveal a greater difference between the experiments and the DEM simulations. A major contributor to the experimentally measured power values being much greater than the DEM values lies with two experimental considerations; 1. In the experimental testing, the feeder belt runs on a continuous steel pressure plate. This means that there is an additional frictional force that needs to be overcome equal to the normal force on the feeder belt multiplied by the coefficient of friction between the feeder belt and the steel plate.

2. In reality, there are inefficiencies associated with the hydraulic drive unit. This means that the recorded values in the experiment represent a higher value than to just shear the bulk solid alone.

Safer, Cleaner More Produccve Bulk Material Handling Increased Produccon demands have resulted in faster, wider, more heavily loaded conveyors resullng in increased carryback. Carry-Back under the belt, and on structures, increases replacement, maintenance, clean up costs and OH&S risks.

More ooen then not, this issue can be tackled at the head pulley by installing a scraper, however a single cleaner is no longer enough to meet industry standards without risk or damage to the conveyor belt and produccon.

TOTAL MATERIAL CONTROL® is achievable with an ESS Conveyor Belt Cleaning System. unpa Experience unparalleled cleaning performancewith the XHD Durt Tracker Primary Cleaner featuring the patented “Key Safe” Blade extraccon system and ESS InLine Cleaner with patented blade design and withdrawal cartridge, allowing blade replacement in minutes.

All of this is achievable when uulising ESS Equipment, Service and or Training to achieved a systemaac approach to achieve the TMC® Goal.

Your Plant will experience: -Reduced manual handling and confined space risks.

-Reduces risks to the environment and personnel posed by carryback -Reduces clean-up costs -Reduces consumable hardware costs and improved operaaonal life of conveying components.

-Reduces risk of damage to the conveyor belt surface -Increased produccon me

Visit our website or call your nearest ESS Branch to arrange a site inspeccon

PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEW

PEER REVIEWED

Figure 7: Experimental results for (a) Throughput vs Inclination Angle (left) and (b) Power vs Inclination Angle.

Figure 8: DEM simulation results for (a) Throughput vs Inclination Angle (left) and (b) Power vs Inclination Angle.

Figure 9: Comparison of adjusted experimental results with the DEM simulations and continuum theory predictions.

From the above two observations, the power measurements from the experiments were reduced by a certain factor to allow the comparison of the same quantities between the experiment, DEM simulations and continuum theory. The reduction due to the additional frictional force of the steel pressure plate was approximated at 40%, while the reduction due to inefficiencies in the hydraulic drive was approximated at 25%. A comparison between the experimental measurements, DEM simulation and continuum theory can be seen in Figure 9 once this reduction 42

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

was made. The results in Figure 9 were for a feeder speed of 0.085 m/s.

The results of Figure 9 show the comparison for the feeder belt power required according to experimental measurements, DEM simulations and continuum theory calculations for a feeder belt speed of 0.085 m/s. It can be seen that very good agreement exists between the DEM results and continuum theory calculations. However, both these methods are under predicting the experimental results by a factor of 1.5–2. The results shown in Figure 9 are

only for the feeder speed of 0.085m/s.

However, the same trend is apparent for the other two feeder speeds.

An important outcome from this comparison is that the continuum theory presented previously compares very well with the loads (and power) of the DEM simulations. It should be noted that in the calculation of the continuum theory, the variables needed for the calculations such as bed heights throughout the feeder and throughputs were obtained from the DEM simulations, not the experiments.

This was due to the fact that more detailed information was available for the DEM simulations and the fact that this work is based on a previous study [1] of which the experimental testing was carried out a number of years ago. This point leads to the most likely reason for the remaining difference in the power values as presented in Figure 9, with this reason being dissimilarities in the general flow behaviour between the DEM simulations and the experiment. In the experiment, the bulk solid was most likely loaded differently to that in the simulation, and as such would result in different contributions to the power required. For example, more material in the transition zone would result in a larger contribution from the shear load in this section (Fts in equation 6) due to the converging hopper

section resisting forward motion. To further assess the predictive capabilities of DEM and continuum theory for inclined apron feeders the experimental testing should be revisited.

6 Concluding Remarks The study presented in this work revolves around predicting the performance of open front inclined apron feeders, with two main approaches used. These two approaches are using continuum theory, which estimates the loads acting in the feeder through considering each section of the feeder, and DEM modelling. It was found that over a range of feeder inclination angles and feeder speeds, these two methods compared very well with each other. This comparison was made by estimating the values needed in the continuum theory from the DEM simulations (bed heights, throughputs). When a comparison was made between these two methods to experimental results obtained in the initial study conducted a number of years ago, it was found that the

experimentally measured values were approximately twice as high. A likely reason for this large difference between the calculated values and the experimental values is a difference in the general flow behaviour of the material resulting from the loading process into the feeder. To further evaluate DEM modelling and the continuum theory it is planned to revisit the experimental testing.

7 References 1. Roberts, A.W., Predicting the performance of open front inclined apron feeders, Proc, From Powder to Bulk, International Conference, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, UK, 2000.

2. Jenike, A.W., Gravity Flow of Bulk Solids, Bulletin 123, The University of Utah, Engng. Exp. Station, USA, 1964.

3. Roberts, A.W., Basic Principles of Bulk Solids Storage, Flow and Handling, TUNRA Bulk Solids Handling Research Associates, The University of Newcastle, Australia, 1998.

4. Walton, O.R., Braun, R.L., Stress Calculations for Assemblies of Inelastic Spheres in Uniform Shear, Acta Mechanica, Vol. 63, pp73-86, SpringerVerlag, 1986.

5. Ai, J., Chen, J., Rotter, M., Ooi, J.Y., Assessment of rolling resistance models in discrete element simulations, Powder Technology, Vol 206, 2011, pp 269-282.

6. Coetzee, C.J., Lombard, S.G., Discrete Element method modelling of a centrifugal fertiliser spreader, Biosystems Engineering, Vol 109, 2011, pp 308-325.

7. Wensrich, C.M., Katterfeld, A., Rolling friction as a technique for modelling particle shape in DEM, Powder Technology, 2012, 217, pp 409-417.

Contact: Timothy.Donohue@Newcastle.edu.au

This paper was first presented at the 11th International Conference on Bulk Materials Handling, Storage and Transportation held at the University of Newcastle in 2013.

NEWS

Base makes first shipment from Kenyan project ASX-listed junior miner Base Resources has made the first shipment of ilmenite from its Kwale Mineral Sands project in Kenya.

B

ase sent out 25,000 tonnes of ilmenite on the bulk carrier African Eagle, which left the company’s Likoni marine facility in mid-February.

Likoni is part of Mombasa, Kenya’s largest sea port. Base’s Likoni marine facility was completed in December 2013, and is stockpiling deliveries of finished ilmenite and rutile product in its 60,000t storage shed in advance of shipment.

The shiploader at the facility was able to reach its design capacity of 1000tph during the first load, Base said. Regular shipments of both ilmenite and rutile will now commence, with shipments of each scheduled for March.

Ilmenite is a crystalline iron titanium oxide used primarily in the production of titanium dioxide, which itself has a wide range of applications, including in paint, sunscreen and other chemical products.

Rutile is a mineral made mostly of titanium dioxide, which is used in the production of ceramics and titanium, and is also used as a pigment.

Base Resources’ Kwale mineral sands project is located 10km inland from the Kenyan coast, and 50km south of Mombasa. It sits on a measured resource of 2.63mt of ilmenite and 0.65mt of rutile, as well as 0.29mt of zircon.

Indicated resources at Kwale total 1.15mt of ilmenite, 0.3mt of rutile and 0.13mt of zircon.

All work packages are now complete and operational, says Base, at its Kwale project, with the exception of the zircon circuit of the mineral separation plant which is currently undergoing feed commissioning.

Zircon production at the project has just commenced, and in the coming months processing rates are planned to be ramped up and inventories of zircon built up ahead of the commencement of containerised zircon sales.

The Kwale project cost US$298.5m.

The big ticket items contributing to that are its process plant and ancillary infrastructure (US$151.3), its marine facilities (US$27.9m) and the US$15.6m

The African Eagle loads at Base Resources’ Likoni marine facility.

construction of the Mukurumudzi Dam, the primary water source for the Kwale project.

The dam is a 24m high homogenous earthfill dam, consisting of 200,000 cubic metres of silty-sand originating from the surrounding area.

Base Resources, in a bit of inspired dealmaking, bought the Kwale project in 2010 from struggling Canadian miner Tiomin Resources for $3m, a fraction of the $60m Tiomin had already spent advancing the prospect.

Contact: www.baseresources.com.au

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

43

EER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEWED PEER REVIEW

PEER REVIEWED

SOLIDS PROCESSING

Solids modelling conveys solid performance Peter Caro, director area sales, AspenTech Australia tells ABHR about a missing link in the modelling of processing plants which, if observed, can save time and money for the customer.

A

vital missing link during the modelling of any chemical process plant has been incorporating granular solids, and the corresponding solids processing steps, with the fluids section.

In addition to fluids, many industrial processes involve solids processing steps that often have a significant influence on the overall process performance, product quality, or energy demand.

Modelling the solids section of a process is important for many common processes including specialty chemicals, agrochemicals, metals and mining, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and more.

But ignoring or underestimating the need for rigorous design and optimal operation of the solids section of these processes may reduce design efficiency, encourage over-design of equipment, add unnecessary operating energy costs, and result in reduced throughput and lower product quality.

In general, most industrial processing plants have liquids and solids sections.

The solids section has to fulfil one or more of the following tasks: • adjusting the particle size distribution (by crushing, grinding, classifying, compacting, etc.)

• formulating particles (granulation, crystallization) • adjusting the moisture content (drying) • changing the composition by chemical reactions (fluidised bed reactor) • separating solids from liquid or gas streams (cyclone, centrifuge, filters) The solids section is typically only a small part of an overall production process, but may have a significant influence on the overall process performance and the quality of the final product.

The process engineers model the fluid part of a process in a simulator software tool, while particle scientists within the same company model the solids part of the process in a spreadsheet tool.

There is limited sharing of process data with these disparate software tools so optimisation of the overall process design is more or less impossible using this historical workflow.

The second challenge is that to reduce the risk of bottlenecks, equipment is often over-designed or installed in excess leading to inflated capital costs. Examples of solids processing equipment

44

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Figure 1: Solids unit operations available in Aspen Plus V8.4.

that is often overdesigned include crushers, compactors, and dryers.

Rigorous solids modelling encourages the selection of appropriately sized solids processing equipment, and reduced recycle streams to minimize the load of equipment.

Thirdly, for many applications, intermediate or final products need to fulfil very tight moisture content specifications to be suitable for use in subsequent process steps, or to be sold as final products.

Managing the moisture content requires energy, and without detailed modelling, energy costs can be unnecessarily high.

Most importantly the design of a profitable process hinges on the throughput and the quality of the final product. The formulation of particles is an example of where both quality and quantity can be improved.

Starting from a solution or slurry, particles are formulated with the aim to produce a dust-free, free-flowing powder with well-defined properties. This is done in most cases by crystallization, granulation/ agglomeration, or spray drying. The design and operating conditions of these units determine the particle size distribution (PSD) and moisture content of the product, and incorrect design and operation results in reduced throughput and inferior quality.

The solids section of a process plant, in many instances, is considered a minor

part of an overall production process, but may have a significant influence on the overall process performance and the quality of the final product.

In response to the lack of a commercially available industrial simulator to rigorously model the solids section of an industrial process, the standalone solids simulator SolidSim was developed by solids experts and industry participants.

SolidSim introduced a generally applicable flowsheet simulation system to rigorously describe granular solids and the machines and equipment of particle technology.

AspenTech subsequently acquired SolidSim, and the Aspen Plus V8 model library was enhanced with the SolidSim technology, incorporating unit operations models, including models for crushing and grinding, classification, drying, crystallization, granulation and agglomeration, gas/ solid, and solid/liquid separation.

In addition, a workflow for the definition of particle size distributions was introduced with an enhanced results representation that allows visualising particle size distributions (cumulative, density, or RRSB), and apparatus-specific results.

Also, characteristic diameters such as d25, d50, or the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) are shown as stream results.

The new solids modelling library is a combination of the legacy solids

SOLIDS PROCESSING

Figure 2: New workflow: Holistic process model of the urea synthesis and granulation in Aspen Plus V8.

modelling unit operations and the new models introduced from SolidSim. Currently 20 solids unit operations are available, representing over 70 different types of equipment (see figure 1).

Also included are the conveying and fluidised bed models and the spray dryer model, and the ability to model reactions in the fluidised bed model.

Since Aspen Plus has historically focussed on fluids modelling, this enhancement enables the user, without any additional software costs, to model processes that contain both fluids and solids in one simulation environment using consistent physical properties and optimisation techniques.

One example of this more holistic workflow is the process model of the entire urea production process, shown in figure 2. Urea, a fundamental ingredient of lawn fertiliser, is used to produce some plastics and is a component of detergents, and some healthcare products.

Since this model describes the upstream urea synthesis (fluid part) and the downstream urea granulation section (solids part), the influence of each part is considered in a rigorous way.

If, for example, the air flow rate to the fluidised bed coolers in the granulation section of the urea process needs to be increased, this will lead to a higher entrainment of fines from the coolers.

The entrained particles will be removed from the gas stream by the venturi scrubber, dissolved in the wash liquid, and then recycled back to the synthesis section. Therefore, the change of the air flow rate to the cooler will have an influence on the upstream urea synthesis which will then have an impact on the downstream solids part.

To further streamline the workflow, new conceptual models have been introduced with the latest release of Aspen Plus.

The conceptual models are an enhancement of the existing solids blocks and allow users to model solids processing steps at different levels of accuracy from conceptual to rigorous without changing the structure of the flowsheet. With conceptual models, process engineers that are not familiar with solids modelling can be eased into learning how to use the capabilities.

The conceptual model also offers the possibility that process engineers and particle scientists can collaborate more closely. When setting up the model of a combined fluids and solids process, the process engineer can use the conceptual models to describe the solids section of the process.

Having analysed the first simulation results, the process engineer can decide what parts of the solids section need to be modelled more rigorously, and if necessary, ask the particle scientist to help select and parameterise the rigorous model.

Contact: Peter Caro, peter.caro@aspentech.com

SOME THINK LONG-DISTANCE TRANSPORT IS INFRASTRUCTUREINTENSIVE. WE THINK DIFFERENT. Transporting materials from remote locations has traditionally required significant infrastructure investments in road or rail links, vehicles, personnel and fuel. BEUMER offers an economical, efficient and environmental alternative – long-distance overland conveying. This gives you a dedicated, around-the-clock transport link at the fraction of the cost of infrastructure development. The reduced noise and air pollution minimises environmental impact and improves personnel safety. Add to that a high degree of design flexibility and customisation and you can see why overland conveying makes a big difference to operational efficiency and environmental protection.

For more information, visit www.beumergroup.com

NEWS

Process control room operator training Calibre Global says its home grown Simulated Process Operations Training (SPOT) system delivers a rich virtual training experience.

S

POT provides a virtual environment that simulates a process plant’s physical operation to allow training of operations personnel.

“The SPOT experience is near identical to that of running the physical plant, replicating the integration of other systems such as downtime and production portals in as life-like a way as possible,” explained Joel Herron, operations manager South East Australia, industrial technology division, Calibre Global. “This allows the operators to develop their skills from basic plant control to advanced recovery of multiple-failure conditions.”

Simulator training is employed in highly automated environments where operators must carefully evaluate the consequences of their actions based on a conceptual understanding of the process plant system.

Without a simulator, process plant operators only learn to manage simple faults or emergencies theoretically, without knowing exactly how they would react in a real emergency situation.

“A tailored simulation training solution, such as SPOT, alleviates all the risks associated with training an operator on a ‘live’ site,” said Herron.

SPOT incorporates a core shell that includes a plant’s PLC and HMI code, the simulation of a facility using the Calibre Global simulation library and a trainer interface or control panel.

There are various component options that can be integrated such as training material, virtual CCTV, 3D immersion, integration into a Learning Management System (LMS) or production portals.

The simulation engine is software that acts as a replacement of the real equipment. At its core, are complex mathematical models developed by Calibre Global that imitate the behaviour of the conveyors, pumps, valves, screens, bins and associated plant equipment.

“These models can be fully customised to reflect specific conditions of the simulated plant,” said Herron. “As they are written in structured text language they can be ported across various control systems development packages from different vendors.

“Scenarios are designed in consultation with the client, to recreate process failures, equipment faults or specific conditions that operators must be competent in managing. The system is flexible and

46

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Using SPOT, process plant operation trainees can practice normal operations, faults and emergency scenarios until they are competent and certified.

new scenarios can be added to keep the training relevant to actual conditions.”

There is a trainer interface that can be operated by a trainer or used by the trainee in a self-guided mode. It includes the launch console with specific site and scenario options. A separate HMI allows the trainer to modify the scenario and interface into the simulation to adjust the complexity of the scenario. A Leader Board comparing the progress and scenario results of the trainees can be displayed on the trainer interface promoting competition among trainees.

The virtual CCTV showing a “live” feed representative of real world responses are reflected in the simulation,

so that tank levels, equipment position and other visual properties of the plant are shown. A more advanced option is the 3D immersive training environment, wherein the trainee can ‘virtually’ walk around an exact replica of actual sites.

“SPOT has proved invaluable to our clients, where return on investment is calculated on downtime rectification response time, asset reliability, optimisation and increased safety,” said Herron. “Operators trained through SPOT are able to practice normal operations, faults and emergency scenarios until they are competent and certified.”

Contact: SPOT@calibreglobal.com.au

SAND DRYING

Hurll Nu-Way, iBulk team up for quarry sand dryer iBulk Solutions, with the support of its subcontractor Hurll Nu-Way, aims to provide energy efficient solutions for sand drying applications, the latter told ABHR.

Hurll Nu-Way and iBulk worked together to deliver a fluidised bed dryer last year.

W

hen a sand quarrying company is looking to increase its sand-drying capacities, the options often considered are investing in a bigger rotary dryer or a fluidised bed dryer. The smart choice, according to Hurll Nu-Way, is a fluidised bed dryer.

Rotary dryers can be a cheaper option, but more energy demanding, the provider says, while fluidised bed drying promises a smaller footprint and considerably lower energy consumption.

Energy savings with fluidised bed technology are achieved by increasing the drying surface of the sand, by suspending it in heated, pressurised gas.

Quite often, huge amounts of silica are to be dried, with equipment handling several tons of it per hour. iBulk has created a dryer it says is able to operate with huge quantities of sand.

Its standard product, Vibrating Fluid Bed System for Drying and Cooling, can be modified to suit customer’s specifications to take into account the volumes of product, it says.

To heat the system for one client, iBulk needed a 2.7kW gas burner, which had to be built in the duct, and they contacted Hurll Nu-Way, which specialises in combustion power generators.

Nu-Way UK’s product range offers capacities up to 45MW, and in this case an EnergyStream burner head was selected and delivered to Australia.

Combustion specialists and technicians from Hurll Nu-Way designed the duct and incorporated the burner into a compact duct package, complete with a gas valve train and a burner management panel.

According to Hurll, the average efficiency of fluid bed dryers is 20-40% higher than rotary dryers, which ensured that iBulk’s clients achieved considerable savings on the fuel consumption required in the drying process.

Contact: www.hnw.com.au

MOBILE VEHICLE

SAFETY

NEWS

980 jobs gone as Alcoa closes ‘no prospect’ smelter New York-headquartered alumina and aluminium producer Alcoa will close its smelter in Point Henry, Victoria, along with an adjacent rolling mill, and a second rolling mill in Yennora, NSW, Oliver Probert reports.

