BEUMER pipe conveyors central to alternative fuel handling system 

The new business segment AFR systems at BEUMER Group makes it possible for cement and lime plants to use alternative fuels. Central to this concept is a BEUMER pipe conveyor system that efficiently moves alternative fuels in an eco-friendly and low-maintenance fashion.

RELIABLE ENERGY SUPPLIER

Cement manufacturing is particularly energy-intensive. In order to reduce the use of expensive primary fuels like coal and oil, cement plant operators focus increasingly on alternative fuels and raw materials (AFR). The use is generally focused on the fuels. Neither the manufacturing process, the end product, nor the emissions may be affected. Therefore, high-caloric wastes that cannot be further recycled, e.g. from plastic and packaging residues, paper, composite material or textiles, have to be treated beforehand to be ready for co-processing.

In order to help customers efficiently convey, store and dose the treated fuels, BEUMER Group has established the new business segment AFR systems. Germany, October 1973. For political reasons, Arab countries reduced their oil production, which caused oil prices to skyrocket. This was a very precarious situation, because crude oil was an important energy source, also for the cement industry to operate their rotary kilns. With this first oil crisis, plant operators started to shift towards using cost-effective fuels and raw materials.

Besides mineral waste that can be used as alternative raw material, the market primarily employs the use of fuel alternatives, because approximately 30% of production costs are spent on energy. In addition to fluid alternative fuels, such as used oil or solvents, the majority of solid fuels consist of complete or shredded scrap tyres, scrap wood, or mixtures of plastic, paper, composite materials or textiles.

After they have been treated and quality-controlled, they show calorific values similar to brown coal. The calorific value of scrap tyres is even comparable to that of stone coal. When producing cement, it is also necessary to ensure that the quality of the ash residues matches the quality of the end product. As all material components are completely incorporated into the 

clinker and mineralized, their use makes for an economic production process. In addition, primary raw and fuel supplies are conserved and landfill volume is reduced.

Pre-treated alternative fuels are mostly supplied from external vendors, ready for incineration. BEUMER Group now offers tailor-made AFR systems to lime and cement plants for the safe transport and storage of solid materials. Based on wide-ranging experiences and the customer’s requirements, the systems comprise the entire chain, from receiving and unloading the delivery vehicle, up to storing, sampling, conveying and dosing solid alternative fuels. BEUMER Group, provider of intralogistics, supplies its customers worldwide now with three systems, from one single source.

TAILORED TO EVERY APPLICATION

BEUMER Group’s programme includes the starter system that is used at the main burner. In the cement and limestone industry, primary fuels are usually ground to grain sizes of less than 100 micrometres and fed via the burner. At the end of the rotary kiln, the burner heats up to 2,000°C, the temperature that is needed for limestone, sand, clay and ore to react and become clinker as an intermediate product. In order to use solid alternative fuels in the clinkering zone burner, they should deliver a calorific value that is at least similar to brown coal (ca. 22 ± 2MJ/kg), have grain sizes of less than 30 millimetres and burn out while being fed. The oven-ready material is usually delivered in moving-floor trailers. 

BEUMER Group provides a docking station that also serves as storage on site. Once the trailer is emptied, it is completely replaced or refilled in the large tent using a wheel loader. The material is metered volumetrically and conveyed to the clinkering zone burner. This solution is deliberately designed as a test system. This way, the operator can test their suppliers, the quality of the fuels and their furnace behaviour.

SOLUTION FOR THE CALCINER

With the second system, the calciner can be fed with more coarse alternative fuels, such as tyre derived fuel or the fuels described above, but in a more coarse state. They are generally less processed, contain three-dimensional particles and therefore require more time to burn out than for example the more intensively processed, exclusively two-dimensional secondary fuels for the main burner.

The coarse calciner fuel is delivered in moving-floor trailers or tippers. The secondary fuels are quickly unloaded and stored temporarily in a dust-proof way. Another storage serves as a flow buffer, which can hold the overall capacity of 900 cubic metres of the preceding bunker. From here, the pipe conveyor transports the material to the calciner in the preheater tower. Here, the secondary fuel is weighed and dosed. During the feed towards the hearth in the calciner, there is often the risk that the material or the conveying system can catch fire due to thermal radiation or pulsations. For this reason, the valveless special feed was developed, so the material can be safely fed to the calciner.

