BRUKS Rockwood Inc., headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, USA, is a major manufacturer specializing in designing, installing and maintaining bulk material handling systems for the paper, energy, port terminal and minerals industries. BRUKS Rockwood is a division of BRUKS Group headquartered outside of Stockholm, Sweden, and part of the JCE Group of companies. BRUKS Rockwood’s innovative designs help manufacturers move their bulk materials more efficiently with automated systems that reduce labour and equipment costs, reduce product waste/loss, improve the quality of the delivered material, and reduce ongoing maintenance costs in harsh environments.
BRUKS Rockwood offers a wide range of product lines for handling bulk materials, from material receiving, processing, storage, reclaim, and delivering to the process. Although the company custom designs equipment to suit nearly any application; its standard equipment supply for bulk handling includes truck unloading equipment, stacker/reclaimer technology, and shiploaders.
Each play a pivotal role in the successful operation of an efficient bulk materials system, with the most recent projects for BRUKS Rockwood including the handling of sulphur pril, coal, petroleum coke, and wood pellets, and biomass. Careful attention must be paid to the each design for handling a variety of goods with differing material characteristics, from viscosity, delicacy, combustibility, and dusting.
Over the last couple of years BRUKS Rockwood has seen steady growth in the demand for automated stacker/reclaimers in the bio energy industry. It has just completed a couple of major projects in the Unites States, including the complete material handling system for Ameresco’s Savannah River Site and DTE Energy in Bakersfield, California.
Both fully automated systems, wood fuel is received by truck dumpers, cleaned and sized, and stacked in circular piles with the BRUKS Rockwood circular stacker/reclaimer (COSR). Based on boiler demand, material is automatically reclaimed at a controlled, variable rate to the boiler. Both facilities were commissioned on 2011, each producing approximately 40MW power.
BRUKS Rockwood has also experienced rapid growth in export terminals handling both bio fuels and coal. This is largely due to increasing European demand for wood pellets produced in the United States to help meet their renewable energy targets. Many terminals are upgrading their on-site storage and reclaim capabilities in order to efficiently load the new super-sized Cape vessels, which will entail high capacity reclaimers and ship loaders.
Kinder Morgan is now loading coal into oceangoing vessels using the newest shiploader design in the BRUKS Rockwood portfolio. The machine installed at the International Marine Terminal in Port Sulphur, Louisiana, was successfully commissioned in January, 2012. The loader has a design capacity of 5,000tph (tonnes per hour). Utilizing travelling, slewing and luffing features, the machine is capable of efficiently loading vessels in place. This design drastically reduces dock time and manpower requirements while providing maximum vessel size flexibility. This machine was delivered and commissioned in less than one year’s time.
BRUKS Rockwood has now completed the delivery and commissioning of a 220ft cantilevered stacker for Duke Energy. The stacker will be an integral part of Duke’s coal receiving system. The robust stacker design will allow for automated stacking in a high capacity system (2,500tph). It is designed to build a circular/conical pile without the use of intermediate supports. This cantilevered design provides for unobstructed access to the pile and the base of the machine.
BRUKS Rockwood has received a contract to provide the Port of Lake Charles with a circular polar stacker. The machine will be equipped with a shuttling feature that will enable the port to maximize their storage volume in a restricted space. The machine will be designed to accommodate both petroleum coke and coal.
Metso is a global supplier of technology and services to customers in the process industries, including mining, construction, pulp and paper, power, and oil and gas. The company’s home office is located in Finland but over 30,000 professionals based in over 50 countries deliver sustainability and profitability to customers worldwide.
Metso’s products include grinding, crushing, screening, process equipment,pyroequipmentandbulkmaterialshandling. This article will focus on the company’s Bulk Materials Handling Group.
Bulk Materials Handling specializes in equipment for loading, unloading and storing bulk products such as coal, iron ore, limestone, wood chips, potash, grain, fertilizer and sundry other bulk materials.
With over 250 designers and engineers, a comprehensive product line and an unparalleled range of services, Metso customers large and small can expect positive results. The company’s Bulk Materials Handling Group main office is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with three additional engineering and design offices located in Sorocaba, Brazil, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Mumbai, India.