Aluminium ingots at the port of Qingdao, China. Photo by Chris Mackey, Southern Cross Maritime.

A

lcoa, which is listed on both the Australian ASX and America’s New York Stock Exchange, went to the market with the news in mid-February.

The closures of the smelter, which employs roughly 500 workers, and the rolling mills, which employ about 480, followed a strategic review by Alcoa into its south east Australian operations dating back two years.

The Point Henry smelter was placed under strategic review in February 2012 due to challenging market conditions, the producer told the NYSE.

48

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

“A comprehensive review found that the 50-year-old smelter has no prospect of becoming financially viable,” Alcoa said. “The two rolling mills serve the domestic and Asian can sheet markets which have been impacted by excess capacity.”

In the last ten years, China’s monthly production of aluminium has risen from 514 thousand tonnes in December 2003 to over 2 million tonnes in December 2013. Production around the rest of the world, meanwhile, has only risen from 1.95mt a month to around 2.1mt.

That supply shift, along with other factors, has driven down the price of aluminium, and with it, the viability of Alcoa’s Point Henry smelter.

“Despite the hard work of the local teams, these assets are no longer competitive and are not financially sustainable today or into the future,” said Alcoa’s chairman and chief executive officer Klaus Kleinfeld. “We recognise how deeply this decision impacts employees at the affected facilities and are committed to supporting them through this transition.”

NEWS

China’s production of aluminium has gone from nothing twenty years ago, to rivalling the volume produced by the rest of the world combined.

As China has ramped up aluminium production, world production has climbed to unprecedented heights, and that has pushed price down.

Alcoa will close the smelter in August, and the rolling mills by the end of the year.

The Anglesea coal mine and power station, which currently supplies approximately 40% of the power needed for the Point Henry smelter, “has the potential to operate as a stand-alone facility after the smelter closes,” Alcoa said. The company will, therefore, seek a buyer for that operation.

Alan Cransberg, Alcoa of Australia’s managing director, did not take the decision – which will see almost 1000 workers lose their jobs – lightly.

“These are hard decisions to make,” Cransberg said. “We understand how difficult this is for our employees and their families, our contractors, suppliers and community partners.

“Everyone has worked hard to improve the competitiveness of the smelter and rolling business. They are part of a proud history of Alcoa in Australia over the last 50 years, and part of the significant contributions we have made to the Australian economy and local communities.”

Cransberg added: “We appreciate the ongoing support of the Australian and Victorian governments and will continue to work closely with all levels of government, our employees, unions and community stakeholders to manage through these changes.”

The closures will reduce Alcoa’s global smelting capacity by 190,000 tonnes per annum, and reduce Alcoa’s can sheet capacity by 200,000 tonnes per annum. The closures will cost Alcoa between US$250m and US$270m.

Alcoa’s Portland Aluminium smelter, also in Victoria, will continue normal operations, as will Alcoa’s bauxite mining and alumina refining operations in WA.

Driving the vibration industry for over 50 years

ELECTRIC • HYDRAULIC • PNEUMATIC • CONTROLS Proudly distributed by Teco Australia since 1987

30 years in Australia

Sydney (02) 9765 8118 | Melbourne (03) 9720 4411 | Brisbane (07) 3373 9600 | Perth (08) 9479 4879 Email: emd@teco.com.au www.teco.com.au

NEWS

‘No money, no work’ for 1300 sacked Forge workers 1300 employees on power stations and mining projects in WA and Queensland have been retrenched after Perth-based engineering company Forge Group collapsed in February.

K

ordaMentha Restructuring was appointed as receivers and managers of Forge after the beleaguered, ASX-listed company went into voluntary administration in February 2014.

The receivers announced the dismissal of some 1300 Forge staff: “There is no money to pay employees and no work to perform,” KordaMentha’s Mark Mentha said.

“We are working closely David Simpson, managing director and chief with the administrators Ferexecutive, Forge Group. rier Hodgson to do whatever we can to help the employees at this dreadful time for them and their families.”

Mentha said Forge’s Australian operations would be assessed on a project-by-project basis, but said that the owners of those projects had forced KordaMentha’s hand in this case.

“Today’s moves by some of the owners of the projects forced our hand because there is no cash to carry employees,” he said.

Employees were told of their redundancies at meetings yesterday afternoon.

Forge’s collapse follows a tumultuous period for the engineering company. Its share price dropped more than 80% in a single day in November, when it announced a $127m cut to profits for the 2013/14 financial year after experiencing underperformances at its Diamantina Power Station and West Angelas Power Station projects.

Speaking on just January 29, Forge managing director and chief executive David Simpson was aware of the business’s dire situation, but wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.

“FY2014 has been a challenging year for Forge Group,” he conceded, before rallying: “The management team is very focused on completing the Diamantina Power Station and West Angelas Power Station projects as quickly as possible so the company is better positioned for a stronger performance in FY2015.”

Despite Simpson’s resolve, however, Forge announced its voluntary receivership just under a fortnight later, on Tuesday, February 11 after banks led by ANZ moved to draw a line under their mounting exposure to the troubled group.

Forge was removed from the S&P/ASX 200 index, where it was replaced in February by Nine Entertainment Co.

miners’ subsequent assault on productivity,” Stevens said. “But that will miss the point.”

Instead, Stevens said, the “sad reality” of Forge’s collapse was its purchase of private energy utility builder, CTEC, in January 2012.

CTEC, purchased for just $16m up front plus $24m in future milestone payments, came to Forge with contracts to build the Diamantina power plant at Mt. Isa and smaller ones at Rio Tinto’s West Angelas and Cape Lambert iron ore project.

But costs on those projects quickly spun out of control. Forge has taken write-downs of $155m on the projects, dipping into its own finances early this year In early February, ANZ – which had stood by the beleaguered engineer as its financier until as recently as January 29 – withdrew its support, essentially driving the final nail into the Forge coffin.

“The financial body blows thrown by CTEC have been absorbed in four rounds so far,” Stevens wrote. “In November 2013, and in early and late January 2014, Forge went to the market with news of write-downs, profit downgrades or both. The fourth and likely final blow came with news that the banks had finally lost confidence and patience with Forge.

“And with that,” he surmised, “an end was plainly nigh.”

For some commenters on AJM’s internet stories on the subject, however, Forge’s write-down and profit downgrade announcements were not clear, or early, enough.

“The company knew of the losses on the projects and hide [sic] them from shareholders until they got paid their bonuses,” one anonymous reader claimed. “This business failed because they were more interested in earnings per share rather than day to day management…”

Another suggested Forge managing director and chief executive David Simpson, and chairman David Craig, had not been clear enough with investors, and had remained positive for too long in company reports.

“Who was blowing smoke up who?” the commenter asked.

Recriminations and finger pointing As administrators pick over the remains of a collapsed Forge Group, analysts, institutions and AJM readers have shared their opinions on the engineering company’s downfall.

Australian Financial Review commentator, Matthew Stevens, dissected the company’s collapse in a February column.

“Many will see Forge’s drift towards terminal financial crisis through the prism of the broader systemic threat to the contracting sector that is the end of the resources capital boom and the 50

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Construction underway on the 242 MW Diamantina Power Station near Mt Isa in Queensland. Forge, via its acquisition of private energy utility builder, CTEC was responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction contract to deliver the project.

Unfortunately, costs ran out of control.

NEWS

The West Angelas Power Plant under construction. Forge was delivering the EPC contracts for that 80 MW open cycle power station, along with a 120 MW combined cycle gas turbine power station at Cape Lambert. Costs blew out, torpedoing Forge’s finances.

“It begs question as to the competence of those writing and veracity of what is written in these reports … Mr Simpson and Mr Craig may as well have been the Titanic designers.”

The AFR’s Stevens, however, points out that blaming Simpson for Forge’s collapse is unfair.

“It needs to be noted that current CEO David Simpson was appointed just one day before the CTEC was a deal and did not take his seat at the helm until six months after the deal was completed.

“The board has been totally refreshed from the chairman

Aerobelt

Money saving features...

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Low power consumption Reliability Low wear and tear Low maintenance High capacity Light weight belt Steep angles of inclination High belt speeds Dust tight Complete settling of material on belt True belt tracking Simple conversion from open to closed conveyor

down since CTEC was added to the Forge family.”

To that tune, another anonymous AJM commenter came to the defence of Simpson and the rest of the Forge board: “No one who has written into this forum would have a clue how hard the CEO and team have worked in the months leading up [to] the collapse of Forge Group.”

Another wrote: “Peter Hutchinson former CEO clinched the dodgy deal with CTEC before David Simpson came on board and walked away with his earnings at $5 a share. He should be put in the papers.”

Some attention in the comments section was paid to the bank that pulled out of the fading Forge Group, ANZ. “The ANZ bank took over and refused all private equity offers and could’ve saved the day,” one commenter said. “And they didn’t.”

Someone else pointing the finger at ANZ – albeit indirectly – was NAB, the bank Forge was with before moving to ANZ. NAB’s head of business banking Joseph Healy spoke with The Australian, and said big banks needed to be more careful aggressively chasing loans to mining sector businesses during the ongoing slowdown.

“Some other institutions have an appetite for risk we simply don’t have even though we want to grow our business,” Healy was quoted to have said. “It’s a big, big mistake to start taking on higher risk exposures simply for the sake of growing.

“One particular institution has been very aggressive, and that aggression is evident in the market share or the growth they’ve seen.”

ANZ’s share of business lending grew last year by 0.8%.

NAB’s, meanwhile, fell 1.6%.

TM

Air-cushion Belt conveyor

Both belt and product are carried on a cushion of air Products

Fan

Film of air Belt conveyor

Return idler

For further information contact:

Aerobelt Australia Pty. Ltd.

Unit 5, 8-10 Technology Drive, Appin NSW 2560

Phone (02) 4631 2919 Mobile (0419) 279 566 Fax (02) 4631 2915 Email info@aerobelt.com.au www.aerobelt.com.au

          



CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

NSW manufacturer pushing the envelope in modular conveyors First Para Conveyors is a NSW-based manufacturer which specialises in modular conveyor and bulk handling Redispan systems from its Tomago plant. ABHR spoke to the company’s manufacturing manager Greg Payne about its delivery of a number of recent projects to the coal sector.

Fig. 1: Redispan delivered this head unit with much already intact.

Fig. 2-3:The delivery of a 42m span over the main coal railway to the Port of Newcastle, with erection and then commissioning in progress.

P

ayne explained that the modular design of Redispan’s products, as well as the company’s mass customised manufacturing method, can benefit its customers in a number of ways.

“Our approach creates certainty for our customers in design, supply, manufacture, installation and operation,” he said.

One example of this, Payne said, came in the delivery of a head end module (see figure 1). The module was delivered complete to site, with the head box, drive frame, drive, pulley and a cross belt sampler already installed.

The electrical installation was also completed in Redispan’s workshop; all power supply and control cables were marshalled in centralised junction boxes.

Monorails for future maintenance of the unit were also installed, both directly above the drive unit and above the head box and drive pulley.

“Simple but effective inclusions such as drop down lights were installed with long term maintenance and safety in mind,” Payne said. “These lights eliminate the need for any sort of elevated access when changing globes or fittings.”

Redispan’s modular delivery method was again on show with the recent delivery of a 42m long-span gantry over the main coal rail lines into the port of Newcastle.

Modules were delivered to the site in as long as possible sections and bolted together to form the span adjacent to the final installation point. Installation of the span was planned for a four hour rail possession on a Sunday night.

“The total time from connection of cranes onto the modules to unhooking

Figure 4. Redispan’s Safe-T-Veyor transfers material from dump hopper to transfer point and then to over rail conveyor.

after installation was twenty four minutes,” Payne said (see figures 2-3).

In addition to the traditional long span, fully enclosed gantries that were used for the over rail conveyor on the project, Redispan’s patented Safe-T-Veyor was used to transfer material from the dump hopper to a transfer point, and then to the over rail conveyor (figure 4).

Conveyor sections were delivered to site in 12m spans fully fitted with carry and return idlers, water pipe, covered cable tray and required instrumentation.

Among Redispan’s biggest module deliveries was a recent project in the Hunter Valley (see figure 5). A section of module that was delivered to a Hunter valley coal mine had two belts installed with a central common walkway.

The same mine site which received that module, also required a 60m span to cross a creek that was subject to occasional flooding. Unlike the dual conveyor module, this span required a steel floor to reduce weight to allow a reasonable size crane to erect.

The 60m span installed by Redispan

Fig. 5: One of Redispan’s biggest modules was this twoway conveyor section, separated by a common walkway.

Fig. 6: A 60m span was constructed over a creek which had a tendency to flood at times.

connects to traditional 36m Redispan structures (see figure 6).

“Creation of certainty is our catchphrase,” concluded Payne. “The highly developed and mature design of Redispan structures allows a great deal of installation and assembly work to be completed in the workshop prior to items arriving on site. This creates certainty in supply and manufacture, along with the added benefits of doing the majority of work in controlled environments.”

Contact: www.redispan.com

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

53

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Modular conveyors used at Hunter wastewater plant Flexco and Valley Longwall International told ABHR how Hunter Water Corporation decreased maintenance time using modular conveyors with enhanced cleaning systems.

U

sed in sand plants, quarries, mining, agriculture, concrete plants, water treatment plants, and even in the building game, modular conveyors are very versatile and can be shortened or extended by installing or removing standard sections.

They can be implemented anywhere along the conveyor line to provide a flexible and efficient way to convey product.

Hunter Water Corporation, which provides water and wastewater services to over half a million people in the lower Hunter Region delivering 184 million litres of water per day just installed modular conveyors at its Belmont waste water plant.

The sticky consistency of sewage conveyed at the waste water plant meant that the existing cleaners on the system had to be inspected daily, while operating under a tightly scheduled maintenance program.

To keep the modular conveyor running efficiently for longer, and to reduce problems associated with sewage carryback, the belt cleaning system had to be hosed down daily.

So conveyor supplier Valley Longwall International included Rockline EZP1 primary cleaners in the modular conveyors’ design.

“Hunter Water chose to install the VLI modular conveyors due to their consistent product size, lightweight components, and ease of installation,” according to Drew Brazaitis from VLI. “They also found the Rockline cleaners included with the system to be robust and easy to service.”

Brazaitis said three months after installation, conveyor components were considerably cleaner and functioning optimally due to the belt cleaner reducing material carryback.

“The operators at Hunter Water spend much less time hosing down the system, and the conveyors are tracking correctly and operating at their best,” Brazaitis said. “The EZP1 cleaners have not required any maintenance since they were installed more than three months ago, which has saved the plant time spent on manual clean-up.”

54

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Modular conveyors are used at the Hunter Water Corporation plant to carry sewage.

VLI’s range goes from 350mm to 600mm wide, and conveyors are troughed, flat and capable of moving product on inclines up to 25 degrees.

The supplier has been manufacturing modular conveyor systems for longer than two decades, and VLI’s Larry Michell says a lot of improvements have been made in that time.

“The conveyors have gone from open sided with no guarding to completely covered sides and full guarding to Australian standards, and we are always looking for ways to improve on

the existing conveyors while keeping the system cost effective at the same time,” Michell said.

VLI says its work reduced time spent on installation and maintenance at Hunter Water Corporation, increasing their productivity at the plant.

After the success of the modular conveyors with Rockline Cleaners originally supplied at Hunter Water Corporation, Brazaitis says the plant is looking toward future upgrades later in 2014.

Contact: www.flexco.com

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Spidler: the “revolutionary” idler roller replacement machine Aaron Carter, director of Sandpit Innovation, spoke with ABHR about the Spidler, a machine designed to replace idler rollers on conveyor belts while the belt is still in motion, while eliminating safety risks by removing humans from the process.

“F

rom the top down,” Carter says, “the arms that engage the conveyor look like a spider. And it changes idlers.

So we coined the term Spidler.”

Aaron Carter is describing the reasoning behind Spidler, the compound word coined to market Sandpit Innovation’s new, high-tech idler roller replacement machine.

But the Spidler, which has now been proven as a concept at at least one Port Hedland facility, is more than just a clever name. In fact, if Carter is to be believed, the Spidler could soon revolutionise the way idler rollers are managed at facilities that can use as many as a hundred thousand of them at any one time.

The Spidler sits on light rails laid along either side of a conveyor, such that it straddles the belt, and can move freely up and down it.

When an idler roller needs to be replaced, the machine can be programmed

56

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

to move to that roller, lift the conveyor belt up, remove the old idler roller and replace it with a new one.

Throughout the process, the conveyor can continue running; the spider-like arms that lift the conveyor off the idler rollers allow the belt to continue transporting product throughout the entire replacement process.

“Say you’ve got a 2km-long conveyor,” Carter says. “You’ve got three rollers every 1.4 or 1.5m metres; do the maths and you’ve got quite a few thousand rollers working on this conveyor and I’ve never seen it before where I can go to an operation and they could tell me how old a particular roller was, let alone how many hours it had done – that information is simply not known.”

For that reason, Carter says, facilities have to rely on a system of manual conditioning monitoring so they know when to stop a conveyor and replace individual rollers. Other than that, their strategy

Key components of the Spidler’s design.

A – diesel generator B – electrical cabinet C – light-gauge running rail D – hydraulic power pack E – detachable trailer F – rotary table-mounted robot G – idler roller grippy assembly with embedded scanner H – split centre idler I – interlocking lift-arm J – traction assembly K – central mounted lift cylinders L – sun cover

is generally to replace a section of rollers all at once.

“What it means is you’re left with this really reactive strategy of just having to change big groups of them at any time possible, to manage the risk of failure, and then be very reactive to when you hear one that’s about to fail.

“And that’s how they detect it: they literally drive along a conveyor and listen to a squeaky bearing, they stop the entire operation and they use a device very similar to a car jack – but much larger – they slide it under the conveyor and jack the belt up.

“Then two guys or sometimes one if they don’t have support get underneath the belt and hit the roller out,” he explains.

The issue with this method, he says, is that it leads to extended downtimes, and an increased level of risk for employees.

MATO Belt Cleaners: Fastener-friendly and Efficient.

Efficient cleaning power, a long service life and quick maintenance are the outstanding qualities of the MATO belt cleaner.

How do you find the right cleaner system for your application?

Ask our service personnel. We will advise you and install the best system in your operation with our partners on the spot.

MATO Australia Pty Ltd: New South Wales:

Queensland:

Tel: +61 1300 850 795 Fax: +61 (2) 4936 1388 Email: maus@mato.com.au www.mato.com.au

Tel: +61 1300 850 795 Fax: +61 (7) 4998 5855 Email: maus@mato.com.au www.mato.com.au

Belt Cleaners

The use of the right belt cleaner is the decisive factor in the effective, reliable and profitable function of conveyor belts at our customers’. This is ensured by the optimal interaction between our fasteners and cleaners.

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

A reverse view of the Spidler.

Sandpit’s research of multiple operations shows that under this method, replacing just one idler roller can lead to over an hour of downtime. And the task itself, Carter adds, is both repetitive and high-risk, with the common weight for idler rollers being in the region of 40kg, and some exceeding 60kg.

Looking to find a solution that increased both productivity and safety, Sandpit teamed up with engineering and project management business Lewis Australia to develop the Spidler.

“We wanted to build a machine that was capable of changing the roller, to start with, in the most simplistic way, that allows for future automation and for future scope,” Carter says.

Lewis Australia, based out of Melbourne, provided the robotics expertise, he explains.