In order to ensure safe and automatic fuel supply after successful testing, BEUMER Group provides systems for permanent operation with high thermal substitution rates. The systems consist of the receiving area and a storage system, where the crane system can store material of different quality into different storage zones and boxes. Experiences so far have shown that you always have to calculate with disruptives or quality deficits in the fuel. This is why the entire storage and conveying technology in the hall can be provided with equipment that is able to separate metal, wet and three-dimensional disruptives from the fuel for the main burner and keep disrupting oversized grains from the calciner fuel.

Equipped with the necessary sensor technology, the operation runs automatically. The crane can be used independently for homogenization, in order to minimize quality variations or feed the lines towards the main burner and the calciner.

PIPE CONVEYOR STANDS THE TEST

Schwenk Zement AG’s product diversity and production capacity make their plant in Bernburg one of the largest and most efficient cement plants in Germany. In order to reduce energy costs, the cement plant is increasingly using secondary fuels that are engineered in external processing plants into high-quality fuels with defined product parameters.

Until now, the manufacturer had been using drag chain conveyors. After almost a decade of use and numerous modifications however, more and more maintenance was required. The fuel quality also improved over time, so that, due to its density of 0.2t/m3, the existing technology was no longer sufficient to convey the required quantities towards the main burner. This created the need for a reliable, eco-friendly and low- maintenance solution. In addition, the new conveyor needed to be optimally adapted to the curved routing in the plant.

Schwenk Zement KG opted for the BEUMER AFR system with its pipe conveyor to feed the main burner with alternative fuels. The system works almost completely automatically, from receiving to the feeding system of the rotary kiln. Cranes pick up the engineered secondary fuels in the storehouse and fill them into the discharge bunkers with their discharge equipment. From there, a chain belt conveyor transports the fuel continuously towards the pipe conveyor, which conveys it to the weigh feeders before the main burner.

The curved pipe conveyor at the core of the system requires little maintenance and its enclosed design and quiet operation protect against emissions and the wind-blown dispersal of the fuel. It is able to connect long distances without interruption and navigate tight curve radii that adapt to the individual conditions of the plant. 

 

Conveyor upgrade tackles dust and spillage at Coeur Rochester mine

Coeur Mining, Inc. is the largest primary silver producer in the nation and a significant gold producer, with three wholly-owned operations in North America and two in Latin America, write Robert Stepper, General Manager, Coeur Rochester and Richard Shields,Western Regional Manager, Martin Engineering. Incorporated in 1928, the firm currently employs around 2,000 people. The company’s Rochester mine and associated heap leach facilities are located in Pershing County, Nevada. Coeur Rochester produced 4.2 million ounces of silver in 2014, along with 44,888 ounces of gold, and has proven and probable reserves of more than 80 million ounces of silver and over 500,000 ounces of gold.

The company operates with a deep commitment to its code of corporate responsibility to employees, contractors, communities and the environment. “Our primary commitment to employees and contractors is to protect their health and safety,” said Coeur President and CEO Mitchell Krebs. “Safety programming and management systems are continuously reviewed and improved to provide the training and tools necessary to prevent accidents, injuries and occupational illnesses.” That code is evident in the facility’s safety record: more than six years and counting without a single lost-time injury (LTI).

As part of that commitment, Coeur Rochester recently undertook a comprehensive review of its bulk material handling processes. The massive Rochester site is spread over 10,800 acres (43.7km2), and includes a network of 20 conveyors, originally designed and installed in 1986. Given the system’s age and the amount of usage over nearly 30 years in service, company officials began considering ways to update the conveyors with leading-edge technology to raise efficiency, reduce dust and spillage, and contribute further to safety.