The core product line is the result of mergers between several major bulk materials handling companies. Serving customers since 1889, Metso is the original equipment manufacturer for McNally Wellman, Stephens-Adamson, Cable Belt, Strachan & Henshaw (BMH), Dravo Wellman, McDowell Wellman, McNally Pittsburg, NICO, Mead Morrison, MKT Corporation, PECO, Nolan HCM and Svedala.
The primary machines that Metso supplies are: rotary rail car dumpers and train positioners, bucketwheel stacker reclaimers, portal scraper stacker reclaimers, continuous barge unloaders, cable belt conveyors, MEC crane unloaders, grab bucket unloaders, apron feeders, wobbler feeders, rail car and barge pullers, en-masse conveyors and conveyor accessories.
Metso supplies these machines to terminal operators and power plants. These facilities handle any type of bulk material such as: coal, sulphur, wood chips, limestone, gypsum and various ores. The company’s competition includes: Sandvik, Krupp, Heyl and Patterson, and EMS-Tech.
Metso has seen a recent surge in activity for yard machines in North America. A brief summary of its most recent projects for stacker reclaimers is provided.
RECENTLY COMPLETED PROJECTS- a portal stacker reclaimer for gypsum: Metso has recently supplied and put into service a machine for the handling of gypsum for a major utility located on the east coast. This is a circular style machine. It has a stack out rate of 400tph (tonnes per hour) and a reclaim rate of 1,500tph. This machine is located in an enclosed building and has been running successfully for over one year.
- a portal stacker reclaimer: Metso has recently supplied and put into service a machine for the handling of coal for a major utility located in western Canada. This is a linear style machine. It has a stack out rate of 550tph and a reclaim rate of 450tph. This machine, operating in extreme outdoor conditions, has been running for over one year.
NEW PROJECTS CURRENTLY IN THE DESIGN STAGE- a portal stacker reclaimer for handling potash at a new green field site: Metso is supplying a portal stacker reclaimer for handling potash for a client located in the central United States. The machine has a stack out rate of 1,200tph and a reclaim rate of 800tph. It will be in an enclosed storage building.
- a bucket wheel stacker reclaimer for coal handling: Metso is supplying two bucket wheel reclaimers for a major utility on the east coast. These are duplicate machines that have a 132 foot boom with a stack out rate of 4,400tph and a reclaim rate of 4,400tph. These machines are replacing existing machines in an existing coal storage yard.
- a bucket wheel reclaimer for handling coal: Metso is supplying a bucket wheel stacker reclaimer for a major Gulf coast utility. This machine has a 45 foot boom with a reclaim rate of 3,000tph. This machine is replacing an existing machine in a coal storage yard.
The above three contracts are all currently in the design stage and will soon go to fabrication to be supplied to the customers by the end of 2012.
Metso prides itself on providing custom designed machines for the industry. It looks at the application in which the client is utilizing the machine and determines the best total cost solution for that application. This includes not only the capital cost but we also take into consideration the ease of the following factors: erection, service and spare parts.
Another very important point that facilitates Metso’s success in supplying its machines is that it provides services to the customer long after the supply of the machines are completed.
Metso's two greatest assets are the experience of its people and its extensive archives of drawings and specifications. Together, they assure accurate technical field services and parts supply for systems and equipment, designed, manufactured and supplied by Metso.
Metso’s field service engineers have specialized experience working on both old and new bulk handling, coal prep and heavy equipment. They are trained to search for the cause of problems and to use their knowledge of similar machines and the latest available technology to help maintain and improve customer operations. Metso’s parts technicians provide a highly specialized service to customers through its parts supply programmes. Original-designed replacement parts are supplied.
As can be seen, the market is improving on two fronts. One is that there are many machines in North America that are over 25 years old. They have reached the point where it is no longer cost effective to repair the machines and the entire machine has to be replaced. Metso has also seen an upswing in the market for expansion and green field sites for export facilities. All of these facilities will need the bulk materials handling equipment that Metso supplies to the industry.