“They originally cut their teeth in the automotive industry in the automation of production lines for the automotive trade.

They diversified into resources about 10 - 15 years ago and they’ve done a wide range of work in applying robotics into mining environments and smelting environments, and processing.”

The result of Lewis and Sandpit’s collaboration is a machine that Carter hopes will be readily embraced by the bulk handling industry.

The Spidler’s two pairs of arms reach down underneath each side of a section of a conveyor, and lift it from its idler rollers, which it usually slides over during standard operation. During this, the conveyor belt can continue moving, because the Spidler’s arms are themselves constructed from idler rollers.

Once the conveyor is lifted roughly 300mm from its standard position, a separate, more dextrous robotic arm replaces the idler roller (or rollers) in question. With the new roller(s) in place, the conveyor can then be lowered back down, and the Spidler can move on to another assignment.

Once the Spidler is told which idler roller needs replacing, the machine can do the entire process automatically, Carter says.

It is controlled via a wireless pendant, which can be operated from up to 100m away. But that’s just phase one of Sandpit’s ‘Progressive Automation’ plan.

Next, Sandpit is pushing for semi-automatic remote control for the Spidler, so that the machine can be controlled remotely from any location, with suitable communication infrastructure.

The machine would drive itself along the rails, and would be told which idlers to replace via a remote video and audio connection.

Phase three of the automation plan would make the Spidler fully automated. The machine would be aware of its location, and each idler roller’s condition, and would decide on appropriate action automatically. All condition scanning and replacement would be fully automated.

What that three-phase method will do, Carter says, is encourage bulk handling facilities to change their as-is management of idler rollers.

“The machine could go on and they could continue to do these batch change-outs,” he says. “However, they could do it whenever they want, regardless of the belt running. And then, as they build confidence in the machine and what they’re doing, they can start to develop a more selective change-out strategy.

“We will have condition monitoring on board the first machine. It’s not advanced technology, but we’ve made the call that we have the equipment on board that can change the rollers and if we’re only half-right, we’re still only changing individual rollers, not hundreds at a time.”

In June last year, Sandpit tested the Spidler at an iron ore handling facility at Port Hedland.

“The machine stayed on the conveyor for just over six weeks,” Carter reports. “At one stage we held, suspended, the conveyor up for about 300mm, for about a week. We wanted to do that to show that we didn’t have any adverse effects in the way the material was coming over the belt, the way the belt was drifting.”

Carter says the designers learned a few things from the trial, but that it was still a successful proof of concept.

“We learned we needed to build up the lifting rollers for longevity. We realised we can’t just use normal rollers for those lifting arms. It’s all those small things that you learn over time.”

Sandpit hopes to sell its first Spidler this calendar year.

“It’s a slow turnaround time for a machine like this,” Carter qualifies, “we haven’t just built another conveyor, this is a revolutionary machine. The adoption’s not going to be quick, and we recognise that. But we’re hopeful.”

“We’ve got a number of clients that are interested in the machine at this stage, that we’re at different stages of negotiations, and feasibility studies, with.”

Contact: www.spidler.com.au

An enviable reputation for integrity & reliability We specialise in the design and manufacture of Screw Conveyors, Bucket Elevators and Materials Handling Equipment • Chain/belt bucket elevators • Conveyor systems Redbank Qld 4301 • Mixers, grease mixers • Material handling Ph 07 3818 6966 • Maintenance & Installation • Storage bins sales@archimedes.net.au

WULGURU GROUP www.archimedes.net.au

ARCHIMEDES

ENGINEERING

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

SEW-Eurodrive gears up Atlas Iron in WA Global drive manufacturer SEW-Eurodrive has supplied gearboxes for Atlas Iron’s new conveyor system at its export berth at Port Hedland, WA. Trevor Hughes, WA general manager for Nepean Conveyors, along with SEW-Eurodrive’s Bryan Brookes, gave ABHR the details.

The two conveyor drives that SEW-Eurodrive supplied were from its X-series, and were bevel helical gear units with a capacity of 101kNm.

A

tlas Iron is one of Australia’s fastest growing iron ore companies. It has grown from a one-man operation in 2004, with a market capitalisation of $9m, to a current workforce of around 600 and a market capitalisation of nearly $800m.

Following Atlas’ acquisition of Aurox Resources, the junior miner’s allocation at Utah Point’s Stockyard 2 facility increased, and left Atlas with the port capacity to export 15mt of Pilbara iron ore from Port Hedland’s combined Utah Point facilities each year.

So when it came time to increase the materials handling capacity of its Utah Point stockyard and berth facility, Atlas decided on a new, 7500tph reclaim conveyor system, and supplier Nepean Conveyors chose SEW-Eurodrive gearboxes to power it.

Trevor Hughes of Nepean Conveyors said the supplier chose SEW-Eurodrive for their cost, reliability, service and performance, but said the crucial factor was their speed of delivery.

“We had a very quick turnaround with this project and SEW was able to deliver on time,” Hughes explained. “It was a critical part of the contract, and SEW supplied us with the gearboxes within the timeframe that we required.”

60

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Hughes said gearboxes and motors were the longest lead item on the project, but says that’s always the case when building a conveyor system.

“Our customer, Atlas Iron, had given us a deadline that we absolutely had to meet. SEW guaranteed that they would meet that deadline, and they did it without any issues at all,” Hughes said.

There was a turnaround time of five months between contract signing and project completion.

“While this stockyard conveyor is not large compared to many we have built for the industry, it does play a vital role in Atlas’s supply chain, with reliability a key issue.

“While the conveyor is presently only running on demand, it is designed to run 24/7 and will be running continuously in the coming months,” Hughes said.

Conveyor design The Utah Point Stockyard 2 conveyor was not a straightforward application, according to Hughes.

“The design of the conveyor had to incorporate existing infrastructure from another stockyard (Stockyard 1) with the new conveyor feeding on to a conveyor from Stockyard 1 via a transfer tower and surge bin system,” he said.

The new conveyor system is currently fed by an interim solution using front-end loaders, which load iron ore onto the conveyor.

“While this doesn’t necessarily impact on the actual gearboxes, or how the conveyor belt is driven, this interim solution can affect the dynamics of the conveyor belt itself, especially how the conveyor belt performs when product is loaded onto the conveyor.

“And while Atlas Iron called for a similar conveyor system that was already operating in Utah Point Stockyard 1, we still needed to work closely with SEW on the design of the conveyor in terms of capacity and other technical requirement.”

SEW-Eurodrive’s Perth-based team worked with Nepean on the technical side of the design, including with calculations for load and thermal ratings for that particular drive.

“The existing SEW-Eurodrive products at Utah Point Stockyard 1 have performed very well, so it made sense to continue with SEW equipment,” Hughes reasoned. “Why would you change a successful system when you have a product that is already proven on site?”

Local assembly Bryan Brookes, SEW-Eurodrive’s industrial gears products manager for WA, said being able to assemble gearboxes at the company’s Heavy Industrial Solutions division in Melbourne was a huge advantage for his many clients when it came to the timely delivery of equipment and parts.

“We carry a huge range of stock in Melbourne, so we can build gearboxes to order in a very, very quick time,” Brookes said.

“Our competitors cannot match our turn-around speed, or our service. For example, in an emergency we can supply gearbox parts in a hurry and/or build a new large industrial gearbox in just a few days.

“When we quoted on this project, the client wanted a quick delivery and we managed to meet all their requirements,” he said.

“We received the order from Nepean Conveyors late in December 2012 and the two drive assemblies were delivered on time for the scheduled completion date of early May 2013.”

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

The key features of the helical and helical-bevel X-series gearboxes are a rated torque capacity of up to 475 kNm and their thermal ratings.

SEW-Eurodrive supplied two of its Xseries bevel helical gear units, each with a capacity of 101kNm. “The X series was designed from the ground up around six years ago, and has proven to be one of the most durable and flexible gearboxes on the market,” Brookes said.

“The robust, universal gear unit series

can be optimally adjusted to the task due to finely, stepped torque ratings, making the gearboxes suitable for a broad range of heavy industry applications.

“For example, to match a customer’s requirements we can run the X-series in three different stages. It could be a 2-stage gearbox that would be operating relatively fast, a 3-stage gearbox which is

designed for medium speed applications or a 4-stage gearbox, which would be operating quite slow.”

A 3-stage gearbox was used for the Atlas project.

“These gearboxes have a much higher ambient capacity than others on the market before needing to add additional cooling to them.

“Also, many people don’t realise that while we have some of the most reliable equipment on the market, we are also very price competitive,” Brookes added.

“As well as the extremely robust gear unit housing, other features of the Xseries gearboxes include reduced costs and weight due to high power density and finely stepped sizes, flexible mounting capability, and efficient project planning tools including 2D and 3D dimension drawing generators.”

SEW-Eurodrive had already worked with Nepean Conveyors in the eastern states, but the Atlas project was their first work together in WA. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with them here in WA,” Brookes said.

Contact: www.sew-eurodrive.com.au

Small enough

BIG

to care, enough to deliver

Safety • Quality • Strength • Endurance • Performance A leading supplier of an extensive range of high quality conveyor belting recognised throughout the Materials Handling Industry.

60

years

combined experience

Conveyor Belting trusted across Australasia: • Multi-Ply • Steel Cord • Solid Woven • Rip & Impact Resistant • Cross Stabilised Sidewall • Chevron & Feeder • Special Construction

International Conveyor Products offers over 60 years of experience in conveyor belting and conveying solutions. The ICON range of plied rubber, steel cord, solid woven, patterned, and special construction conveyor belting, in various grades of compounds, is manufactured to meet and exceed stringent Australian, International and Site specific Standards. Reinforced with technical and quality management expertise, we pride ourselves in providing superior, tailored products and support to our clients in association with valued conveyor service partners.

Tel: +61 (0) 2 4961 2199 Fax: +61 (0) 2 4961 1785 Email: sales@iconproducts.com.au

www.iconproducts.com.au

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Continental buys Veyance for $2.14bn International auto and truck parts manufacturer Continental has bought conveyor belt specialist Veyance Technologies for 1.4bn Euro, or AU$2.14bn.

C

ontinental will add Veyance to its rubber and plastics technology division, ContiTech, after buying the manufacturer from soon-to-be former parent company, The Carlyle Group.

Carlyle, a major US-based private equity fund, bought Veyance in 2007 from Goodyear for US$1.475bn.

The acquisition is subject to the approval of the responsible anti-trust authorities.

Veyance is a global operation, but Australia was the site of its most recent big news prior to its purchase. It opened a conveyor belt manufacturing plant in Melbourne late last year, to much celebration from local job-seekers and industry; state premier Denis Napthine attended the plant’s opening ceremony.

Speaking with ABHR’s Charles Macdonald at the opening, Veyance general manager, Australia, David Stone, and US-based president John Hamilton were reluctant to discuss the company’s ownership in the immediate future. Now, it appears, we know why.

“ContiTech and Veyance are a great fit for each other,” Hamilton said this week. “We look forward to becoming valuable members of the ContiTech team to continue building upon our shared culture of innovation and providing value to customers.”

In 2013, ContiTech’s and Veyance’s merged pro forma sales would add-up to approximately $8.24bn. Together, the two employ about 39,000 people worldwide.

“Veyance’s business and geographic presence complements Continental’s existing global footprint, and the planned integration of Veyance into our ContiTech division will expand our position in rubber and plastics technologies on a worldwide basis,” said Continental’s executive board chairman, Dr Elmar Degenhart.

“Furthermore this acquisition will enable Continental to come a step closer to its strategic goal of increasing further our proportion of sales to industrial customers and private end users.

“ContiTech itself will achieve some 60% of its sales outside the automotive OE sector in future.

“Veyance will make an immediate positive contribution to the corporation’s profitability once the transaction has been concluded.”

Veyance’s new conveyor belt manufacturing facility in Victoria.

In 2013 Veyance recorded global sales worth around $2.3bn, around 90% of which were achieved outside the automotive industry. It has 27 plants around the world and a workforce of about 9000 employees at the end of 2013.

Heinz-Gerhard Wente, chief executive of Continental’s ContiTech division, said: “Veyance Technologies will complement our ContiTech division in key markets where our presence is limited, particularly in the US and South America.

“Plants in Mexico, Canada, China, Australia and also South Africa will provide additional opportunities.”

He said Veyance and ContiTech complement each other geographically, and ContiTech’s Conveyor Belt Group and Fluid Technology business units in particular will benefit from an enhanced global presence.

Managing director of The Carlyle Group, Martin Sumner, was positive about Veyance’s future prospects.

“We are proud of what the Veyance management team has accomplished and believe the combination of Veyance and Continental will even more effectively meet customers’ needs globally,” Sumner said.

For all your standard and special idler & pulley needs • Fast local fabrication • Consultation with expert, experienced designers • Trough Idlers • Impact Idlers • Return Idlers • Flat Carry Idlers • Side Guide Idlers • Belt Tensioning Devices • Conveyor Pulleys • Self Cleaning Pulleys 2-4 Burns Road, Heathcote NSW 2233

T: 02 9548 1044 F: 02 9520 7743 E: les@drcrollers.com.au E: admin@drcrollers.com.au

ACN 001 054 388

www.drcrollers.com.au

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Aumund develops triple chain bucket elevator German conveyor technology producer Aumund has offered double chain bucket elevators for two years, for installations with higher capacity requirements. Now the producer has announced a triple chain bucket elevator, the Aumund Type BW-T.

Your Partner for High Performing Conveyors

BW-T head with drive shaft and three bucket strands.

BW-T foot with bulk material flow divider & DEM analysis.

W

ith this elevator, three bucket strands are affixed to a common drive shaft running on four plummer block bearings.

Compared with three individual bucket elevators, maintenance and foot print is significantly lower, says Aumund.

An essential precondition for the construction of a triple bucket elevator was the availability of a chain with a breaking load of 2450kN that masters lift heights of up to 90m.

Furthermore, says Aumund, newly developed flow dividers guarantee simultaneous filling of all three parallel bucket strands.

In close cooperation with the Technical University of Magdeburg, Aumund developed a gravimetric chute that fills the buckets from three parallel outlets. “Chain bucket elevators especially display their advantages in environments with high temperatures and when transporting sticky bulk materials tending to build up,� Aumund says.

The triple bucket BW-T can work in operating ranges of up to 90m height and up to a mass flow of 3,630 tonnes per hour.

Conveyor Specialists: > Onsite Service > Product Sales > Condition Monitoring > Design and Engineering > Projects Proud distributor of Conveyor Accessories, Belt and Rollers:

Contact: marketing@aumund-holding.nl Web: www.aumund.com

www.convatech.com.au

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Australian Belt Cleaning hits the mark with CleanScrape Just months after winning the Innovative Technology category at the Australian Bulk Handling Awards, Australian Belt Cleaning is filling its order book with contracts from mining, cement and manufacturing companies, for its innovatively-designed belt cleaner, CleanScrape.

CleanScrape Primary on display at AIMEX 2013.

The CleanScrape Primary belt cleaner.

C

M

C

leanScrape Primary is different to most belt cleaners because it mounts the belt scraper at a diagonal angle, not perpendicular, to the belt.

Introduced to the market at AIMEX 2013, CleanScrape, which also comes in a secondary cleaner form, is intended – the manufacturer says – to approach “conveyor belt cleaning from a different angle.”

Australian Belt Cleaning, a Sydney-based firm, says the technology can prolong the shelf-life of a conveyor, by keeping it clean, smooth and damage-free for as long as possible, while avoiding excessive clean-up cost around the pulley.

Two CleanScrape belt cleaners were installed on BHP Billiton iron ore conveyors in January 2014, and BHP project manager Kazi Shahid says the company was impressed by their performance.

“They are working pretty well,” Shahid told ABHR from Perth. “We haven’t had any problems with them, so we’re installing more.”

Australian Belt Cleaning sales and marketing director Mike Camphuis says the mining giant is installing 18 more, to be exact, following its initial two-cleaner trial.

Camphuis says the manufacturer has filled out orders from Bluescope, Glencore Xstrata and Boral Cement.

Representatives of Boral Cement seem quite impressed with the product.

“The CleanScrape system cleans the belt extremely well, guarantees uniform pressure across the belt surface (even with a heavily crowned head drum) and does not require constant adjustment to ensure optimum cleaning efficiency,” Boral Cement maintenance superintendent, Mark McCarthy, said.

Boral trialled CleanScrape on one of its conveyors which McCarthy said suffered badly from the effects of dust and wet material being deposited around the head drum and below the belt, prior to installation.

“This area needed to be cleaned several times every week and could take up to five hours to clean by hosing the area down.”

64

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Since installing the CleanScrape, however, McCarthy says there is never any build-up to speak of.

“The requirement for cleaning has reduced to a one hour clean per month,” he said. “The labour cost for this cleaning has reduced from $17,000 per annum to $2,000 per annum. A $15,000 saving year on year on labour alone.”

McCarthy said he will push to have the CleanScrape device installed across all of his key conveyors.

One Boral site that’s getting such a makeover is the Berrima facility.

Ian Fulton, engineering manager for Boral Cement Berrima has already installed six CleanScrape devices on the facility’s conveyors and tells ABHR: “We’ve just put in an order for another five – that’s how much we like them.

“I’m 60 years old; I’ve been around conveyor belts for 42 years or more, and I’ve tried every belt cleaner or scraper there is, and none of them work. But these things actually do work. They’re the greatest thing since sliced bread.”

Fulton says the new installations have dramatically reduced the amount of spillages in the facility.

Boral Quarry Dunmore has also just installed two of the CleanScrape belt cleaners, as well, and Boral’s Brad Subotic said that so far “they’re working fine.”

Splice Tech has installed four CleanScrape belt cleaners in a variety of arduous underground locations at Illawarra coal mines since September 2013.

Splice Tech said: “Initial monitoring of wear rates suggest that replacement blades will not be required for a period of approximately 18 months. CleanScrape is delivering large cost savings to all customers when compared to traditional primary / secondary belt cleaners marketed in Australia and their inherent constant weekly maintenance and replacement blade costs. All customers report excellent belt cleaning performance and vastly improved carry back results from CleanScrape.”

Contact: info@australianbeltcleaning.com.au

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Tenova Australia Pty. Ltd. L10, 410 Ann Street, Brisbane QLD 4000 PO Box 10163, Brisbane QLD 4000 Phone +61 7 3124 9080 Fax +61 7 3124 9079 Email takraf.au.brisbane@tenova.com

www.takraf.com www.tenova.com TENOVA is a worldwide supplier of advanced technologies, products and engineering services for the metals and mining & minerals industries.

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Troubleshooting belt cleaners: optimising productivity rather than fixing breakdowns Sean Kinder*outlines the latest thinking on conveyor productivity, in a troubleshooting article that focuses on the operation and maintenance of primary belt cleaners.

D

iscussion of improvements to correct conveyor belt cleaning is becoming more of a necessity in the mining industry. Incorrect practice in material discharge and the overall housekeeping of the belt may result in prematurely failing conveyor components, tracking issues, excessive belt wear and spillage – resulting in a decrease in productivity.

With the ever changing weather conditions affecting product moisture content and the percentages of fines, clay and silica present, belt cleaners are becoming more developed and engineered than in previous generations.

However, with this new generation of belt cleaner comes a new list of maintenance issues which need to be addressed so that optimal productivity can be achieved.

Accessibility to location and inspection Primary belt cleaners are commonly installed in very adverse locations around the plant. Positions often include at the head pulley of an incline belt, further complicated by enclosed hoods or guards.