Coeur managers initiated discussions with HARDROK Equipment, a trusted supplier with a history of more than 40 years of combined experience in maintaining and optimizing crushing, conveying and screening operations. The teams met and did a thorough review of the entire conveyor network, followed by a series of five training sessions to review the issues and the technologies available to resolve them.
HARDROK is a licensed dealer of Martin Engineering conveyor products, and much of the discussion revolved around the company’s EVO® Conveyor
Architecture, a literal reinventing of the conventional design approach for conveyors.

“We’ve always operated under the belief that high-quality products and services cost less per tonne over the life of the product,” observed HARDROK President Ted Zebroski. “With proper design, premium components should improve productivity and safety, and that greater efficiency delivers a lower total cost of ownership.”

During plant construction most conveyor systems have been specified by determining the capacity and meeting the minimum codes and safety requirements, with a focus on the lowest construction cost,” Zebroski said. “Instead, the Martin EVO approach examines every detail for opportunities to make conveyors safer, more productive and better able to contain fugitive material. And the concept can be applied to new systems or retrofitted to existing designs.”

Conveyor B was chosen as the starting point with the most potential for improvement, a 48in (122cm)-wide belt running at 386 FPM, with a 40ft (12.2m) chute wall. With a troughing angle of 35°, Conveyor B handles nearly 1,500tph of rock that has been sized to 4in (10.2cm) minus, carrying it from the secondary cone crusher to the surge pile stacker. It’s loaded directly by a vibrating grizzly feeder under the chute and the secondary crusher.

“There’s a long fall going to the secondary crusher, and that creates a huge disturbance in the material flow,” explained Crusher Operations/Fixed Plant Maintenance Superintendent Wayne Maita. “We were seeing a lot of dust and spillage in that area. It not only affected the air quality and presented a potential safety risk from accumulated material on floors and structures, but it also meant putting operational personnel in close proximity to the moving conveyor for cleanup.”

Coeur also noticed belt damage occurring as a result of fugitive material. “As material escapes, it accumulates on idlers and other components, often creating friction points that contribute to excessive wear and premature failure,” commented Martin Engineering Product Engineer Daniel Marshall. “That can have immediate costs such as belt replacement and seized bearings. And once an idler freezes, the constant belt movement can wear through the shell with surprising speed.”  

Maita estimated that dealing with the spillage required 5-10 man-hours per day, seven days a week. So in addition to the safety aspect of the fugitive material, there was a significant cost in wasted labour. “We pay our guys to be operators, not to sweep and shovel spilled material,” he said. “That time is better spent on core business activities.”

The proposal for Conveyor B included a number of upgrades to eliminate belt sag, provide effective edge sealing and remove dust from the material stream, while withstanding the heavy loads and near-constant usage. Specific components were recommended for durability under the heavy load and impact at the transfer point.

A team of eight technicians from HARDROK and two Martin supervisors began work during a scheduled outage, starting by leveling out the conveyor structure and adding 4×4” (10.2 × 10.2cm) angle iron reinforcement as needed to straighten out the belt path. They removed existing clamps, skirt seal, skirt boards, belt support components and belt cleaner assemblies, and modified the inlet chute to accommodate a new containment system and provide a clean, flat surface at a CEMA standard width.

Five Martin EVO Combination Cradles were then installed to absorb the impact of the falling load, while minimizing friction and belt wear. The design features steel-reinforced impact bars and adjustable wing supports to match standard trough angles of 20o, 35o or 45o. Instead of the full layer of support bars that appear on a true impact cradle, the Combination Cradle replaces the center bars with an impact idler roll, a design that delivers a flat surface for an effective edge seal, but minimizes the friction of having sliding bars all the way across. Eccentrics built into the supports also deliver five degrees of wear adjustment, so the alignment between wings and idlers can be optimized for effective transfer point sealing.

The cradles employ Martin Engineering’s Trac-MountTM technology, allowing the units to slide in and out easily for maintenance or replacement. The modular components are light enough to be removed by one person, without using heavy lifting equipment. “Conveyor downtime is extremely expensive, especially for high-speed operations,” Marshall added. “The longer components last and the easier they are to replace, the lower the cost of ownership.”