High level of activity at TAIM WESER’s bulk materials handling business unit
TAIM WESER has consolidated its international position within the stockyard machinery market with various turnkey projects undertaken in the last few years all over the world. At the moment the level of activity is very high at TAIM WESER’s facilities and, through its bulk materials handling business unit, the company is currently involved in various projects in Europe, North Africa, Middle East and South America.
EUROPETAIM WESER has just started up a big stockyard machinery facility consisting of two storage plants, one for petcoke and the other for sulphur, including two portal scraper reclaimer machines, 600tph (tonnes per hour) of capacity, two luffing stacker machines, 500tph of capacity, the complete belt conveyors system and truck loading bays.
NORTH AFRICAIn this region of the world TAIM WESER has finished the erection of one luffable and slewable boom type stacker machine and one bucketwheel boom type reclaimer machine, for iron ore pellet stockyard, both machines running on a 555m-long common rail track.
The stacker machine has a nominal capacity of 3,000tph and a maximum capacity of 4,000tph and it is equipped with a 40-metre-long boom; the bucketwheel reclaimer machine has a nominal capacity of 750tph and a maximum capacity of 1,000tph, and it is equipped with 40-metre-long boom.
Moreover,TAIM WESER has completed the start-up of another project for two phosphate washing plants, which includes a 12,000-metre-long belt conveyor system designed in two flights, together with the supply of three bucketwheel reclaimers with a capacity of 3,600tph and boom length of 50 metres.
MIDDLE EASTTAIM WESER is supplying six luffable and slewable combined stacker/reclaimers of the bucketwheel type for iron ore, pellets, lump ore and lime at a steel complex. The machines have a capacity of 1,500tph stacking and 600tph reclaiming and a boom of 40 metres length.
SOUTH AMERICATAIM WESER is working on the turnkey supply of a conveyor belt system and stockyard machinery installation for a new big port terminal. The project includes four combined bucketwheel stacker/reclaimers for iron ore, with capacities of 10,000tph stacking and 12,000tph reclaiming and 60m boom length. The supply also includes the complete belt conveyors system with a total length of 13,000 metres.
TAIM WESER: EXPERIENCE AND INNOVATIONTAIM WESER has been supplying bulk handling solutions for over 100 years and it is able to provide optimum solutions to the needs of its customers within a range of industries, such as the power sector, ports, iron and steel, fertilizers, mining, petrochemical and cement. Its equipment can be used to handle a wide range of materials including, grain, fertilizers, coal as well as petcoke and minerals.
TAIM WESER supplies all types of reclaimers (bridge, scraper, cantilever, portal and bucketwheel machines), fixed or travelling stackers and combined stacking and reclaiming machines, which allows it to customize solutions for its clients, depending on the type of material to be handled, type of storage and environmental conditions.
TAIM WESER provides either individual specialized equipment or turnkey installations, integrating all key elements and auxiliary equipment giving its clients tailor-made solutions. The company works with the latest technology and its product range covers all the necessary equipment for unloading, conveying, storing, reclaiming and loading of bulk materials, having supplied equipment and turnkey plants in more than 50 countries worldwide.
3D vision systems for stockyard automation enter the global market
While stockyards were managed entirely manually until the late 1990s, automation has become more and more common today. However, with the first generation of PLC-based stockyard automation systems, operators had to sacrifice on reclaim performance especially when working on non-standard or manually modified piles. Due to the lack of detailed information about the pile shape, the reclaimer slews out of the pile frequently digging air instead of coal or iron ore.
overlap between the bucket wheel and the stockpile. This avoids not only slewing out of the pile; the system will also deliver the same performance as an experienced operator starting with the first cut to any pile.
During reclaiming, possible collision hazards are checked continuously based on the terrain database and a new cut (bench) will be selected when necessary. In the example shown above, the S/R most probably has to change to a lower bench within a few more meters to avoid colliding with the pile.
A key issue for the successful automation was the accuracy of the terrain model.A typical bucket cuts between 0.3m (small reclaimer, iron ore) and 1.5m (large reclaimer, coal) into the pile and allows a positioning error of +/-10–20cm at the maximum, before performance gets reduced (when cutting too shallow) or the bucket wheel motor is overloaded (when cutting too deep).