In some mobile equipment cases there is sometimes no direct catwalk and staff are required to use a scissor lift, work platforms or actually lowering the conveyor to gain access. In other extreme cases, specialist training such as confined space access or working at heights must be undertaken in order to maintain the belt cleaners.

However, under all circumstances, for any maintenance work to be completed on a belt cleaner, the surrounding area must be completely isolated and hazard managed.

By optimising the life of the belt cleaner, this will result in a reduction in the number of stoppages for maintenance tasks and improve site productivity.

Selection of the best wearing material Within the mining industry, there are several different materials used as cleaning blades; the most well-known and 66

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

lightweight, polyurethane blades are easier to install (particularly in areas of limited accessibility) with less manual handling requirements and are a contributing factor to its popular usage.

Installation mounting

Figure 1: Correct primary belt cleaner mounting installation.

favourable blades being made from polyurethane or tungsten tipped.

Tungsten is a commonly used material in areas requiring extreme abrasion resistance, such as quarries with rocks containing higher silica contents or sands. With a hardness of 1200 BHN, tungsten is substantially harder than mild steel (120 BHN), and capable of withstanding particularly abrasive environments. Due to this higher increased comparative BHN value, tungsten tipped blades on primary belt cleaners should not be installed on belts with mechanical fasteners, as the tungsten may destroy the join, unless it has been properly protected and purposely tailored to run with tungsten tips.

Polyurethane is a widely used material for belt cleaning applications.

Due to its lower durometer, the blade is less likely to cause damage to a splice or belt in already poor condition and is the preferred medium when used on belts joined by mechanical fasteners and cold splices. A blade made from polyurethane has a strong resistance to abrasion and a low co-efficient of friction. This creates reduced drag on the conveyor and little product to hang-up, therefore providing an efficient cleaning system. Being relatively

Correct mounting is the third point and major contributing factor in prolonging the wear life of belt cleaners.

The incline of the conveyor needs to be considered when the cleaners are mounted. Failure to do so will result in the cleaner not correctly scraping the belt, resulting in sticky material collecting between the blade and the conveyor belt, causing inefficient cleaning and premature wear.

In some unfortunate cases, incorrectly mounted blades have been positioned in such a way that they are helping discharge the product, rather than scraping and cleaning the excess. It is recommended that the belt cleaner be positioned below the horizontal line perpendicular to the pulley vertical line, not necessarily parallel to the stringers or conveyor belt.

Material trajectory should also be taken into consideration.

Correct sizing and profiling Experience has shown that approximately one in three cases of prematurely wearing belt cleaners is caused by incorrect profiling of the cleaner against the conveyor belt.

Figure 2: Showing trim marks on blade.

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

to be regularly witnessed and discussed.

In the event of this issue, it is suggested that sections be cut off, where the smiling is starting to form, providing a more even cleaning edge, prolonging the blade’s wear life and increasing overall cleaning efficiency.

A pair of key improvements can be made to this belt cleaner, according to Kinder.

With most of the cleaning required in the centre of the belt, where the majority of material is being conveyed (assuming tracking is acceptable), this is the location where most of the wear in the cleaner will occur.

Over time, a wear pattern occurs, parabolic in appearance similar to a ‘smile’. This is due to the parts of the blade contacting the clean sections of the belt and not wearing in comparison to the centre, therefore restricting the rest of the blade from adjusting itself closer to the head drum.

This, combined with the fact that the belt cleaner may be trying to remove conveyed material from the belt rather than leftover carry back, causes this issue

Tension adjustment Lastly, the tensioning of the belt cleaner is a key performance factor, and is an often confused part of cleaning the conveyor efficiently.

A common misconception is that if more pressure is applied to the blade, better results will be achieved. This statement is only partially true.

Previous studies have shown that over-tensioning of the cleaner increases frictional drag on the belt, decreasing the wear life of the cleaner whilst also increasing the overall power consumption of the conveyor.

If fasteners have been added to the belt to fix tears, over-tensioning the belt cleaner may result in the cleaner being damaged or the fasteners being forcefully removed, further damaging the valuable

conveyor belt. Some belt cleaning systems have centralized torque transmitters, engineered to self-adjust and maintain an evenly distributed yet concentrated pressure on the centre of the belt, where the majority of the cleaning is required.

Conclusion Correct belt cleaning should never be an overlooked element in conveyor maintenance. If a well-engineered cleaner is installed correctly, considering these five factors, not only will the cleaner get optimum life but so will the other associated conveyor componentry, the valuable belt and structure of the conveyor itself.

The role of maintenance is transformed from fixing breakdowns to optimizing overall productivity, placing the maintenance function at the heart of the quality improvement process. *Sean Kinder is part of bulk materials handling solutions specialist, Kinder & Co, and holds a bachelor in Mechanical Engineering and in Business. For further information contact Christine Kinder, Kinder’s marketing manager, on (03) 9587 9244, or on the web at www.kinder.com.au.

NORD DRIVESYSTEMS | Intelligent Drivesystems, Worldwide Services

German Drivesystems for bulk material handling.

NORD Drivesystems (AU) Pty Ltd 18 Stoney Way, Derrimut , Victoria, 3030 Australia Phone: +61 3 9394 0500, Fax: +61 3 9394 1525 www.nord.com.au National Customer Service 1300 00 NORD (6673), au-sales@nord.com Member of the NORD DRIVESYSTEMS Group

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Indonesian miner goes back to Voith for fluid couplings Indonesian miner Bukit Asam has chosen Voith to supply 14 fluid couplings for 10 new conveyor belts at its Tanjung Enim Coal Mine, after existing Voith couplings at the mine proved to be extremely consistent.

B

ukit Asam already operates 13 belt conveyors at Tanjung Enim, and the mine relies on a series of Voith TVVS fluid couplings, which were installed 17 years ago.

In those 17 years, according to Voith, there has been no unplanned downtime as a result of a fault with any of the existing TVVS couplings.

So it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Bukit Asam has chosen Voith to supply the couplings for its new series of conveyors. The miner has ordered 14 TVVS fluid couplings from 55-315kW. Kris Tjahajaning Tyas, Bukit Asam’s manager of maintenance planning, said the reliability of the existing couplings made Voith an obvious candidate to deliver the new ones.

“Proven reliability is why we absolutely wanted to have Voith fluid couplings in the new conveyor drives as well,” he said.

Tanjung Enim Coal Mine’s existing conveyors rely on Voith TVVS fluid couplings, which have had no unplanned downtime, according to the manufacturer, since 1997.

“We’re very impressed with the performance of the TVVS constant-fill fluid couplings. They’re very easy to maintain – only oil changes are needed – and the reliability is great.”

Tanjung Enim Coal Mine is in Sumatra and sits on one of the largest coal reserves in Asia. The mine has been in operation for more than 90 years and in 2012 produced

Voith says its fluid couplings are well suited for use in extreme environments and are completely insensitive to harsh conditions like dust, dirt and humidity.

around 15.5mt of coal, with production forecast to increase in coming years.

The mine has two coal handling facilities, with the longest belt conveyor having a length of 4.28km, and a capacity of 1700tph. Its drive is equipped with three 315kW motors and three fluid couplings.

Contact: www.voith.com

NEWS

Qube partners with Noble for Kembla grain terminal Australian logistics and infrastructure company Qube Holdings is set to build a 1.3mtpa grain export facility at Port Kembla, in a joint venture deal with global supply chain manager Noble Group.

T

he facility, which will require the deepening of a berth at Port Kembla to accommodate Panamax vessels, will be called Quattro Grain.

Singapore-listed Noble will commit to use the facility and to acquire rail services from Qube for the transport of grain to that facility.

In each case, Noble will commit to ‘take-or-pay’ Qube’s services, meaning if Noble stops supplying grain to the export facility, it will still have to pay Qube at least to some extent.

Qube, in return, will build the facility for around $50 million.

68

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Qube expects the facility to be up and running in the second half of 2015.

The logistics company says this structure, with its reliance on take-or-pay agreements with quality counterparties, is expected to generate attractive financial returns while incorporating significant mitigation of risk.

To further support the establishment of the new facility, Qube says it and Noble have granted call options to grain marketers Emerald and Cargill.

If these options are exercised in full, Qube says, it and Noble’s interest in Quattro Grain will be reduced to 30% each.

“The investment is consistent with Qube’s strategy to invest in port infrastructure that aligns with Qube’s operations,” said Qube managing director, Maurice James.

“This is a significant strategic project which we believe will alter the dynamics of the tightly controlled grain handling market. The joint venture looks forward to supporting grain producers by providing high levels of service and modern infrastructure to customers seeking to export grain from Port Kembla.”

Contact: www.qube.com.au

Now assembled at the Flexco manufacturing facility in Baulkham Hills, NSW, Australia TM

Conveyor Rollers

Shorter

Lead Times

Superior

Performance.

AT FLEXCO, WE TAKE YOUR SYSTEM’S PRODUCTIVITY AS SERIOUSLY AS YOU DO. The most advanced composite roller made from innovative plastic technology is now manufactured on Australian shores meaning shorter lead times and less downtime for your production.

Designed to overcome common issues with belt rollers, heavy-duty CoreTech™ Conveyor Rollers are strong enough to tackle the toughest environments while maintaining superior performance.

Made of light weight, high strength, corrosion and abrasion resistant composite materials, CoreTech rollers require less energy, and emit less noise than steel counterparts - plus superior plastic construction means that even advanced wear on the shell won’t damage the belt.

Visit us at M&E WA, STAND 1000 Phone: 1300 098 435 Email: salesau@flexco.com

www.flexco.com

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Takraf investigates gearless drives for high capacity conveyors German machinery supplier Takraf is investigating the potential for a gearless conveyor drive system for belts with a strength of 10,000N/mm.

“T

he limits of conventional drives with helical bevel gears are exceeded with the required drive capacity of 21,000kW per individual conveyor,” the company says.

“Low-speed synchronous motors, like those frequently implemented as drive solution for mine hoists in underground mining operations, do permit larger drive capacities.”

To achieve the targeted drive capacity, Takraf has been trialling a method which sees a conveyor equipped with three gearless drives, each delivering an output of 7000kW. And Takraf says the advantages of gearless drives compared to electromechanical drives are not just limited to the possibility of installing larger drive units.

“The curve of the motor’s efficiency in relation to the motor’s torque shows over the entire spectrum values that are above the characteristics of traditional conveyor drives with wound rotor or squirrel cage motors completed with gears,” the company explains (see figure 1).

Partial load conditions and idle periods are all part of a belt conveyor’s operating regime, Takraf explains, because belt conveyors do not always work at full load over the entire period of operation.

“While asynchronous motors perform at lower efficiency levels with lower utilization ratios, the efficiency of synchronous motors increases in this range,” the company reasons.

The higher efficiency of synchronous motors in general and especially in the partial load range and the fact that mechanical loads are eliminated during transfer of torque lead to lower operating costs for the conveyor, it says.

Sometimes, though, it’s not possible to implement such a concept. For driven carrying rollers there is still no cost-effective and reliable solution, the manufacturer says.

That’s why its current development projects focus on adapting conveyors with the traditional head and/or tail pulley drive systems to new challenges and demands.

In terms of maintaining a gearless drive unit, Takraf says oil change intervals can be omitted just like in the maintenance of the high-speed coupling. This 70

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Figure 1: Motor efficiency as a function of that motor’s utilisation ratio. Source: ABB.

• possible settling of foundations of the stator or deformation of structural steel used to support the stator • possibility for readjusting the entire drive in case of belt misalignment during commissioning Figure 2: The drive system’s basic structure.

is of particular interest wherever maintenance processes involve considerable effort – prime examples of this would be operating conveyors in Canada at ambient temperatures of -45°C, or conveyor systems set up at an altitude of 4500m and more above sea level.

Structure of gearless conveyor drives A synchronous motor consists of a rotor that is connected with the drive pulley shaft, and a stator that rests on a foundation or a corresponding steel structure (see figure 2).

Compared to conventional belt conveyor drives, the drive unit with gear box and asynchronous motor is replaced with a synchronous motor.

The following conditions must be taken into consideration if gearless drives are used, Takraf says: • deflection of the drive pulley shaft at the shaft end due to the various belt tensions at the different load and operating conditions

As part of its trial and development process, Takraf has formed a cooperation agreement with Swiss manufacturer ABB. This approach makes it possible to select a joint motor concept during component planning considering client specifications and site conditions, the German manufacturer explains, since the design of the motor, motor mount, drive pulley and the associated structural steel are so closely tied together.

Takraf has isolated three systems it sees as worth considering as a motor concept: • bearingless motor – the rotor is directly connected to the drive pulley shaft (by means of a flange connection); the stator is supported separately • bearing motor – the motor has two bearings; the stator is secured to the foundation or steel structure, and a flexible coupling is used to facilitate the transfer of torque between the rotor and the drive pulley • diaphragm coupling – compared to the bearing motor, the motor mount on the output shaft side and the flexible coupling is replaced by a diaphragm coupling

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Bearingless motor

Figure 3: Drive pulley with flange coupling.

Figure 4: Deformation and the drive pulley.

Figure 5: Stator during installation.

In the bearingless motor concept, the rotor is rigidly connected to the drive pulley by means of a flange connection (see figures 3 and 4).

Compared to the standard layout, an additional criterion is necessary for dimensioning the drive pulley; the deflection of the pulley shaft at the coupling flange may not exceed the narrow tolerances that result from the permissible deviations in the air gap between the rotor and stator.

That leads to drive pulley structures with large shaft diameters (see figures 5 and 6).

Since the rigidness of the stator mount determines the tolerances in the motor’s air gap to the same extent, it is necessary to offer solutions with very limited deformations that also allow a subsequent alignment of the stator during commissioning of the conveyor.

Drive realignment would be necessary if a proper belt alignment could be reached by drive pulley readjustment only.

Bearing motor

Altra products help keep material moving throughout Australia.

Our global family of industry-leading “power brands”, extensive application knowledge and award-winning design advantages provide proven product performance and reliability. Thousands of Altra backstops, couplings, clutches, brakes, torque limiters and belt drives are hard at work in industrial applications including conveyors, cranes, winches, hoist, water treatment plants, coal power plants, oil and gas, marine, water treatment plants and more.

Many major equipment OEM’s and end users partner with Altra to access the latest power transmission technologies. www.AltraMotion.com.au

Figure 6: Rotor during installation.

Motor bearings are not needed for the previous solution; a rigid flange connection is sufficient.

Unfortunately, however, bearingless motors also have disadvantages, such as: • special drive pulley design to decrease shaft deflection • the motor must be assembled on site, since the rotor first has to be connected with the pulley shaft and the stator is then moved over the rotor – this means that the motor must be disassembled again after factory assembly and completion of test run • in case of damage, the motor cannot be disconnected quickly and/or replaced with a spare drive • for the load case earthquakes, it is necessary to take into consideration the large (rotor) masses at the cantilevered drive shaft end These disadvantages have led Takraf to work with ABB to design a motor with separate bearings as an alternative.

Diaphragm coupling In the bearing motor previously described, the motor and drive pulley are connected by means of a flexible coupling (see figure 7).

Previously known as Warner Electric Australia

Warner Electric • Bibby Turboflex • Stieber Clutch Marland Clutch • Wichita Clutch • Boston Gear • TB Wood’s Formsprag Clutch • Industrial Clutch • Twiflex Limited Altra Industrial Motion Australia Unit 51/ 9 Hoyle Avenue Castle Hill, N.S.W. 2154 - Australia Phone: +61 2 9894 0133 sales@altramotion.com.au

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

71

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

• • • • •

POWDER HANDLING PNEUMATIC CONVEYING FOOD PRODUCT HANDLING DUST CONTROL EXPLOSION MANAGEMENT

Next Edition Have your products and engineering services featured in this special focus on Powder Handling, Food Products, Pneumatic Conveying, Dust Control & Explosion Management.

Figure 7: Bearing motor with flexible coupling, brake disc, drive pulley and the patentpending support structure.

• Food handling • Milling • Stock Feed • Cement and Building products • Biomass • Chemicals handling • Resins • Fertiliser • Toiletries • Cosmetics • Household products • etc • Pneumatic conveying • Blowers • Powder handling • Vacuum equipment • Dust control • Aeration • Chain conveyors • Pipe conveyors • Air motors • Augers • IBC handling • Hoppers • Discharge aids • Elevators • Screw conveyors • Silos • Weighing • Mixing • Blending • Particle sizing • Valves • Feeders • Silos • Truck & Container Loading • Dust Control • Explosion Management • and more

If you have something to say, contact Peter Delbridge on 02 9080 4478 or Peter.Delbridge@BulkHandling.com.au

IMPORTANT BULK HANDLING EDITORIAL TOPICS FOR 2014 May/Jun – • Powder Handling • Food Products • Dust Control • Pneumatic Conveying July/Aug – • Weighing & Level Measurement Technology • Grain Handling Sep/Oct – • Engineering Services • Design & Consultancy Nov/Dec – • Dust Control • Explosion Management

Like to Include your Products and Services?

Book your advertising & send a product announcement today!

Your products and services could benefit from advertising placed adjacent to these topics. Call Peter Delbridge on 02 9080 4478 or email Peter.Delbridge@BulkHandling.com.au Comprehensive details of the magazine, weekly NewsWire and online advertising can be found at www.BulkHandling.com.au

Maybe Australian Bulk Handling Review could make your company famous in the bulk handling industries – we do it for others…!

Peter Delbridge

National Advertising Manager

AUSTRALIAN BULK HANDLING REVIEW

www.BulkHandling.com.au

P O Box Q 1439 SYDNEY NSW 1230 AUSTRALIA ph 02 9080 4478 mob 0400 700 765 fax 02 9299 4622

Figure 8: Bearing motor with patent-pending diaphragm coupling, brake disc, drive pulley and the patent-pending support structure.

A gear coupling was selected as suitable transfer element for the torque being transferred and the permissible angular deviation of both shafts.

For very large motors (6000kW to 8000kW of driving power), geared couplings reach their limits, though.

The drive concept with bearingless motors has resulted in heavy and expensive drive pulleys due to the deflection of the pulley shaft in the area of very large drives.

The diaphragm coupling combines the functions of the bearing at the motor D-End and the geared coupling between rotor and pulley (see figure 8).

To transport the motor, a support structure will be placed on the motor frame, which secures the rotor shaft on the side with the output shaft end. This also provides the option to quickly separate the motor and the drive pulley by opening the coupling in case of an emergency.

Summary Gearless drives are expanding the service range of drives of belt conveyors.

Individual drives with a driving power of up to 8000kW are possible, and studies on the use of gearless drives of this performance class are currently being carried out in current projects.

When it comes to maintenance and energy efficiency, gearless drives offer advantages compared to the conventional electromechanical solutions.

The drive motor can be designed as bearingless, with bearings or with diaphragm coupling. Motor size, site conditions and customer requirements form the basis for the solution that is to be implemented.

Contact: www.takraf.com

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

A successful application of in-pit crushing and conveying in China. Pictured is an MMD fully mobile unit at the Pingshou open pit coal mine, capable of 9,000tphr overburden of up to 100MPa.

Remedying Australia’s underperformance in IPCC Globally, there are 200+ in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) systems, but in Australia, only one. ABHR spoke to consultant Phil Morriss and Doug Turnbull of OEM Sandvik to find out why this is and what can be done to remedy the situation.

I

n the last twelve months, new IPCC systems have been commissioned in Indonesia, China, Turkey, Brazil, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Canada and Russia.