Technicians also installed five EVO Slider Cradles with low- friction bars to support the belt edges and stabilize the belt line, eliminating belt sag and bounce. The Slider Cradles are also track mounted for ease of installation and maintenance. Located in the chute box after the impact cradles, the units feature “double-life” slider bars, which offer a superior seal with low friction. The proprietary box design allows each bar to be flipped over at the end of its useful life to provide a second wear surface. The result is a flat and stable belt surface throughout the settling zone, reducing fugitive material and extending belt health.

Forty feet (12.2 m) of modular chute wall was used to replace the old structure, with a tail box and integrated dust curtains. A chromium carbide overlay on the inside protects the new containment system from intermittent high-burden depths on the conveyor.

The chute was then fitted with an abrasion-resistant external wear liner, another design upgrade. Previous wear liner designs were welded to the inside of the chute, with only the skirt seal located on the outside.

The logic behind this conventional design is for the wear liner to protect the skirtboard, which is typically 1⁄4 inch (0.64 cm) sheet metal and not strong enough to withstand the sustained force and abrasion from bulk material.

Unfortunately, the wear liner is essentially a sacrificial layer, and the eventual removal/replacement of this design requires confined space entry, multiple workers and days of downtime. Instead, Martin Engineering designers came up with the idea of raising the chute work about 4” (10.2 cm) above the belt, then putting the wear liner on the outside. Using this approach, the material still hits the liner and doesn’t damage the chute. The result is significantly reduced installation and service time, with reduced risk during service.

At the bottom of the wear liner is mounted 84 linear feet (25.6m) of Martin ApronSealTM Double Skirting, which delivers two wear surfaces on a single elastomer sealing strip. When the bottom side of the strip against the belt is worn, the sealing strip is inverted, providing a second service life. The design was the first dual-sealing system for belt conveyors, incorporating a primary seal clamped to the steel skirtboard to keep lumps on the belt and a secondary or “outrigger” strip to capture any fines or dust particles that pass beneath the primary seal. The secondary seal lies gently on the belt and self-adjusts to maintain consistent strip-to-belt pressure, despite high-speed material movement and fluctuations in the belt’s line of travel.

To maintain a straight and consistent belt path, technicians then installed a Martin Heavy-Duty TrackerTM Belt Tracking System, both upper and lower units. Utilizing innovative multiple- pivot, torque-multiplying technology, the tracker detects slight misalignments initiated by unbalanced loads and fouled rollers, using the force of the belt to immediately adjust its position and realign the path.

Rollers attached to the end of a sensing arm assembly ride both sides of the belt edge, detecting even slight variations in the belt path. Employing the force of the wandering belt, the arms automatically position a steering idler in the opposite direction of the misalignment. Transferring the motion to the steering idler through a unique parallel linkage requires less force to initiate the correction, so fine-tuning of the path can be continuous, active and precise.

To address belt carryback and further reduce the chance of fugitive material, a dual belt cleaner system was mounted on the face of the head pulley. The primary unit is a Martin QC1TM Cleaner XHD, which is engineered to deliver durable belt scraper  performance in challenging applications. Designed for high belt speeds and multiple splices, the unit’s patented “CARP” Constant Angle Radial Pressure design maintains cleaning performance through all stages of blade life. The rugged 3/8in (95mm) steel tubing main frame has a steel bar backbone, and an aluminium extrusion in the base holds the cleaner snugly in place.

Directly after the primary cleaner is a Martin DT2TM Inline Cleaner XHD, a secondary conveyor belt scraper featuring rugged blades installed on a track that slides into position on a rigid steel mandrel, which allows quick blade replacement to increase the conveyor’s availability. The design’s individual belt cleaner blade segments slip into a sturdy track-forming cartridge, which slides over the stainless steel mainframe for simple installation.