The iSAM team overcame these problems by using advanced 3D scanners and RTK GPS receivers delivering cm-level accuracy anywhere on the stockyard. The resulting real- time terrain model is not only used for the automation, it also a very useful tool for terrain management.
After the installations in European ports had proved that they were at least as good as the best operators, other markets followed quickly. The 1st system in North America was installed at Westshore Terminals,Vancouver, in 2010 and, as this article is being published, Port Hedland in Australia is making the change.
Having introduced the technology a decade ago, iSAM AG has now become renowned as a provider of 3D stockyard automation with nearly 30 systems installed and a global support network reaching from North America via Europe to the growing Asia-Pacific region.
SCHADE portal scraper for chrome ore to be supplied to Kazakhstan
Early in 2012 SCHADE Lagertechnik is to deliver a portal scraper (rail track: 48m, conveying capacity: 500tph [tonnes per hour]) for chrome ore to JSC TNK Kazchrome. It will be employed in Aktobe near the Russian border, in north-west Kazakhstan. The ore deposits located there have attracted a few more important companies apart from JSC TNK Kazchrome. Kazchrome is part of the ENRC Group and is a major ferrochrome producer. The company operates several large ferrochrome plants in Kazakhstan.
The new portal scraper spans the stockpiled ore and travels back and forth longitudinally over the stockpile. In this instance and owing to the abrasiveness of the material, SCHADE is employing a scraper chain furnished with a wing roller, the bearing being arranged directly on the shaft. The latter was especially developed for highly abrasive bulk materials. The drag link conveyor chain will be used in particular where chain lubrication is not permitted. It is furnished with hardened bolts and bushings which keep the wear factor at a low level. Each link of the bushed chain is additionally equipped with bearings and wing rollers which run in the chain guide. The rollers are furnished with bearings and special seals. An automatic chain tensioning device also ensures a low maintenance requirement. The drive shaft sits in sealed bearings and is fitted with two welded tumblers featuring exchangeable special steel tooth segments.
The portal scraper transports the bulk material away in layers from the side slope and guides it over a concrete ramp onto a belt conveyor which is arranged longitudinally adjacent to the stockpile. At the end of the bulk material stockpile the scraper boom lowers by a depth of cut. Then the scraper carries away the next layer in the opposing direction of travel. This process is repeated until the stockpile has been reclaimed in its entirety.
Reclamation takes place automatically, the cutting and grading of the stockpile is usually performed manually by the operators in Aktobe. During reclamation chains and drives run continuously whilst the angle of slope of the stockpile and the front ends of the stockyard are monitored automatically. This monitoring enables the scraper to travel up to the headwall, save for a minimal safety distance. Simultaneous monitoring of the angle of slope prevents the collapse of the side of the stockpile.
ABOUT SCHADE LAGERTECHNIKSCHADE Lagertechnik GmbH is among the leading manufacturers worldwide of equipment for bulk material stockyards and blending beds for all major sectors. The company was founded in 1879 and is today headquartered in Herne. It has gained an outstanding reputation worldwide for its modern stockyard and homogenizing concepts. It has belonged to the AUMUND Group since 2001.
ABOUT THE AUMUND GROUPThe AUMUND Group is active worldwide. The conveying and storage specialist has special expertise at its disposal when dealing with bulk materials. With a high degree of individuality, both its technically sophisticated as well as innovative products have contributed to the AUMUND Group today being a major force in the market in many areas of conveying and storage technology. The manufacturing companies AUMUND Fo¨rdertechnik GmbH (Rheinberg, Germany), SCHADE Lagertechnik GmbH (Herne, Germany), B&W Mechanical Handling Ltd. (Ely, Great Britain) as well as AUMUND Logistik GmbH (Rheinberg, Germany) are consolidated under the umbrella of the AUMUND Group. In conjunction with the headquarters of the manufacturing companies, the global conveying and storage technology business is spearheaded by a total of eight locations in Asia, Europe, North and South America.