In Brazil, Vale is well advanced with its S11D project, a 90 Mtpa truckless mining system – synonymous with IPCC – adjacent to its Carajás mine. SKM is implementing the contract, with Sandvik supplying the project with four 11,500 tph fully mobile IPCC systems.

And yet, in Australia, home to huge iron ore, coal, bauxite, and hard rock mines, no major projects are on the drawing board.

Clermont Coal Mine in Queensland, now operating as a fixed pit rim crusher station rather than the fully mobile IPCC system originally envisioned in 2010, continues as the country’s sole contender in the field.

Other local efforts, including those at BHP’s Goonyella mine and FMG’s 74

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Cloudbreak, have, for a variety of reasons, disappointed.

So what factors have been behind the Australian IPCC systems’ underperformance?

Consultant Phil Morriss suggested a mix of reasons.

Firstly, in some instances, the IPCC systems were not designed correctly for the application and/or the mine design, or the mine design changed subsequent to the arrival of the system.

Secondly, there were structural issues on some early IPCC equipment with instability, fatigue on feed end, and rocking’ due to dumping of loads onto apron feeders.

Thirdly, system productivity was overestimated. “This happened in terms of utilisation and effective working time, and long term average shovel productivity. There were also higher than expected time losses in relocating the conveyor systems,” said Morriss.

Phil Morriss, independent IPCC consultant.

Finally, in some instances, there was damage to conveyor infrastructure from

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

blasting near to operating systems.

So what can be done?

According to Doug Turnbull, principal mining engineer at Sandvik Mining Systems, project proponents first need to recognise that mine planning for IPCC is significantly different to that for traditional truck and shovel.

“Know this and get the right plan for the right mining methodology,” he said.

Complicating matters is the fact that mine scheduling packages, dispatch systems and planning software are 100% truck based planning tools.

“There is no commercial mine planning tool (yet) for IPCC,” Turnbull explained. “So planning becomes difficult and has to be based on first principals of mining engineering. When people see something difficult, they run back to their comfort zone and a computer that spits out an answer for a trucking scenario.”

In line with the above, the combined knowledge base on IPCC and how it functions is small in Australia. IPCC is not taught at universities, is not a common mining methodology and therefore continues to be less well known.

To this end, Sandvik is developing an IPCC curriculum with the University of

IPCC in a nutshell

By Karl Ingmarsson, IPCC product line manager, Sandvik At its core, in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) is about reducing the quantity of trucks required for haulage by substituting trucks for conveyors. The degree to which you have to crush, the location of the crusher, and the possible mobility or relocations of the crusher come in various permutations. IPCC is the collective name for a number of solutions; the common denominator is less truck haulage.

A number of parameters are used to assess not only whether IPCC is the better solution, but also which type of system makes sense.

The limiting factors vary from site to site, but are typically life of mine, total volume or production rate, material properties

(abrasivity and hardness), haulage distance (or cycle time), power cost and availability (diesel versus electricity), cost of labour, vertical and horizontal advance rate and environmental requirements (water, dust, and noise).

Practical considerations include the availability of capital, quality of the mine plan, and commitment to maintenance planning. There is a common misconception that IPCC only works in certain ore bodies and layouts, but it actually works in every instance. It only requires a study, or at minimum a screening, to determine where it is financially viable.

Contact: karl.ingmarsson@sandvik.com

expertise will filter into the Australian mining environment,” said Turnbull.

Consultant Phil Morriss reiterated Turnbull’s concerns.

“Firstly, there is still a paucity of consultants who really understand IPCC, and hence there is a tendency on their behalf to be conservative.

“Secondly, there is still no software

Queensland, due for release in 2014.

Separately, the German mining consultancy RWE Power International, well versed in the planning and application of continuous mass mining technologies such as those being operated in German lignite mines, has recently established in Brisbane under the Thiess/RWE banner.

“In time, RWE’s IPCC knowledge and

Through our in house design program and our comprehensive product range we are able to work together with our customers to design the correct roller for their specific site requirements and budget.

ROKONMA-RKM GLOBAL LEADERS IN CONVEYOR IDLER MANUFACTURING & SUPPLY

DESIGN YOUR OWN SITE SPECIFIC ROLLERS

Housing Selection

Tube Selection STD STEEL

ALUMINIUM

RUBBER IMPACT

WEIGH ROLLER

NYLON

POLY IMPACT

STEEL LOW NOISE

SPECIAL SURFACE COATINGS

Shaft Selection

STD STEEL

HD STEEL

Bearing Selection BALL BEARINGS

SPHERICAL ROLLER BEARINGS

STEEL TUBE

STRAIGHT SHAFT

STEPPED SHAFT

HOLLOW SHAFT

SKF, NSK, NTN

LOW RESISTANCE

RKM

SKF, NSK, NTN

HD NYLON

Seal Selection RS SEAL

RKM

STD NYLON

LRR SEAL

TK2 SEAL

LOW RESISTANCE

Through total customer focus, RKM provides intelligent solutions that deliver our customers a genuine quality product at internationally competitive prices.

For further details contact: bmaiden@rkm.com.hk or visit www.rkm.com.hk

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

75

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Sandvik PX200 semi-mobile crushing plant and conveyors, Sweden.

that develops mine cutbacks and/or terraces to suit IPCC. “Thirdly, we still don’t teach the basics of IPCC planning to undergraduates – which would help the paradigm change needed.”

Operation and maintenance of an IPCC system is quite different to that of a traditional truck fleet.

“It’s more akin to a processing plant shutdown style mentality,” said Turnbull.

“Life of the equipment, at 25 years plus, and even the components within, at over 10 years, are much longer than a truck and its parts and components and therefore require a different attitude.”

In a recurring analogy, Turnbull likens IPCC’s likely ultimate broad acceptance in surface mining to that of longwalls in the underground environment.

“Capex is upfront for IPCC, just like for longwall and block caving, and cannot be spread over time like trucks. Pro-

required. For example, you wouldn’t acquire a dragline or rope shovel without heavy involvement of those who truly understand the capabilities, limitations, and performance of the equipment!”

Morriss, too, was vexed by the role of EPCMs. “Companies mistakenly hire EPCM contractors to manage IPCC studies, with the EPCMs then developing specifications for equipment and going out to OEM suppliers for competitive bids. A much better approach would be that the owner and EPCM determine the best IPCC OEM to work with, with the result likely to be a far more practical design, with the OEM able to give performance guarantees for their own designs “I am really passionate about this matter – competitive tender and a certain EPCM arrogance is making it hard for IPCC to be successful.”

Crushing of the material, under IPCC,

“I am really passionate about this matter – competitive tender and a certain EPCM arrogance is making it hard for IPCC to be successful,” Phil Morriss, IPCC consultant. ject developers need to adapt to this reality. Underground coal came to terms with this some decades ago.”

More broadly, IPCC is inflexible compared to trucks, a fact project developers can’t avoid.

“What is more important – low and known cost per tonne moved over long periods of time or complete flexibility?” posited Turnbull. “The quarry industry came to terms with this some decades ago.”

Australian IPCC projects have been managed by EPCMs. Turnbull suggests that this happens because mines, to date, see IPCC as an infrastructure project and not a mining methodology and system.

Casting doubt on this approach, he said “OEMs know their machines and what is 76

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

is just to fit it on the conveyor.

“If it does not need crushing, the crushing station is nothing more than a loading chute for the conveyor underneath,” said Turnbull. “However, just like any other mining method, blasting is still the best bang for the buck. Bad blasting yields poor digging which yields poor crushing which yields a higher cost structure.”

Another Achilles Heel for those miners ‘self-learning’ IPCC in Australia has been the movement and relocation of conveyors.

Done poorly, without the input of knowledgeable overseas consultants/operators, this has led to significant downtime.

“Now that overseas experts, such as RWE, are arriving in Australia maybe – just maybe – IPCC has a chance to be as

8 pre-requisites for making IPCC viable Experienced consultant Phil Morriss, who has undertaken 28 IPCC studies for some of the world's largest mining companies over the last seven years, listed his key drivers for both fully mobile (FM) and semi-mobile (SM) in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) systems.

1. Long mine life or life of IPCC installation (>10yrs) 2. Physically dedicated ore or waste material available 3. Low to medium rock strengths (<75MPa for FM systems) – particularly for waste systems 4. Electricity cost in $/kwh <0.25 x fuel price in $/litre 5. No power supply limitations 6. Uncomplicated lithology / no more than three material types 7. Haul times (including dumping) exceed 20 minutes 8. Labour costs high and/or labour shortage Note: Cheap power is not a specific requirement, although the ratio of fuel to electricity cost is important. For example, in WA typical power generation costs exceed A$0.20/kwh – but fuel is close to A$1.00/litre so the ratio is still able to generate a positive IPCC result.

Contact: pbmorriss@gmail.com

successful as in other parts of the world,” said Turnbull.

A problem for some companies contemplating IPCC is a fixation on ore, a mistake in Turnbull’s estimation.

“Mining is mostly about waste movement with some rare exceptions,” he said “The mistake that is most often made is that the ore or coal is thought to be the most valuable commodity to move and therefore should be moved the cheapest way possible.

“The real issue is that the ore or coal is most often the smallest volume and

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

VITAL COMPONENTS FOR BULK HANDLING MACHINERY Winches, Sheaves, Anti Collision, Brakes & Seats Winches & Sheaves Includes:

• • • • • •

Tension Winches Shiploaders Conveyors Custom Solutions Fabrication Refurbishment

Anti Collision

Millimeter Radar for STS Cranes, Bulk Ore Loaders, Yard Machine. 360o coverage, senses closing speed, protects boom from contact with structures, hatches, Antennas. Masts not affected by fog, dust, rain

Brakes

PC100 overland conveyor, Brazil.

therefore significant savings on transportation of a small volume is a correspondingly small number.

“The highest savings will result from the movement of the largest volume at a mine by conveyors (the waste) as early and as soon as possible from the digging site to the destination site.

Most of the Australian IPCC systems have to date been targeting the waste movement – so we at least got that right!”

Morriss lamented current mining companies’ mindsets that would make it difficult for IPCC to proceed.

“We are entering another period of conservative board decisions, which make it more difficult to get finance for ‘non-proven’ technology or concepts. This is actually a ridiculous situation when there is no hesitation to have pit-rim crushers and conveyors and indeed most mines have some form of ex-pit crushing and conveying (EPCC). All the open cast coal mines in Queensland for example!”

Contact: doug.turnbull@sandvik.com

• • • • • • • •

Hydraulic Thruster Disc & Drum Electro Magnetic Storm Brakes Rail Clamps Tripper Brakes Brake Discs & Drums Power Units

Ergo Seat

Industry standard for Ship to Shore Cranes. Can be Retrofitted. Currently in use in the: Shipping, Bulk Coal, Aluminium and Steel Industries.

Also standard and custom designed cabins

130-148 Woodpark Rd, Smithfield NSW 2164

P: 02 9721 5900 F: 02 9721 5999 E: sales@samtechprojects.com.au

www.samtechnology.com.au 77

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Sandvik Q&A Karl Ingmarsson and Doug Turnbull answered some questions from ABHR on aspects of IPCC economics and viability.

AJM: In comparing the economics of IPCC vs truck and shovel, what are some of the key measures? I presume it helps IPCC viability to have a/ cheap power for the IPCC and b/ expensive salaries for truck operators?

Doug Turnbull: IPCC’s key operating cost is electricity, so, yes, a key driver is cheap electricity. The rule of thumb used is that if the cost per kilowatt hour is less than 25% of the cost per litre of diesel as a ratio, this is the approximate cross over point.

Most of the 200+ IPCC operations in the world operating today are actually in emerging and developing countries with very low wages (especially when compared to Australia). So why is it that Australia cannot make it work? Perhaps one reason is the inability to think outside a known and workable box. You can never argue that trucks do not work but those who have made IPCC work know that it

Sandvik PA200 spreader, China.

works much better due to lower Opex.

Typically each truck requires between 6.5 and 10.5 persons depending on rosters, maintenance program and country and this is just for the hauling component. You need to add on road maintenance vehicles such as graders, water-carts and dozers and their various shift rosters and maintenance programs.

In contrast, an IPCC system can run from a central control room with no road maintenance needs.

AJM: Are huge, regular orebodies with deep voids pre-requisites for IPCC? Or can systems be economic in smaller, more varied ore bodies?

Karl Ingmarsson: Size, shape and depth are factors that speak for IPCC, but they are not pre-requisites. More important are the quality of the mine plan, consistency in production rates, good maintenance

planning and long-term financial planning. Heavily banded or discontinuous ore bodies, or short mine life, are a challenge for IPCC, but they may not be profitable with conventional methods either.

Doug Turnbull: Pit shape and depth are not determining factors for or against IPCC – this is a common and fatal myth within the industry. Take the quarry industry, which has small, confined deposits often within population centres – why do they principally use conveying technology? Mining is just several decades behind the superior thinking in the quarry industry. However, the pre-determined truck mine plan paradigm, mostly generated from the trucking software and trucking-based mine planning thinking that most companies insist IPCC should fit into, is definitely a determining factor on whether IPCC will effectively function or not.

SKM looks beyond S11D While delivery of the massive S11D truckless mining project for Vale in Brazil is an absolute priority for SKM, the engineering firm is also looking at how it can extend IPCC’s reach – to draglines and also in smaller applications.

D

avid Morrison, manager, integrated mining systems at SKM has played a pivotal role in building the firm’s IPCC capacity.

From helping run an in-pit mobile crushing system at Ulan in the mid-1980’s, Morrison has built SKM’s expertise in the area, which culminated in 2012 when the firm was awarded the US$76m implementation contract for Vale’s truckless system at the S11D lease, adjacent to its Carajas mine.

The contract has seen SKM provide engineering for the truckless system, procurement support, project execution planning and project management services, with a team of up to 90 people.

S11D will see both waste and ore excavated, sized and conveyed to the dumps and plant respectively without the use of haul trucks. During peak years of waste movement, the system will handle over 160mtpa of total material movement

78

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

with Vale keen to reproduce the output per man/shift figures of its mining company rivals in the Pilbara.

Commissioning at S11D will take place in late 2015/early 2016, with Vale currently operating a pilot scale plant at its Carajás operation. With the S11D project area experiencing rain for 200 days a year, the pilot will help address any materials handling issues. Operator training will also be an important issue, with, by way of comparison, operators in Victoria’s brown coal sector undergoing a full six month’s training.

“Delivery of S11D has to be the focus (for SKM),” said Morrison. “It has to work, for us and for the industry. If it doesn’t work it’ll be a serious problem for everyone involved in the field. We have to liberate all the advantages and maximise its productivity.”

In the interim, SKM is looking at

where IPCC can deliver benefits for customers, firstly in terms of interfacing with a dragline, and secondly, in smaller scale ore mining operations of around 20mtpa.

In Columbia, the Drummond operation at Pribbenow is loading feeders with a dragline and using those to load trucks.

“There’s a lot of advantages in what they do,” explained Morrison. “The rehandle of the prime volume is much, much lower, almost zero, so that’s increased the productivity of the dragline by 30, 40, 50% – a huge number.

“The advantage in that particular installation is that the trucks are no longer doing any vertical hauling, they are just running horizontally around the pit. So they’ve improved the productivity of the machine they’ve already got and they’ve reduced the cost of operating the truck in that horizon.”

SKM is studying the economics of such dragline interfaces, which would, of

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

course, require an investment in feeders, but which could, in the Australian environment, eliminate some expensive labour.

“It’s early days but I want to get people thinking about breaking the paradigms because certainly when you look

Elsewhere, SKM is exploring what’s the right unit size for the slightly smaller scale ore mining operations: where is the sweet spot in terms of economics around about the 20mtpa range?

“The really big stuff – the big rope

“Delivery of S11D has to be the focus (for SKM),” said David Morrison. “It has to work, for us and for the industry.” at some of the big pits in Queensland, the draglines do look rather strange at the bottom of that huge pre-stripping operation,” said Morrison. “And the high cost – the truck and shovel operation – is now starting to be compromised by the fact that there’s a dragline underneath it.

“While the dragline might shift dirt cheaply, the cost impact on the truck and shovel operation that it makes by being there is huge. Some of the pits have probably gone well past the point where the economics are better to get the dragline out of the pit; we don’t have the answer yet but some time in the next six months, we might be in a position where we at least put the numbers in front of people that say, ‘here’s something you might consider.’”

shovels and mobile sizing rigs – are looking at 40 to 50mtpa per unit which is great but very few operations shift that much from one spot,” said Morrison.

“The Chileans will do it but the rest of the world doesn’t.

“So you’re looking at what you can do with smaller hydraulic excavators, 3/4/5 thousand tonnes an hour size frame and how selective can you be.

“The key is to realise real operating cost savings through these smaller systems. That’s always been the issue and it’s worth pursuing in Australia because if you look at any of the iron ore mines – the total material movement is of the order of 50 to 100 million tonnes, of which 30% is ore.

“A next question is how do you get

KOTZUR Designing the future

Kotzur Pty Ltd

60 Commercial Street, Walla Walla NSW 2659 Ph: (02) 6029 4700 kotzur.com

that system so automated that there’s no manning attached to it?”

In terms of current IPCC activity, Morrison said that there is not much going on in Australia with “miners in cost cutting modes and capital programmes stalled.”

Geographically, there are specific issues helping and hindering particular countries’ IPCC efforts.

Helping Brazil is plentiful and relatively cheap hydro power. In contrast, South Africa and some other parts of Africa are short of capacity with surplus power earmarked for domestic consumption.

Chile and Peru, positively for IPCC, are wrestling with issues around high truck density in their pits. “So they are looking at techniques to reduce density and increase the total output of mine – it’s about volume,” said Morrison.

Asia, according to Morrison, is an area of opportunity, with issues of funding and power supply key.

“Obvious targets are bauxite and lateritic nickel,” said Morrison. “But there’s not enough volume. Shifting 5 and 10 million tonnes of material a year, it’s just not enough to make it cost effective.”

Contact: DMorrison@globalskm.com

Designing, manufacturing and installing storage and handling solutions world wide.

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Flexibility still the priority for miners After 20 IPCC studies for clients, Alan Cooper, principal consultant at Snowden, concludes that mining companies still prioritise flexibility over potentially cheaper operating costs.

“I

n the 20 odd studies we have completed, almost all the mines were not prepared to give up the flexibility of their trucks,” he explained.

“At the end of the day, mining is not about efficiency but effectiveness. Mining in not like manufacturing where the process is well defined, predictable and the game is cost saving.

“Profit margins are high so the game is to get as much metal sold as quickly as possible. Costs are not that important.”

For any IPCC study, Snowden completes a truck and shovel case as a benchmark for the IPCC options.

A recent study in Africa determined a full mining cost including capital of $2.65/t versus $2.05/t for IPCC. “So that equates to 23% overall cost saving,” said Cooper. “The capital costs were similar for both cases. As the mine ramp up needs a small truck fleet, semi-mobile/semifixed IPCC were the obvious IPCC options for the mine as the trucks would continue to be used, rather than fully-mobile IPCC.” Cooper said that the determinate for a positive net present value is cycle time.

“If your truck cycle time for waste is 25 minutes or more, then it will work.”

But Cooper also made the case for ore.

“Why not move the primary crusher from the mill to the main pit exit?” he explained. “Scale is not important here, the capital and operating costs for increasing the conveyor length is less than using trucks.

“Consider moving the crusher 50 metres vertically – 500 metres down the ramp into the pit. Some real savings can be had here. This is not a hard planning exercise.

If the crusher is properly designed it can be relocated inside a week to the next pit stage as the centre of mining moves.”