A final belt protection mechanism was installed at the tail pulley. To fight the potentially damaging effects of fugitive material on the return side of the belt, the Martin Torsion V-Plow is engineered with a unique spring-loaded suspension system that allows the plow to rise and fall with fluctuations in belt tension and travel. Attached with dual steel crossbars bolted to the conveyor frame a few feet from the tail pulley, the unit is secured by two heavy-duty safety cords. Three torsion arms adjust independently, maintaining consistent pressure for effective cleaning in all stages of blade wear.

“Bulk material bounces when it comes in contact with a fast moving conveyor and often shifts as it travels over carrying idlers,” explained Marshall. “These disturbances can eject small amounts of material from the belt. Occasionally along its return run, the belt will collect lumps of spilled material on the non-carrying side. If these objects are not removed, they can become trapped between the tail pulley and the belt and do significant damage to both.”

To complete the containment system, technicians also installed an integrated air cleaner, which contains a suction blower, filtering elements and a filter cleaning system. Instead of a centrally located unit connected to dust generation points via ductwork, the Martin Air Cleaner is incorporated into the dust generation point itself. The particles are not extracted, but are instead collected within the enclosure and periodically discharged back into the material stream. Unlike central systems, the integrated approach employs a smaller, independently operating unit directly at the dust generation point.

The integrated air cleaner contains an apparatus to clean the filters using a pulse of compressed air. As material is captured by the filters, it agglomerates against the filter media. When the filter media is pulsed, the material will fall. If it is agglomerated and large enough, it will fall back into the material stream. The pulse system is designed to alternate pulses to each filter element. When one filter is being pulsed, the adjacent filter is still drawing air. If a pulsed particle is too small to drop out of the air stream, it is immediately pulled into an active filter.

Like the central system, integrated units use negative pressure, with airflow created by a blower sized to provide the airflow needed for the pickup point. As there is no ducting, there are no pressure losses other than the filters that must be accounted for. Because of this, the power requirements of an integrated air cleaning system are far lower than for central collection systems.

The entire upgrade was completed within the seven-day shutdown, and the results were immediately apparent. “We’ve gone from an everyday battle with this conveyor to almost no clean-up at all,” said Maita. “We have a guy go down there with a broom every few days. That’s it.”

The upgraded conveyor now requires only minimal clean-up, instead of as many as 70 man-hours per week.

Coeur Rochester is currently evaluating five additional conveyor areas for its next upgrade, with a plan currently under development to address those locations in 2016. “We’re extremely happy with the system,” Maita concluded. “The installation was well done, and the guys were very professional and safety-conscious. It’s changed a nightmare into an extremely functional system that operates at a high level.”

 
thyssenkrupp supplies handling system for YASREF Refinery in Saudi Arabia  

The Industrial Solutions business area of thyssenkrupp, a highly respected expert in the planning, construction and service in the field of industrial plants and systems, has successfully supplied a complete transport and storage system for pelletized sulphur and

petroleum coke for the YASREF Refinery Project in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. The project includes the construction of a new full- conversion refinery complex to process 400,000 barrels of oil per day. It will be realized in Yanbu Industrial City located on the  west coast of Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea. Central to this project is a major conveyor system.

thyssenkrupp was commissioned with the delivery by the general contractor Techint Engineering & Construction, through its regional Italian headquarters, at the end of 2011. The general scope of supply includes the following:

  • transportation of petroleum coke from the delayed coker unit to the storage,
  • sulphur stocking to the storage, and
  • loading of petroleum coke and pelletized sulphur into ships at the port.

 

The detailed scope of supply comprises a conveyor system consisting of 12 conveyors and seven transfer towers (with a total conveying length of more than 7km), two travelling stackers, two portal reclaimers, one circular storage system and two shiploaders. Three of the 12 conveyors are designed as curved conveyors, with conveyor lengths between 710m and 1,740m and a curve radius of only 500m. Its long-standing experience in the design of curved conveyors and its ability to realize this challenging radius were decisive reasons for the contract award to thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions.

The handling capacity of the conveyors and stockyard machines varies between 800tph (tonnes per hour) and 2,000tph; the two shiploaders have a capacity of 2,000tph. As parts of the handling system are designed to transport sulphur as well as petcoke, special attention was paid to the varying material properties. Consequently, the shiploaders are equipped with three automatic belt cleaning devices to avoid pollution, spillage and mixing of both materials. Furthermore, all hazardous areas are equipped with explosion-proof components to prevent combustion.

