Eurosilo is a major Dutch engineering and contracting company that specializes in the storage of non-free-flowing bulk solids.

Today, the company is technically capable of designing totally enclosed storage and handling systems for storing enormous quantities of bulk solids to meet the high demand for energy and mineral resources. The main applications are:

 

  • the power industry for storing coal, petcoke, wood pellets, limestone, FGD gypsum, fly ash, fixated gypsum etc.;
  • the chemical industry for storing: fertilizer, urea, minerals and other basic chemicals;
  • the recycling industry for storing: filter dust, e-scrap and concentrates; and
  • the agricultural industry for storing potato starch, sugar and other agribulk products.

 

PAYBACK PERIOD

It is not only employees, as internal stakeholders, who are affected by pollution in the work environment, but also external stakeholders such as communities affected by local pollution and government regulators, investors, environmental activist groups etc. They will increasingly put pressure on organizations to look for new, creative and cost-efficient ways to manage and minimize environmental impacts.

Totally enclosed storage systems are made possible by using the Dutch Eurosilo® concept. This proven concept meets the requirements of environmental protection agencies worldwide.

Preventing possible contamination of surrounding land by runoff from outside stockpiles, or polluted drain water at the stockyard itself, are major arguments in favour of enclosed storage facilities. Enclosed storage also prevents deterioration of material due to weather conditions such as frost, wind and rain. This is important in order to maintain quality standards, reduce maintenance costs and/or improve operations. It is also possible to save energy, if increased moisture does not need to be removed later on.

Following this approach, it is often the case that the additional investment made in an enclosed storage facilities pays for itself within approximately ten years.

MINIMAL FOOTPRINT

As with many other resources, space is often a restraint when considering expansion. Open-air storage of coal also adds costly environmental drawbacks as well as a loss of energetic value due to moisture increase. Enclosed storage in highly automated silos solves all these problems, with the smallest possible footprint.

Recently the Eurosilo storage system in Lünen (2 × 100,000m3) has been started up. The infeed capacity amounts to 2,000tph (tonnes per hour) and the outfeed amounts to a maximum of 1,000tph which can be reduced to 200tph for blending purposes.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE EUROSILO SYSTEM.

Filter dust

Thirty-three per cent of worldwide steel production is produced by remelting scrap in electric arc furnaces. The total amount of dust collected at these plants amounts to approximately 5mt (million tonnes) per annum. Instead of disposing of it as a hazardous waste, EAFD (electric arc furnace dust) can be recycled.

A 12,000m3 Eurosilo has been built at the first Zincox plant in Korea. The dust emitted at the plant is very fine (50 microns), and tends to fluidize. Therefore, the shutter column system has been applied. By programming the opening and closing procedure of the shutters, the products can be handled in a controlled manner. 

Fertilizer (ammonium sulphate) CAPRO Corporation in Ulsan will this year start up the third 40,000m3 silo for storing ammonium sulphate. The silo is built as a steel structure with a wooden inner wall to withstand the corrosive characteristics of the bulk solid.

Wood pellets

For storing wood pellets a similar system can be applied. Since the wood pellets have a low moisture, normally around 6–8%, the tendency for self- heating is relatively low. The flat top surface of the material which enables the possibility to provide a cover of foam/gel on top is very effective. It also creates the possibility to use a thermal imaging camera to monitor the surface area.

Due to the fact that the reactivity of torrified wood pellets is significantly lower the large scale storage silos are well suited for storing this type of upcoming fuel as well.