Contact: Alan.Cooper@snowdengroup.com

MMD boss proud of Chinese, African contracts Mark McVey, managing director of MMD Australia, a major supplier to the IPCC sector, homed in on two projects – one in China and one in Africa – when asked about the company's recent highlights.

M

MD has played a major role in IPCC, or in-pit size and convey (IPSC) as it prefers to call it, since creating the original compact twin shaft mineral sizer in 1978.

This sizer has progressed from a modest 500 series machine through to a giant 1500 series machine, with capacities in excess of 5,500tphr of iron ore and 8,000tphr of oil sand.

McVey said that MMD invented the sizer “specifically to solve the problems of transfer point blockages and to increase the operational life of conveyor belts. Being a lot lower profile than conventional machines used for the reduction of mined and quarried materials and containing its own breaking forces within its own frame, it lent itself to being mobile from day one.”

In 2013 MMD supplied a fully mobile sizer to the Pingshou open pit coal mine in China.

“The supplied unit is MMD’s third generation, high-capacity fully mobile sizing unit, capable of over 5,000 tonnes per hour. It’s our first fully mobile unit to go into operation in China, where the group has already been highly successful with semi-mobile systems.”

The machine is required to process 9,000tphr of overburden consisting primarily of sandstones with a UCS (hardness) up to 120mpa. The horizons contain several muddy layers and are expected to 80

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

At MMD's African installation, an MMD semi mobile feeder module is being transported into the mine at Medupi. It can handle 3,000tphr of coal.

get sticky in the short wet season when daily precipitation can exceed 150mm.

The material produced from 15m high benches of up to 1,700m in length is loaded by a 60m≥ capacity rope shovel into an MMD mobile sizer. This reduces the ROM material, with maximum dimensions 2.5m x 2.5m x 2m, to a product of 400mm maximum suitable for belt conveying.

The mobile sizer feeds an independent mobile 70m bridge conveyor supplied

as part of MMD’s scope of supply which in turn feeds the company’s hopper car mounted on a moveable face conveyor.

The face conveyor, subsequent haulage system, stacking and spreading systems were not part of MMD’s scope of supply, having been the subject of a separate tender process.

“Despite on-site delays with equipment outside of MMD’s control, the system entered hot commissioning at the end of

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

MMD Atlas 500t transporter.

October 2013, and the mobile sizer system quickly proved its capability showing production peaks of 15,000tphr,” said McVey. Moving continent to Africa, to an unnamed coal operation, MMD supplied a pair of semi-mobile systems. These installations are fed by Euclid E400 dump trucks into a 450 cubic metre hopper over a MMD D9 apron plate feeder, which discharges into a MMD 1300 primary sizer with a short sacrificial belt to a MMD 625 secondary sizer.

“The secondary is positioned in the pit just after the primary to produce a 150mm product for the overland belt – with the end user being of the opinion that larger lumps damage the belt and the plant acceptance size,” explained McVey. “Currently the throughput is constricted by the secondary to a maximum of 3,400tphr. MMD has been asked to investigate installing another secondary unit in parallel, to enable running at

6000tphr, as the apron plate feeder and primary sizer can easily cope with this.”

McVey said a further order has now been awarded to MMD for a third unit at the same mine.

“An exciting feature of this project is the inclusion of a 500 tonne capacity crawler transporter in MMD’s scope of supply. This is one of our newest items of equipment, used initially to transport the semi-mobile structures from the construction area, outside the mine, down to the mine face.

“Each piece was successfully transported a distance of over five kilometres, negotiating grades of up to eight percent, in under twenty hours. The crawler transporter will be used to relocate the semi-mobile sizer stations as the mine develops, to maintain a short truck haul distance of approximately 500m.

“These are believed to be the first two truly relocatable machines of this size in Africa, with all previous machines by other suppliers using equipment that was so large, and relocation so complicated, that all attempts to move them were abandoned and the plants became fixed.”

Contact: Mark.McVey@mmdaus.com.au

CONVEYORS, BELT SCRAPERS, ANCILLARIES

Boral’s Peppertree quarry turns to Locotrack In a bid to move away from an extensive haul truck fleet, a Boral quarry 180-kms south west of Sydney has turned to Metso’s Locotrack IPCC technology.

B

oral’s new Peppertree quarry, which underwent commissioning in 2013 and is set for full operation this year, will supply Sydney and NSW’s building industries with up to 3.5mtpa of aggregate products.

Boral site manager, Steve Parsons said that the use of in-pit crushing for quarry applications has been a trend in Europe for some time but is relatively new in Australia.

“Boral is now looking to optimise its quarrying process and get away from the traditional load and haul methodology where you have a large number of trucks and people moving between the blast site and the fixed crushing plant,” he said.

In response, Boral selected for Peppertree Metso’s Lokotrack LT160 together with the supplier’s Lokolink mobile conveyor system.

Weighing in at 285 tonnes and measuring 12m high by 25m in length, the Lokotrack LT160 at Peppertree is the largest mobile crusher in the southern hemisphere. It has been customised for Boral’s use with some 50 safety related and general design changes compared to the machine’s previous design.

In terms of operation, at Peppertree an excavator located on the muck pile loads material directly into the Lokotrack’s hopper. The rock moves along a grizzly feeder that passes undersized rock directly onto the machine’s

The Peppertree quarry's Lokotrack LT160 and Lokolink mobile conveyor system.

outbound conveyor. Only the large rock that needs to be crushed passes through the jaw crusher, which is capable of processing rocks up to one metre in size. In this way, energy isn’t wasted on passing small material through the crusher.

Crushed rock is then transported to the fixed, in-pit belt conveyor via two mobile Lokolink conveyors. The fixed conveyor carries crushed rock from the Lokotrack to the fixed plant for further processing. A patented swivel mechanism

ensures crushed material flows freely at all conveyor angles.

The Lokotrack LT160 can crush 1,150t of rock per hour and needs to be relocated every few hours – a process which can be done in minutes by an operator via a remote console worn around the operator’s waist. The Lokotrack is moved to the next loading position and the Lokolink conveyors follow.

Contact: www.metso.com

LT106 cuts fuel consumption at Thrislington quarry At Lafarge Tarmac's Thrislington quarry in north east England, contractor Banner Contracts says it reduced fuel consumption by a third with two Metso Lokotrack LT106 mobile crushers.

“E Fuel saving Lokotrack LT106 at Lafarge Tarmac Thrislington Quarry in northeastern England, operated by Banner Contracts.

82

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

ach one of our LT106’s consumes nine litres less fuel per hour than its predecessor LT105. That’s a 35 percent difference,” said Jo Banner, Banner Contracts’ director.

After six months in operation, the LT106 mobile plants’ fuel consumption averages around 15.5 litres per hour.

According to Jo Banner, these figures

make them the most fuel-efficient mobile crushers in his company’s fleet.

The quarry produces kiln feed, which the onsite customer Steetley Dolomite supplies for steelmaking after calcination, and lump stone for the blast furnace. In both cases, the product acts as a flux, reducing temperature and removing impurities from the iron ore.

Lorbrand Composite Roller Belle Banne Conveyor Products introduces Lorbrand Composite Rollers

Lorbrand Composite Rollers are the next generation of troughing and return rolls. Made of lightweight, high strength, corrosion and abrasion resistant composite material, the Lorbrand Composite Roller has the following features:

Easier to handle Safe on Belts Energy Efficient Low noise

40 - 60% lighter than steel without sacrificing performance.

Belt friendly construction means that even advanced wear on the shell will not damage the belt.

Breakaway mass under 50 grams for 127mm OD; under 80 grams for larger rolls. Running friction at less than 2N for large diameter rolls means less power required at startup and much less power required for continuing operation.

Lorbrand Composite Rollers tested at more than 50% less noise than the equivalent steel rolls. â&#x20AC;˘ Available in Nylon and HDPE for different applications. â&#x20AC;˘ Ask us about our 5 year warranty on Lorbrand Composite Rollers when used with the Maptsoft Asset Management Software

02 4724 9444 info@bellebannecp.com.au

www.bellebannecp.com.au

TIPPLERS, TRANSHIPMENT, MOBILE CONVEYING

Edge boosts efficiency with latest unloader Northern Ireland-based equipment designer Edge Innovation is set to launch a track mounted, high capacity radial truck unloader, at the Hillhead quarrying and construction exhibition in June 2014.

D

eveloped in Edge’s in house design academy, which is backed by local universities and colleges, the RTU220 can be used in various applications and is suited for a range of different environments, from the port to the quarry, according to Edge.

“The radial truck unloader has been developed with feedback from dealers and end users,” Edge said. “[It] provides operators with a more efficient loading method.”

The RTU220 is designed to allow operators to continuously load directly from trucks into train wagons or barges.

It can be controlled via an on-board control panel, or via remote control.

The machine’s interface provides visual data output such as engine load, hydraulic oil temperature and fuel consumption, all of which can be displayed while the machine is still operating, Edge told ABHR. Powered by a Cat4.4 96KW diesel engine, the RTU220 can offer a large amount of torque while consuming just 12-15L of fuel per hour, according to the designer.

“Further cost savings are provided by a dual power option allowing the RTU to be tracked into position and then connected to on-site, three phase electrical supply to power conveyors at a higher level of efficiency.”

The RTU220 is specifically designed to receive material from dump trucks, but Edge says it has a large range of possible applications.

“The RTU can accept a full 23 cubic metre load,” Edge said. “Its high torque drive system allows the speed of the conveyor belt to be adjusted, meaning the output of the machine can be regulated.”

Further potential applications for the RTU220 include material stockpiling, and loading of ships, containers and railway carriages, Edge added.

Material is fed into the RTU220s’ 23 cu. m hopper and is carried to the radial conveyor via the 2200mm wide heavy duty belt. Full length impact bars prevent belt sag thus reducing material roll back and prolonging the life of the conveyor belt, according to the designer.

Variable belt speed via the control panel controls the flow of material to the radial conveyor. With dual access, hydraulic flared sides, the RTU hopper 84

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Edge’s track mounted, high capacity radial truck unloader.

can be fed directly by wheel loaders and grab cranes.

“Unlike feeder belt systems driven via a drum roller, the RTU220s’ sprocket and chain design ensure against belt slippage or stalling,” Edge said. “The RTU has the capacity to convey 1000 tonnes per hour with a maximum feed size of 600mm.”

Material is stockpiled via the 1200mm wide radial product conveyor which provides a discharge height of 6800mm.

“The 140° radial function enhances

the flexibility of the RTU allowing it to be utilised in a number of applications.

The hydraulic folding head section allows for quick transition from transport to operating position.”

The RTU220 will be distributed in Australia by Precision Screen and Edge Australia.

Contact: w ww.precisionscreen.com.au info@precisionscreen.com.au www.edgeaust.com, info@edgeaust.com

NEW PRODUCT

Cleaning clay from ore with less water Bulk systems provider Haver Group says its Hydro-Clean system can clean damaging material from metal ores, coal, industrial minerals and aggregates, while reducing water consumption by as much as 75%.

H

ydro-Clean is targeted at producers of materials for the building and primary production industries, which face the challenge of processing crude materials with a high level of impurities.

This requirement can result in a significant increase in water usage, power consumption and operating costs. And those costs can quickly spiral upwards, given the remote locations of many operations in Australia.

But Haver says its system offers a cost effective and eco-sensitive way to clean any crude materials and material blends with a grain size The Haver Hydro-Clean. distribution of 0 – 120mm that are contaminated with adhesive clay, silt and other impurities.

Haver Australia’s Steffan Silge says many producers use Hydro-Clean to turn dirty and unsellable material into a product of value.

“The high-pressure washing action effectively breaks-up agglomerates and cleans the particles of stubborn material,” Silge says.

“Water consumption ranges from 100–800 L/min, depending on application and model size. This is significantly lower when compared to traditional washers, which could use up to 3000 l/ min,” he adds.

Haver says power requirements for the Hydro-Clean are no greater than 225kW, based on the largest model. The supplier also says the machines are resistant to wear, and have a maintenance friendly design.

Hydro-Clean is available in four model sizes, capable of producing in a range between 20 and 400 tph, depending on the application.

The supplier says Hydro-Clean is specifically ideal for use in clay heavy material deposits. Dirty material is fed via the hopper to a vertical washing drum, where high-pressure nozzles mounted at the top rotate and spray the material with high-pressure water up to 160 bar.

High-pressure streams of water are injected into the pores of the material, creating a cleaner product that can generate better revenue, according to Silge.

“The turbulence in the drum creates additional scrubbing and abrasive forces that enhance the cleaning process as the material travels down the drum cylinder,” he says.

“The dirty water then flows through the polyurethane screen media, which is installed on the sides of the washing drum. The washed material then exits onto a discharge conveyor, which leads to a rinse screen that removes any remaining dirt or clay on the product as it fractionates the material.

The water is then collected by a waste water pipe, which can send the water to a process water treatment system, he adds.

“We are always looking into ways where we can cut down operating costs, while reducing the environmental impact by recycling the water from a process water treatment system back into the main process.”

Haver believes that when you break a complex washing and classifying plant into its main components, you end up with the washing and classifying unit, the sand recovery unit and the process water treatment unit.

“In order to determine other potential cost savings, systematisation and rating of those units are necessary, considering the water and power consumption for an equivalently sized system,” Silge reasons.

“Case studies by the Haver Group demonstrate that by optimal selection of those three main components an average reduction of 20% of the power consumption and 30% of the water consumption in regards to the whole process is possible.”

Hydro-Clean will be on display at the WA Mining and Engineering Exhibition from May 6-8 this year at the Perth Exhibition Centre.

Contact: www.haveraustralia.com.au

Standard Container GBC Self Aligning Container

Gray Bulk Concepts www.graybulkconcepts.com.au

Gray Bulk Concepts Pty Ltd are leaders in Container Tippler Systems, providing innovation in port and offshore transhipping solutions for mining companies. daryl@graybulkconcepts.com.au Ph: +61 439 878 471

TIPPLERS, TRANSHIPMENT, MOBILE CONVEYING

Expert gives update on tippling technology Former Flinders Ports logistics expert and now solo bulk handling business proprietor, Daryl Gray gives ABHR an update on the state of the containerised bulk tippling industry.

T

he use of containers and rotating spreaders was developed in 2007 by Flinders Ports, which re-invented the system for miner IMX Resources in Adelaide. In 2009, IMX started exporting bulk iron ore from a Flinders container terminal by tipping containers of ore directly into bulk ships.

Qube also successfully developed the Rotabox, a container tippler designed for ships’ cranes.

Flinders Ports expanded its operations to cater for new customers, including OZ Minerals and Hillgrove.

Since those early days, the container tippling process has been introduced into Asia and Africa with outstanding success.

RAM Spreaders supplied the original rotating spreaders

CRS’s 38,000kg capacity container rotator.

CRS launches ‘world first’ quick release tippler Container Rotation Systems (formerly Rotainer) has launched a 38,000kg capacity container rotator, which features a quick release mechanism.

Murray Bridle, CRS’s owner and managing director, says the quick release is “a world first” for container rotators.

The machine, which can be fitted to reach stackers, ship’s cranes or ship-to-shore cranes, can be diesel or electric drive, and can rotate containers 180 degrees.

It works by remote control, Bridle adds.

into DP World Adelaide for the IMX Resources operation in 2009, and has refined each new order to the point where it is hard to compare the 2009 version to the 2014 version supplied to Tshipi Manganese in South Africa.

Rotainer R.S

Unique Design for Reach Stackers, Ships Cranes or Ship to Shore Cranes.

One Design for 3 Applications The Worlds First Quick Release Container Rotator.

38,000kg Capacity. 180 Degree Rotation. Diesel or Electric Drive.

Remote Control. Latest Gen 3 Electronics One Machine Three Applications Patented & Registered Designs

Container Rotation Systems Pty Ltd Ph 02 9609 6866 Fax 02 9609 3148 www.ContainerRotationSystems.com Email: Sales@ContainerRotationSystems.com

TIPPLERS, TRANSHIPMENT, MOBILE CONVEYING

Vacuum unloader latest development in bulk containerisation

All manufacturers of rotating spreaders have evolved and produce lighter and more efficient spreaders now. Container designs and construction have also evolved from a standard 20ft half height to highly engineered purpose built container specifically designed to handle each ore product.

Exporters can now also purchase 40ft container systems with higher cubic metres, for lighter bulk products.

Intermodal Solutions, SCF, Qube and Container Rotation Systems (formerly Rotainer) have designed and supplied containers to handle the flow properties of many specific products.

Originally, lids were only put on rotated containers when needed; OZ Minerals and Hillgrove required lids because copper is a marine pollutant.

But now it is the norm to have lids to enclose product in sealed containers before and after loading. Dust suppression systems, such as that for IMX, have become more effective and product specific.

The biggest gains, though, have come from increased load rates. The IMX operation in Adelaide now averages 20 lifts per hour, generating rates over 650 tph per crane; this creates a two crane operation averaging 1,300 tph.

20 lifts per hour is now an industry standard and new systems have already been developed with an average of 30 lifts per hour in sight.

IronClad Mining has developed on offshore transhipping system for Lucky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.

To ensure they can operate at sea efficiently they are using a Self Alignment System.

Developqed through necessity for operating in extreme sea conditions, the Self Alignment System (SAS) has the capacity to deliver 20 lifts per hour at sea and can increase productivity by 50% for all existing land based operations.

RAM Spreaders and Intermodal Solutions have been working together to introduce the SAS. Port Side Solutions are marketing the latest innovations in rotating spreaders and bulk containers including SAS. The latest progression is bulk unloading using a vac system to load the container on the vessel for discharge (see picture).

Every operator of the container tippling method is

One of the latest developments in containerised bulk handling is this Gray Bulk Concepts and RAM Spreader-developed ship unloader, which will allow an operator to unload bulk solids direct from a ship’s hold to a container, thus eliminating the need for ship unloaders or silos.

Gray says the system, which he says works “like a big vacuum cleaner,” can fill a container with a bulk solid – like grain – within two to three minutes.

“It’s not the quickest system in the world, but what it’s got going for it is it’s dust free… when the container lands on the wharf it’s already sealed, we can put it on a truck and we can cart it away,” Gray says.

“Then you can either empty it and bring it back, or you can actually store [grain] in the containers.”

Gray says the grain industry is the most likely to show interest in the product in Australia, but says the system is suited to a lot of dry bulk products.

“Most of our ports are next to people,” Gray says. “This process is cheap – it’s really just a spreader which allows you to unload ships – and it allows you to unload product from a ship in an environmentally sensible way.”

contributing to the evolution of a simple, low cost, environmentally friendly bulk handling system.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

87

AUTOMATION

Project Magnet extends the life of Whyalla Steelworks Industrial automation and information business Rockwell Automation gave ABHR a case study on its work for Project Magnet – the transition of Whyalla Steelworks into a magnetite iron ore feed – for which Rockwell helped develop an integrated, pit-to-port control system.

A

ustralian steelmaker Arrium (formerly OneSteel) decided to become a miner in 2005 by switching its Whyalla Steelworks from hematite to magnetite feed, thereby allowing the valuable hematite to be exported, à la BHP, Rio and FMG. For Project Magnet, Arrium approached engineering firm LogiCamms – a recognised Rockwell automation system integrator – together with Rockwell itself, to deliver a solution that would extend the life of the Whyalla Steelworks, reduce the cost of steelmaking and incorporate environmental improvements.

With the mine site located approximately 60km from the steelworks, a slurry pipeline was built to allow magnetite to be transported through the pipe to Whyalla. Concurrently, hematite ore continued to be transported by rail to the port for shipping.