The design engineering scope has been executed in close cooperation with the USA division of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions in Denver, which has been responsible for the complete electrical and instrumentation portion based on NEMA standards (NEMA, National Electrical Manufacturers Association). The project required that 3D models of virtually every part of the plant be developed during the engineering phase. These 3D models made it possible to demonstrate to the client the various functions and special features of the single system units already in the design phase.

Manufacturing of the structural steel components for the belt conveyors and the machines took place in Saudi Arabia as well as in the neighbouring countries of Qatar and Dubai under the supervision of thyssenkrupp’s personnel. In total, more than

7,500 tonnes of steel have been fabricated in the Arab region. Mechanical components were predominantly supplied from Germany, while electrical components including motors, switchgear or control units were supplied from the USA.

This prestigious and challenging contract represents another cornerstone in thyssenkrupp’s already extensive track record in the supply of complete materials handling systems. Moreover, it demonstrates the companies’ continued technological excellence. Following the successful realization of numerous projects in the Arab region during the past years, the Yanbu contract additionally underscores the growing presence of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions in one of the Middle East s most dynamic economies with enormous market potential. 

thyssenkrupp — known among other things as a global supplier of mining, mineral processing and materials handling systems — has now developed a new steep-angle conveying system that makes it possible to transport hard rock, ore or overburden from a mine more efficiently by the
shortest direct route while at the same time significantly improving the CO2 footprint of the mine (Fig. 1). The system and process, for which
patents have been filed, are based on well-known and proven cable crane technology from thyssenkrupp and reduce the use and number of
heavy load trucks in an open-pit mine. With the thyssenkrupp system, the trucks travel only relatively short distances — and without major gradients — between the truck shovel loading station and the unloading point at the steep conveying system. For a given handling capacity the number of trucks in a mine can be reduced, with an associated reduction in capital, operating  

Achenbach covers for belt conveyors 

From a small standard cover, right up to a gigantic JUMBO cover to protect one or both walkways: Achenbach, Germany — with the largest variety of covers in the world — offers metal conveyor covers in nearly every size.

Achenbach’s protective covers can be manufactured in four different profiles, which means that the user can be guaranteed access to an optimum, value-for-money solution.

At the bauma 2016 fair in Munich, Germany, Achenbach will also be showing two models that are set to become worldwide best-sellers — the superTec cover, and the LOOP cover, for openings on both sides, and offering simple and sure control by only one person.

Achenbach has delivered many kilometres of its LOOP covers and windshields to Saudi Arabia.

Achenbach’s offering is completed with its popular Organit covers, made of rigid PVC, and a range of fixings, all of which will be shown at bauma 2016 in April.  
 
 
Dunlop launches range of industrial rubber sheeting  

Industrial rubber sheeting may not sound particularly exciting but in actual fact it is widely used in a wide cross-section of industries for a great many different purposes such as chute lining, conveyor skirting, screening and wear and corrosion protection. For some years now, the market for rubber sheeting in Europe has been dominated by Asian-imported product, especially from China. But if Netherlands-based Dunlop Conveyor Belting has its way, then that situation could well be about to change as it has now launched a brand new range of Dunlop Ultima rubber sheeting.

Dunlop’s strategy is based on offering a top quality European manufactured product that is competitively priced, totally safe to handle, long-lasting and which has an order and delivery system that is flexible, fast and easy. Dunlop believes that this combination will be more attractive than imported rubber sheeting from Asia with all the associated quality, logistical and commercial issues.

Dunlop Conveyor Belting technical director, Dr. Michiel Eijpe, explains why the company is now able to manufacture top quality sheeting at highly competitive market prices. “The quality of any rubber product — especially its durability, wear resistance and strength — is largely determined by the quality of the raw materials that are used. We have managed to achieve greater economy without compromising the quality by investing in brand- new equipment and developing highly efficient new production processes.” 