The three main areas of the operation that required complete control system integration were the materials handling area, which involves the handling and storage of hematite for export, the filter/flux area which receives magnetite from the slurry pipeline and prepares it for feeding to the existing pellet plant, and the mine concentrator area.

A challenging aspect of this project was the distance involved in connecting the concentration plant which was near the mine site to the filter/flux which is located at the steel works more than 60km away.

“This was addressed by utilising Ethernet across a large fibre optic network,” said Rockwell Australia’s executive account manager, mining, Greg Schultz. “[Rockwell product] FactoryTalk View provided visibility at any operator station across the whole of the pit to port operation.

“It was a complex installation that utilised a number of redundant HMI servers across the expansive network,” he added.

To provide reliable and secure control system integration based on the ControlLogix platform, multiple control systems were utilised that were 88

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Aerial view of the pelletising plant before Project Magnet.

Aerial view of the pelletising plant after Project Magnet.

completely redundant by the controllers and the HMI servers.

Low and medium voltage drives were also provided for the pumping and crushing equipment, and safety components including Guardmaster safety relays were incorporated into the motor control centre design.

LogiCamms realised project

development time saving benefits through the Integrated Architecture solution of Rockwell Automation, with the use of direct-referenced tags and User Defined Tag structures. The project wide SCADA solution with FactoryTalk View SE provided client screens that could view any graphic from anywhere in the application, with minimal extra configuration.

AUTOMATION

Aerial view of the concentrator and crusher plant.

Maintenance of the entire application is possible from engineering workstations in any area.

“This application was one of the largest FactoryTalk View applications to be completed at the time and high level support from the software business unit of Rockwell Automation was invaluable in the success of the solution,” said Andrew Thompson, senior engineer of control systems at LogiCamms.

Arrium Mining’s principal control systems engineer, Jonathon Deluao, said: “The solution has provided full integration and a high level of process control which gives us the ability to control and

The magnetic separator – a close up view of the part of the concentrator plant.

modify the system according to the production needs.

“We now have a fully automated plant that is flexible enough to cater to our needs both production wise and process wise.”

Dry to wet The transition of the Whyalla Steelworks from hematite to magnetite feed has changed the iron ore pellet process from a dry to a wet process.

As the magnetite ore is pumped via a slurry pipeline from the mine to the steelworks, the level of fugitive dust emissions are reduced which greatly benefits the Whyalla community.

Project Magnet has also fostered the use of covered facilities for loading iron ore and the relocation of the crushing and screening area to the mine site, which has resulted in further improvements in environmental conditions for Whyalla.

Under Project Magnet, a transhipping service has been introduced to avoid major dredging of the Whyalla Port and a new fleet of high-sided wagons has been put into service. The benefits from Project Magnet play an important part in enhancing the sustainable competitiveness of the Whyalla Steelworks.

A new lease on life The successful implementation of Project Magnet has essentially provided a new lease on life for the Whyalla steelworks by extending the lifespan from the expected 2020 constraint imposed by hematite ore reserves, to at least 2027.

Using magnetite ore in a concentrated form of feed has resulted in freeing the hematite ore reserve for accelerated sale and export – increasing annual sales from 1mt up to 6mt, with the Whyalla Port Expansion Project now enabling Arrium Mining to reach a run rate of 12mtpa.

Based on the success of Project Magnet, Arrium Mining has opened another mine using a complete solution from Rockwell Automation.

“We have migrated to a completely integrated Ethernet network with advanced segregation and security components,” said Deluao.

Project Magnet has enabled a significant increase to Arrium Mining’s export capability. Cape vessels can now be loaded and reach a run rate of 12mtpa.

Contact: www.RockwellAutomation.com.au

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

89

DUST CONTROL

Expert: No ‘one size fits all’ in dust suppression The amount of variables involved in dust control means that almost every dust problem is unique. Variations in volume, particle size, type, location, and the surrounding environment make it vital to fully understand all factors, and to get expert guidance in choosing the right solution from the full range of options, Tecpro Australia’s managing director, Graeme Cooper, tells ABHR.

T

o think that all dust problems are the same would be a mistake, Cooper says.

“First of all, there is the chemical or mineralogical composition of the dust to consider,” he explains. “Then it is important to understand its concentration and the size of the particles. Contextual factors such as whether the dust is in an open or confined space, and whether it is close to people or sensitive environmental areas such as waterways, must also be taken into account.

These are just some of the characteristics we review when we’re asked to provide a dust suppression solution.”

Cooper says a common misconception is that it is simply a matter of adding more water to dampen down dust.

“Adding excess water can cause problems,” he says. “It adds unnecessary costs and it is not the way to effectively combat dust problems. Too much water creates muddy, unsafe conditions, and it also contributes to water pooling that can produce an

Screw Flights

• Over 6,000 flight sizes • Industry recognised highest quality flights available in the Australian Market 19 to 2,500mm diameter and 2 to 40mm thick • • Tapered outside diameter and or tapered bore Short pitch, long pitch, single or multi start flights •

Victoria – Head Office:

JAC 032

20-22 Macquarie Drive Thomastown Vic. 3074 Australia

Victoria Office Tel: 61 3 9465 8777 Fax: 61 3Head 9465 8788 20-22 Macquarie Drive Thomastown Vic. 3074 Australia N.S.W. Telephone: Office: 61 3 9463 0888 Facsimile: 61 3 9465 8788 Tel: 61 2 9844 5495E-mail: Fax: info@jacmor.com.au 61 2 9844 5478 FreeCall 1800 334 005 FreeCall 1800 334 005 Web Site: www.jacmor.com.au Web: www.jacmor.com.au E-mail: info@jacmor.com.au

90

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

Dust suppression tasks vary wildly from case to case, due to the large number of variables involved.

unpleasant working environment, harbour bacteria or insects, or create run-off that can harm the local environment.”

Of course, if you use too little water, Cooper adds, there is not enough volume to effectively do the job. The volume has to be tailored to suit the particular situation.

Tecpro specialises in suppression solutions for industries including mining, construction, cement production, quarries and recycling plants.

It offers a range of dust solutions including nozzles and fog makers, and produces custom designs on top of that, Cooper notes.

“We offer Australia’s largest range of dust suppression solutions,” he claims, “and this means we can match the correct dust suppression system with the specific problem being faced by our customer.

“From fog makers that can propel a fine mist sixty metres, to specialist nozzles fitted to custom made brackets, we can recommend a solution that works.”

Tecpro’s nozzle range includes spiral nozzles, cluster nozzles, flat van nozzles, misting spray nozzles, conventional air atomising nozzles and ultrasonic air atomising nozzles, as well as its Giraffa, Elefante and Rino fog makers.

“Dust is suppressed effectively when the size of the mist droplets generated matches the size of the dust particles,” Cooper says. “The mist droplet and dust particle combine easily, and aided by gravity, they fall to the ground. And because the water droplet is microscopic in size, it evaporates quickly, avoiding any water build up.”

Tecpro Australia won ABHR’s award for Dust Control, Technology, Application or Practice in 2012, in conjunction with the University of Wollongong, for their collaborative dust suppression solution at Centennial Coal’s Mandalong Mine.

Contact: Graeme Cooper, Email: Graeme@tecpro.com.au

NEW PRODUCT

“Bulk Materials” Handling Systems

Omron’s SX inverter series

Sack Emptiers

Global electronics business Omron says its SX series 400 VAC and 690 VAC inverters offer versatility and efficiency, while also safeguarding plants against damage and downtime.

How it opens for cleaning

Sievmaster with Check Sieving Easy to clean sanitary design. For flours, sugars, spices, cosmetics, seeds - almost any powder or granular material.

T

Contact: www.omron.com.au

Sack emptier variations

Vacuum Assisted Lifting

Handling boards and doors TAWI Vacuum-assisted Lifting: A wide range of special models are designed and built in Melbourne.

QR code

he inverter series is available from 90kW up to 1 MW, and comes in two versions: direct torque type and a V/F style.

Direct torque type is designed to provide control and efficient vector braking needed for high-torque applications, such as cranes, crushers, mills and mixers.

The V/F style is suitable for providing smooth motor control, Omron says, with energy saving features in applications such as fans, pumps, compressors and blowers.

In an effort to maximise their versatility, SX inverters provide dedicated application functionality, programmable controller facilities and an integral LCD display that can be An Omron SX inverter. readily customised to suit the needs of the user, according to Omron.

The hardware can also be customised; support can be provided for various types of network communications and a liquid cooling option is also available.

“The direct torque control used in SX inverters ensures fast response to disturbances caused by peak loads and sudden load changes, thereby protecting against mechanical damage and guarding against unnecessary drive tripping and downtime,” Omron says.

“The vector brake function provides further protection against interruptions to plant operation as it eliminates problems associated with excessive voltages present during braking.

“For fan, pump and similar loads, the dedicated functionality provided by the SX series drives includes an energy-saving sleep mode that stops motors completely in conditions of zero demand, an automatic pump rinse feature that protects against sludge build up in impeller pumps, and a multi-pump function that allows a single inverter to control up to seven pumps or compressors.”

A shaft power monitor facility, which observes the equipment load curve across the full speed range and compares it with user-defined warning and stop values, is also available.

Harmful conditions, such as overload and under-load, which might lead to plant damage and prolonged outages, are instantly detected by the facility, Omron says.

Also: Dense phase pneumatic conveying, bulk bag systems, IBC systems, manual and automatic sack emptiers, flexible wall feeders, silo discharge systems, inflatable seat valves, sack filling m/c’s automatic palletisers, wrappers and hooders.

The Professionals in Powder Handling

ABHCA1415-1

Head Office VIC - Tel: (03) 9457 8240

www.kockumsbulk.com.au

GRAIN HANDLING

SA engineering firm Kilic continues growth South Australia-based Kilic Engineering has just shipped off the first in its line of self-propelled drive over hopper (DOH) and stackers to Victoria’s Emerald Grain.

K

ilic says strong initial sales for the newly-designed grain handling machinery demonstrate the importance of innovation and adaptation in the engineering sector.

The DOH and stacker receives grain from trucks and stockpiles it into giant bunkers, commonly known as bunker storage. Kilic Engineering’s DOH and stacker can move up to 600 tonnes of grain per hour, which equates to unloading around 10 B-Double semi-trailers.

Since 1999, Kilic Engineering has built similar machines for Viterra – a relationship that goes back to the early 1970s, says the firm.

Jason Kilic, the company’s general manager, said he is confident of receiving more orders for the new product, and is looking to other grain market sectors to continue the company’s growth.

“Innovation and diversification are keys to growth in the highly competitive engineering sector,” Kilic said.

“Our in-house design team went back to the drawing board to completely redesign our existing product to come up with a better piece of machinery.

“What’s unique about our new DOH and stacker is that you can drive it rather than having to tow it every time you

Portable drive over hoppers and stackers for bunker storage of grain.

wanted it repositioned, creating less ‘downtime’ for operators and grain handlers.

“As well as saving significant time and being more user friendly, the new machines are electrically driven rather than diesel powered making it quieter and easier to maintain. The new design is also capable of moving canola, which behaves differently to wheat and other grains.”

Kilic added that the company was applying the same principles to make inroads into other markets.

“Sometimes you just have to take a punt and invest in the development of a new product that you believe can make a difference to existing and future customers,” he said.

“Having said that, we’ve been able to gather a lot of data and general feedback from our customers and operators to help us innovate and adapt.

“Our strengths in the past have been making conveyors and materials handling systems for the agriculture and automotive sectors, and we’ve had success in supplying products to the mining industry.”

Kilic said the business is looking at how its products can be adapted for the defence and energy sectors.

“These are certainly two areas where we see growth opportunities,” he added.

Contact: Jason Kilic, (08) 8268 5333 Email: enquiries@kiliceng.com.au

NEW PRODUCT

HEPA vacuum for 205 litre drums now available in Australia Compressed Air Australia is distributing Exair’s new heavy duty, high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) Vac, which it says is a powerful industrial vacuum cleaner.

T

he Heavy Duty HEPA Vac is designed to move more material with less wear. It has been engineered to filter contaminants to HEPA requirements in dusty environments requiring frequent cleaning, the supplier says.

It is quieter than most electric vacuums, operating at 82 dBA – an asset that makes it suitable for a wide variety of environments, according to the supplier.

An economical, easily maintained pre-filter stops larger particles, while the

92

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

HEPA filter handles the smaller matter.

All filters are tested for minimum 99.97% filtration at the 0.3 micron level to meet HEPA standards in strict accordance to IEST-RP-CC-007.

Available from Compressed Air Australia, the Heavy Duty HEPA Vac System comes complete with the Heavy Duty Dry Vac, lever lock drum lid, shutoff valve, pre-filter, HEPA filter, 3m static resistant hose, hose hanger, 1/2 NPT quick connect coupling,

Exair’s new HEPA vacuum for 205 litre drums is being distributed Down Under by Compressed Air Australia.

6m compressed air hose, pressure gauge, heavy duty aluminum tools, tool holder and drum dolly. OSHA and CE Compliant, quality is supported with a five year “Built to Last” warranty.

Contact: www.caasafety.com.au

NEWS

Shoddy packaging often tip of ‘chiselling’ iceberg Packaging specialist Nelson Joyce & Co, which is frequently consulted to fix situations where cheap packaging options have backfired during bulk shipping, says through experience that the act of ‘chiselling’ is usually to blame and normally unearths itself at a mature stage in the supply chain.

“W

hen the symptoms of chiselling show up in the packaging part of a business, it is more common than not to see the company in question has made a culture out of chiselling – the act of chasing the lowest price possible – and the impact is far-reaching,” said managing director, Nelson Joyce.

“Although we don’t make a habit of specifically pointing out chiselling to market players as it is not our business as such, we find in the public forum it is important to itemise some serious characteristics that give it away.

“From what we have seen, business owners and managers who chisel on price on an important transport- and storage-related product such as packaging tend to show signs of chiselling right across the business.

“We normally find evidence they are skimping on employee entitlements and resources and further down the track, their customer base.

“This is driven purely by a quest for the lowest price on everything, and part of this inventory includes the important wrap that secures and protects pallets, skids and other bulk transfer vehicles of their products.

“Invariably, our company finds itself called into near-emergency situations; like industry doctors to find a solution

to the various problems created purely through this mentality for skimping.

“We have been called in to crises that involve collapsed pallets during transit which have damaged other freight or even dropped from the deck of a truck into the path of general motorists.

“We have encountered challenges where one chiseller chose such a cheap solution that all the printing made to the surface of its shrink wrap turned out an illegible mess, totally destroying any notion of professional appearance.

“And, arguably the most common situation, those that choose bulk packaging wrap which probably doesn’t even meet Australian standards and proves all but useless as it becomes trapped and tangled in the application machines.”

Rather than think of packaging like a grudge purchase, Joyce has long argued packaging must be respected for its asset value – its critical role in protecting the integrity of product presentation and providing the strength in material to negate potentially costly transport accidents and facilitating storage and stacking for greater economic efficiencies.

The attitude for better outcomes is one of keeping ahead of change by utilising the latest polymer science

Tel +61 (3) 9587 9244 Fax +61 (3) 9587 9344 www.kinder.com.au sales@kinder.com.au

technology and a higher level of service, as opposed to chiselling for the most rock bottom price deal.

Superior technical composition is vital in bulk wrap packaging to enhance a bottom line instead of creating risk.

“One way we have assisted many caught in a self-inflicted chiselling trap is through a comprehensive cost analysis, highlighting how scrimping for a cheap and risky outcome actually creates cost and supply chain discontent further down the track,” said Joyce.

“Basically, what we highlight goes beyond merely creating risky bulk movements through unrealistically cheap solutions, it unmasks the true cost of chiselling in the damage it can do to customer relations when problems arise and other parties are affected.

“It’s not much different to a car maintenance specialist looking after corporate fleet cars, spending a lot of time and money up-keeping mechanics, the interior and cleaning and shining the duco, then going off and replacing the engine oil with cheap generic.

“Make no mistake, chiselling creates risk and it is better to abandon the habit than trying to apply bandaids to a problem which might be haemorrhaging.”

Contact: nelsonj@nelsonjoyce.com.au

CASE STUDY

Dry milk producer benefits from bulk bag discharging system Bulk handling equipment supplier Flexicon has installed a bulk bag discharging system and bag dump station at the US plant of a producer of food products, in a move the supplier says has improved cleanliness, output and product quality.

By blending in-house, Franklin Farms East can meet increased demand and expand its product line. The flexible screw conveyor transports minor ingredients being emptied at the bag dump station to the blender in the background.

F

ranklin Farms East is a producer of dry milk and non-dairy food products used in the production of commercial baked goods, ice creams and confectionary products, to markets mostly on the east cost of the US. A family owned and operated business since 1983, Franklin Farms East started out as a distributor of dry milk products, which it purchased in bulk from dairy cooperatives and other wholesalers. As it grew it then hired contract manufacturers to blend and repackage the final mixes.

In 1997, as the business continued to grow, Franklin Farms East decided to build its own processing and repackaging facility in Frostburg, Maryland.

With its own in-house blending capabilities, the company expanded its product line beyond dairy products like buttermilk and whey, to include formulations based on corn and wheat flour, such as non-dairy coffee creamers and lactose-free products.

Since then, sales have grown from 20t per month to over 454t per month today, and the company has expanded into new markets such as ice cream mixes, gelato and yoghurt.

The Maryland plant runs two shifts a day, five days a week, with a crew of 12 people to meet the increased demand.

When the plant first opened, bags of powdered ingredients from suppliers were cut open and emptied manually into a hopper that feeds the ribbon blender. This resulted in dust in the air, wasting product and creating a potentially hazardous environment.

“This was common practice in the industry at the time,” explains Jonathan Riggs, Franklin Farms East’s vice president of production.

“During the early 2000’s, however, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) began strictly enforcing sanitary and safety regulations, including third party inspections. Contact with and possible contamination of food products was strictly prohibited, and a clean work environment was absolutely required. Our customers also began asking for verification of sanitary conditions in our production facilities.”

To comply with government requirements and customer demands, and to eliminate waste, Franklin Farms East installed a Flexicon bulk bag discharging system.

The system consists of a forklift-loaded model BFF-C-X splitframe bulk bag discharger, with a 226 l-capacity sanitary stainless

Laser Scanner (Volume)

Bulk Density on the Fly! Coal – Iron Ore – Grain – Wood Chips – Cement – Sugar

Leading the Way in Belt Scale Technology Web: www.controlsystems.com.au Email: IBurrel@ControlSystems.com.au Ph: 02 8708 0200

Conveyor belt

Belt weigher (mass)

CASE STUDY

Dust accumulated on cartridge filters is dislodged by pulse jet nozzles and returned to the hopper, eliminating product waste while maintaining a clean working environment.

steel hopper, and a manual bag dump station, bag compactor and hopper for adding smaller amounts of ingredients to the blender.

Both the bulk bag discharger and bag dump station feed their ingredients to the blender through flexible screw conveyors.

“The ingredient discharge, blending and repackaging process is now totally enclosed and dust-free,” Riggs says. “In fact, after their last visit, an inspection team from the audit firm, Randolph Associates, said that our facility was the cleanest they had ever seen.”

The plant receives major raw materials in 900kg bulk bags,

A Flexicon clamp ring secures the clean side of the bag spout to the clean side of a telescoping tube, which maintains constant downward tension on the bag as it empties and elongates, promoting complete discharge.

but Riggs says headroom in the dry blending room is currently limited by the low ceiling.

To overcome this limitation, a forklift holds the bulk bag directly over the lower half of the split frame discharger, while the bag discharges through a manual clamp ring positioned atop a pneumatically-actuated telescoping tube. The tube raises the clamp ring for dust tight connection to the bag spout, and then lowers, applying downward tension to keep the spout taut for total evacuation.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

95

CASE STUDY

reduce the need for cleaning between batches,” Riggs explains. “The system is cleaned according to FDA procedures by brushing, vacuuming and hot washing of product Franklin Farms East’s non-fat dry milk, which the supplier contact surfaces of says contains all the nutrients of fresh liquid milk, but is easier to work with, needs no refrigeration, has a longer the screener, hopshelf life, and takes less inventory space. pers, flexible screw conveyors, and blender. We clean every Friday to allow 72 hours for the components to dry over the weekend.”

The dry blending room was developed by John Oliveira of PME Equipment, an independent representative located in Flanders, New Jersey.

“We are currently running the blender at maximum capacity, but plan to expand the room to increase production with a larger blender and raising the ceiling,” Riggs says. “We will use the entire split-frame discharger by loading the bulk bag in its lifting frame onto the lower half of the discharger. The lower half will be equipped with load cells to control the amount of material transferred through the flexible screw conveyor to the blender by measuring weight loss.

“The expansion will also allow us to continue growing by introducing new products like our instant cheesecake mix, which is so good you have to taste it to believe it.”

Contact: sales@flexicon.com.au

Limited headroom requires a forklift to suspend bulk bags above the lower half of this splitframe bulk bag discharger. Once the room is enlarged with a higher ceiling, bulk bags will be loaded at floor level into the top half of the split-frame, which will then be forklifted with bag intact, onto the lower half of the frame, within centimetres of the ceiling.

At the same time, Flexicon bag activators raise and lower the bottom edges of the bag, directing material into the outlet spout and raising the bag into a steep “V” shape to promote total discharge into the floor hopper.

Minor ingredients, in 23 kg bags, transfer to the batch blender through the manual bag dump station, hopper and flexible screw conveyor – again, all enclosed for dust-free operation.

A high-velocity vacuum fan activates as the operator opens the hinged lid of the bag dump station. As individual bags are emptied through the hopper screen, airborne dust in the vicinity of the hopper opening is drawn into the dust collector and deposited on the outer surfaces of two cartridge filters.

Periodic blasts of compressed plant air blown onto the filters dislodge the dust particles, which fall into the hopper. The process is continuous, with compressed air blasts alternating between the two filters.

The operator passes the spent bag through a chute in the sidewall of the hopper hood into the bag compactor. As a pneumatic air cylinder compresses the empty bag into a removable bin, dust generated by compaction is drawn into the dual filters.

One blended batch, weighing 1134 kg, usually consumes one bulk bag and as many as twenty-five 23kg bags of individual ingredients.

Each batch requires about 10 minutes for thorough mixing, and the blender can produce 30 to 40 batches per day.

The blended batch proceeds through a screener, a metal detector, and then to the bagging machine, which fills 11.4 to 23kg bags, at a rate of one bag per minute, and labels them with the name of the blend. The bags are finally loaded onto shipping pallets.

“We try to run similar ingredients one after the other to 96

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

ARE YOU...

A DESIGNER / MANUFACTURER / RESEARCHER / OPERATOR OF

BULK SOLIDS HANDLING...

SYSTEMS / EQUIPMENT / STORAGE?

... If so, you can now expand your capabilities by joining the Australian Society for Bulk Solids Handling.

The Society has a mission to enhance the discipline of bulk solids handling through research, education and sound engineering practice.

Further information on the Society’s activities, its Constitution and registration procedures are available from the : Australian Society for Bulk Solids Handling Centre for Bulk Solids and Particulate Technologies The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308 Phone: (02) 4033 9055 Fax: (02) 4033 9044 email: Danielle.Harris@newcastle.edu.au Website: www.engineersaustralia.org.au/Australian-Society-Bulk-Solids-Handling

Membership is open to ALL practitioners in bulk solids handling and related technologies.

NEW PRODUCT

Danish industrial robotics company lands Down Under Denmark-based robotics company Universal Robots has launched its range into the Australian and New Zealand markets, and says it’s targeting small and medium-sized customers in the manufacturing, packaging and process industries.

Universal Robotics’ UR5 and UR10 robotic arms.

U

niversal Robots’ robotic arms are targeted at companies for which robotics and automation technology has traditionally been too expensive, cumbersome and difficult to program, the company says.

The lightweight UR5 and UR10 arms are designed specifically to integrate seamlessly into existing production processes and work alongside personnel with little to no safety shielding, usually required with other robotic equipment.

Universal Robots says its products are virtually plug-and-play, and provide users with a simple user interface which means they can be programmed and operated by people with no previous experience, simply by grabbing the robot arm and physically showing it what to do.

“Many companies have invested in our robots to save on personnel costs, boost quality or raise productivity,” Universal Robots’ Shermine Gotfredsen said.

“We see potential in all these applications in the Australian and New Zealand markets, but one of the most relevant reasons for local manufacturers to consider UR products is to drive down the cost of operations, which will help small and medium-sized local business compete with bigger manufacturers and overseas operators.”

Instead of more expensive sensor technology found in many robotic products, the UR5 robotic arm uses a patented technology to measure electrical current in its joints to determine force and movement.

UR says that means the product costs less than other automated solutions.

“Small and medium-sized enterprises demand a fast return on investment,” Gotfredsen continued. “Besides the robot’s low initial cost, it operates very cost-efficiently and our customers generally find it is profitable in only six to eight months.”

Universal Robots products are distributed in Australia by Sensorplex and in New Zealand by Design Energy.

Contact: www.sensorplex.com www.designenergy.co.nz

www.polymertechnologies.com.au

CASE STUDY

Bulk nutritional supplements blended in pharmaceutical grade rotary mixer Nutritional supplements producer Daily Manufacturing says a mini rotary batch blender, supplied by Munson, is easier to clean, more consistent and more reliable than the rotary blender it replaced.

The 0.28m3 capacity Munson Rotary Batch Mixer at Daily Manufacturing’s plant. The drum rotating on external twin pillow block roller bearing assemblies gently but thoroughly mixes ingredients having different bulk densities, according to the manufacturer.

Munson says its mixer is suited for blending small quantities of additives as it inter-mixes ingredients – even trace amounts – thoroughly and rapidly.

D

aily Manufacturing, a small business which aims to produce high quality nutritional products from natural sources such as vitamins and minerals, was founded in 1979. It originally manufactured just one product for Dr Carey Reams, an agricultural biochemist who eventually developed an entire line of nutritional products derived from natural sources.

Over the past 35 years Daily Manufacturing has grown to become the manufacturer of all products sold under the Reams brand name and its own. The manufacturer also provides natural products to producers of other nutritional products around the world.

A key step in the manufacturing process is blending of the various ingredients that make up each of the company’s range of more than 50 products.

Compliance with FDA sanitation standards is critical, as the agency performs regular inspections of the company’s manufacturing facilities.

“The 0.425 cubic metre ribbon blender that we formerly used was difficult to clean, especially the centre shaft, which was difficult to reach,” explains Jim Daily III, Daily Manufacturing’s vice president, and son of the founder.

“It also had internal bearings that became damaged by the 98

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

abrasive particles that we process and had to be replaced frequently because fine powders could escape.”

Daily manufacturing replaced the ribbon blender with a mini rotary batch mixer from Munson.

“The drum rotates on external twin pillow block roller bearing assemblies rather than having an internal shaft and bearings,” Daily describes. “It gently but thoroughly mixes ingredients having different bulk densities, generating much smaller amounts of fine powder than the ribbon blender. It also is easy to clean when we switch products.”

“The Munson mixer is ideally suited for blending these minute quantities of additives,” says Mark Brown, a graduate chemist employed as Daily Manufacturing’s production coordinator.

“The blender’s rotating drum has internal mixing flights that provide a 4-way mixing action – continuous tumbling, turning, cutting and folding – to assure thorough and rapid inter-mixing of all ingredients, even trace amounts, with zero stratification and segregation.”

Daily Manufacturing produces more than 50 blended products in batch sizes ranging from 15kg up to 200kg.

“The mini mixer thoroughly blends a batch in less than half the time required by the ribbon blender, greatly increasing our

CASE STUDY

Continuous rotation of the drum helps assure total discharge, which is important as Daily Manufacturing changes products processed in the mixer several times a week. Hand wheel eases operation of the discharge gate.

productivity, and is flexible enough to meet our current and future needs,” Brown says.

“With a capacity of 0.28m3, it can easily handle a wide variation in batch sizes and provides equally efficient mixing at 100% down to 10% of maximum capacity, even with ingredients added in trace quantities. The bulk densities of our ingredients vary from 0.38 to 0.45g/cm3 and often have disparate particle sizes. Although none of our current products requires addition of a liquid spray during mixing, the mixer has this capability should we ever need it.”

With such a diversity of products, ease of cleaning between batches was an important consideration in selecting the mini rotary batch mixer.

“On average, we change products being processed in the mixer several times a week,” Brown explains. “An important feature was 100% discharge upon completion of the mix cycle, with only an insignificant amount of residual dust. It’s pretty easy to get rid 99

CASE STUDY

The mixer is built to pharmaceutical standards, with polished continuous internal welds and product contact surfaces constructed of stainless steel. Internal mixing flights provide 4-way mixing action to assure thorough and rapid mixing of ingredients without stratification and segregation.

Daily Manufacturing says the mini mixer cleans easily and quickly between product runs, as its mixing action leaves only small amounts of fine powder.

Daily Manufacturing incorporates the most natural ingredients available, such as bee pollen with a blend of herbs.

of that small amount of residue by rinsing the blender with hot water containing surfactants, running it for about ten minutes and then doing a plain hot water rinse, especially since all interior areas are readily accessible for fast, thorough sanitising.

“The entire process takes only about 15 minutes, compared with the 30 minutes it used to take to clean the ribbon blender.”

The mixer’s internal mixing flights are spaced for easy access and continuously welded to the drum wall for total product discharge. All internal welds are polished and have a minimum 6.35mm radius to eliminate corners, cracks and crevices for material entrapment and are polished to better than 32Ra (surface roughness average). All product contact surfaces are constructed of stainless steel and its support structure and guards are epoxy painted.

Contact: i nfo@munsonmachinery.com Australian distributer (iBulk): tony@ibulk.com.au

A selection of Daily Manufacturing products made by the mixer.

DRYING

GEA Barr-Rosin dryer for Arab Potash plant Middle Eastern miner Arab Potash Company (APC) has chosen a GEA Barr-Rosin rotary drier for its plant in Jordan, where it processes potash harvested from the Dead Sea. Interior of an industrial dryer similar to the one sold to APC.

G

EA Barr-Rosin, which is based in the UK but has major offices in Canada and the US, supplied the plant with a number of dryers and a cooler in 2006.

The supplier says machinery destined for the Jordanian plant has to be able to operate in harsh, desert conditions, where temperatures soar in the day and can plummet to near freezing at night.

It says its heavy-duty rotary dryer is designed to withstand these conditions, and is prepared for the corrosive environment endured at the APC plant.

100 Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

GEA Barr-Rosin sales and marketing manager Dominique Kuehner said the key to achieving a new contract with APC was the supplier’s success in the past, supplying the same equipment to the same environment.

“We have built a very close working relationship with APC,” Kuehner said “We provide reliable, high specification equipment that is tough enough for this demanding duty and extreme environment.

“We are very careful to make sure that the servicing needs of the

equipment are kept up to date and support is always on hand,” he added.

“When you are working by the Dead Sea and face pressure to meet production commitments, the last thing we want is an unscheduled stoppage.”

GEA Barr-Rosin says its dryers are ideally suited to potash applications.

APC is a leading potash producer in the region and a major supplier to Asian and Mediterranean markets.

Contact: www.barr-rosin.com

ADVERTISERS INDEX

Advertisers Index Advertiser Page

Advertiser Page

Advertiser Page

Absafe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

ConvaTech Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61, 63

Millsom Materials Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Acromet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Cortex Engineering Resources . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Muyang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Aerobelt Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

DRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Ahrens Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

ESS Engineering Services & Supplies . . . . . . 41

Allied Grain Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Flexco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Altra Industrial Motion Australia . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Flexicon Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Archimedes Conveyors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

GEA Nu-Con . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

ASGCO Complete Conveyor Solutions . . . . . 11

Gray Bulk Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

RKM International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Aspec Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Integrated Bulk Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

SAM Technology Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Atlas Copco Compressors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Jacmor Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 90

Sanwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Australian Belt Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Kilic Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

SEW - EURODRIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Australian Society for Bulk Solids Handling . . . 96

Kinder & Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Belle Banne Conveyor Products . . . . . . . . . . 83

Kockums Bulk Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . 31, 91

BEUMER Group Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Kotzur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Brolton Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5, 47

LINAK Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

BulkNet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

MATO Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Container Rotation Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

MaxiTRANS Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

TUNRA Bulk Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Control Technology Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Metso Minerals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Veyance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

NORD Drivesystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Omron Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (OBC) 104 Polymer Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Redispan Conveyors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

TECO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Tenova TAKRAF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Thor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (OFC) 1, 27 Transmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

SUBSCRIBE 1 year 2 years 3 years

Australia $170.00 +10% GST = $187.00 $306.00 +10% GST = $336.00 $340.00 +10% GST = $374.00

NZ $220.00 $396.00 $440.00

Asia $280.00 $504.00 $560.00

Concentrate in containe rs at Port Ade Solving belt laide tracking issu es at NCIG Case study of Zibulo over land conveyor Detailed BUL KEX review  Dust control feat ure  Inte lligent dust management Carrington at Coal Terminal  Law son Lug aids handling of bin liners 







www.Bulk Hand

Volume 16 No 7

World $310.00 $558.00 $620.00

ling.com.

au

November /December 2011

TM

A Revolution

in Feeder

Technology by www.transmin.c

om.au

Includes six issues of Australian Bulk Handling Review per annum plus our annual Equipment and Services Guide.

Additional copies available at $80 +gst ea. Overseas postage $30 extra. GSt does not apply to overseas subscriptions.

I enclose my cheque for $_______________

BIll my company

(Payable to Informa aUStralIa)

SecUrely SUbScrIbe onlIne at subscriptions.informa.com.au

ABHR JA13

Please return to: Natalie Gardner, Subscriptions Co-ordinator, Informa Australia PO BOX Q1439, QUEEN VICTORIA BUILDING, NSW 1230 or FAX 02 9299 4622 or CALL our SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTmENT on 02 9080 4447

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

101

WEIGHING

Aussie-made on-board weighers Australian on-board weighing equipment manufacturer Atlas Weighing says its suite of Compuload systems can save heavy vehicle operators both time and money.

A

tlas says the core Compuload system can be used to measure the correct amount of material in either the front end loader or excavator bucket of a heavy vehicle. This measurement is crucial to loading trucks correctly the first time, a factor Atlas says can spare operators the need to either refill or remove material once the truck gets to a weighbridge.

"Since their inception in 1988, Atlas' Compuload sales now exceed 5000 units," said Wayne Grech, sales, product development and Marketing, Atlas Weighing.

"The three models of Compuload the 1000, 3000 and 4000 are made in Australia with regular software and feature upgrades to keep pace with technological progress and yet maintain the easy-to-use features required by operators and management."

Atlas says they are ideally suited to all front end loader and forklift weighing applications.

The Compuload 1000 features a small, compact design for basic weighing applications.

The Compuload 3000 Mk II can weigh in static or lift speed compensated mode and also has the ability to run the

Compuload 4060 printer, allowing the operator to see individual bucket readings, together with weight totals.

"With chain of responsibility laws, the correct loading of trucks is very important in avoiding expensive overloading fines, loading the truck to the correct capacity to optimise efficiency and to ensure trucks do not go out under-loaded," said Grech. "Correct loading is important in making sure you run your business efficiently in today's tight market place."

The Compuload 4000 has extra features for those users requiring greater control of the weighing process, Atlas adds.

"When used with the 4060 printer, there are three default settings on the Compuload 4000 that enables the operator to enter a customer's name, the product being loaded and a truck registration number (all of which can be changed if required)," explained Grech. "The Compuload 4000 has a memory function that will allow the operator to store the weighing process data within the indicator for retrieval or printing at a later date, so there is no need to print each weighing process."

The loading process can be further

The Compuload 4000 has a memory function that enables an operator to store weighing process data within the indicator for retrieval or printing at a later date.

streamlined by adding an Atlas Compuload USB Downloader, which allows operators to download the stored weighing data to a supplied USB stick, which will format the data to open directly with Excel or other spreadsheet software programs.

This will allow management to create a permanent record of the weighing data as well as use it to analyse further control operations.

"Our Compuload Load Manager is very cost-effective and accurate for truck scales," said Grech.

"The system measures the axle weights on air suspension trucks with mechanical front single or twin steers, and includes an option for parabolic suspension systems.

"With the weighing of trucks becoming a safety issue (to make sure loads are evenly distributed as per the truck manufacturer's recommendations), the need to get separate axle weighs, gross and total payload weighs correct is very important."

In addition to its Compuload range, Atlas also offers 3B6 excavator scales, manufactured in Italy.

Contact: wayne@atlasweighing.com.au

NEW PRODUCT

Telsmith says its T400 cone crusher is the most powerful yet In launching the T400 cone crusher, Telsmith says the device is rated with the largest in-class clearing stroke and the highest in-class crushing force.

T

he T400 delivers 300 kW performance and a crushing capacity output range from 135 to 545mt/h.

Designed for a variety of tough quarry and mining applications, the T400 is engineered for maximum productivity, and lower operating costs, Telsmith says.

“For increased uptime and safety, the T400 features a large clearing circuit, which is engineered to safely and quickly allow any uncrushable materials to pass.”

Designed with a maximum feed opening of 305mm, the T400 includes a 1321mm diameter head, a 1397mm receiving hopper, replaceable mainframe liners and epoxy-secured manganese steel crushing members.

To minimize downtime and reduce

102 Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2014

inventory costs, the T400 enables the use of a single bowl for all liners over its range of operation – allowing optimum versatility, flexibility, and efficiency in any aggregate application, according to the manufacturer.

In an effort to achieve optimum wear life and reduced maintenance time and costs, Telsmith has included with the T400 a patent-pending anti-spin feature that prevents head spin to extend manganese life.

Like other key components, it’s mounted on top of the machine to offer top-service access.

The T400 is also designed to operate with pressure lubrication oil, while eliminating the use of a gear box and a separate hydraulic circuit.

Telsmith’s new T400 cone crusher.

It features six cylinders – fewer than many conventional units – without sacrificing crushing force, Telsmith claims.

“The Telsmith T400 is also nitrogen-free and is engineered with a patented release system that eliminates the need for maintenance-intensive hydraulic accumulators.

“Even more operational cost savings stem from features such as a patent-pending concave (bowl liner) retention system which consists of a specially-designed and positioned lip ring that centers the bowl and achieves retention without the use of hammers and other hand tools.”

Contact: A stec Australia, local distributor Email: dsmale@astecaustralia.com

From Vacuum to High Pressure; From 0 to 900kW, Atlas Copco has it covered

*

Low Pressure

Vacuum

<1 mbar

ATM

Latest innovation

*

Medium Pressure

4 bar

*

High Pressure

>40 bar

Energy efficient

300 bar

Class Zero*

*Zero risk of contamination, damaged or unsafe products, losses from operational downtime and damaging your companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard-won professional reputation www.efficiencyblowers.com dennis.benson@au.atlascopco.com 1800 023 469