Eijpe goes on to explain that the new Dunlop Ultima rubber sheeting range, which is exclusively made in its Drachten factory in the Netherlands, has been designed and developed strictly in accordance with DIN 7715 international standards. “Our Research & Development team has made sure that Ultima is exceptionally resistant to wear and has excellent tensile strength. It is also fully resistant to the harmful effects of ozone and ultra violet, which causes rubber to crack and degrade. This is especially relevant in coastal based operations.” Safety is also an important factor. “Like all of our products, Ultima is safe to handle because it fully complies with the strict European regulations (REACH) concerning the use of potentially hazardous chemicals within the manufacturing process. These regulations do not apply to manufacturers located outside of Europe of course”.  

SPEED OF SERVICE

Dunlop feels that it also has a number of other advantages. To make the ordering process quick and easy, it has created a dedicated Internet website and on-line payment system. The website allows customers to select the products and quantities they want to order and even calculates the cost of delivery based on the postal/zip code. Orders are then fed directly to a specially adapted warehouse in Holland for the fastest possible turnaround.

Sales & Marketing Director Andries Smilda is particularly excited by what is a very new approach, not only for Dunlop but by the industry in general. “We have always competed on quality but thanks to a lot of hard work by a lot of people behind the scenes we now feel that we have added competitive pricing and enhanced customer service to the customary Dunlop quality advantage.”  
 
Impressive TAIM WESER installation at Porto Sudeste enters service  

The new iron ore handling and export facility Porto Sudeste Terminal in Brazil, owned by Trafigura and MUBADALA investment fund, is already in operation.

Spanish company TAIM WESER S.A. supplied the turnkey belt conveying system and stockyard machinery at the facility.

Porto Sudeste is a modern private port terminal located at Ilha da Madeira, in the city of Itaguai´, about 80 kilometres from Rio de Janeiro and occupies an area of 52 hectares, the equivalent of 72 soccer fields. The facility has a storage capacity

of 2.5mt (million tonnes) of minerals and initially it will be able to handle 50mt of iron ore per year, with the possibility of reaching 100mt per year.

The terminal is directly linked to the MRS railway network, which allows for the direct arrival of the iron ore wagons from the producers operating in different areas of what is known as the ‘Iron Quadrilateral’ region of Minas Gerais. These producers were not previously able to export the mineral due to the lack of logistics facilities.  

TAIM WESER S.A. SCOPE OF SUPPLY

At this large-scale project,TAIM WESER S.A. took charge of the design, manufacture, supply and commissioning of the complete belt conveyors circuit as well as the four combined stacker/reclaimer machines at the terminal.

The conveying circuit comprises the complete belt conveyors of the terminal, from iron ore reception up to its loading onto ships, including all the conveyors of the two longitudinal storage yards, the 766m-long loading pier and the 1,800m-long subterranean tunnel, which links both areas of the terminal. The circuit consists of 54 belt conveyors with a total length of 13,000m and a rated capacity of 12,000tph (tonnes per hour). In addition, the conveying system is equipped with all the auxiliary equipment, including transfer towers, silos, bypass chutes, monitoring equipment, magnetic separators, weighing systems and two sampling systems.

The four bucketwheel stacker/reclaimers are in charge of the storage and reclaiming of iron ore into the two longitudinal storage yards of the facility, where the iron ore is stacked and separated by customers and products until it is sent on conveyor belts through the subterranean tunnel to the loading pier for its export. The machines have a stacking capacity of 10,000tph and a reclaim capacity of 12,000tph. As outstanding features, each machine weighs more than 2,000 tonnes, has a 60m-long boom and 45m height, the equivalent to a 14 floors building.These machines are the biggest stacker/reclaimer machines supplied in Brazil so far.

COMING INTO OPERATION

This impressive project has been under construction since 2011.

TAIM WESER has now completed construction, erection and commissioning — work that involved over 4,500 people. In September last year, the first iron ore shipment was achieved at the terminal; this operation was a helpful way of checking out all the equipment at the facility.

Porto Sudeste is considered to be the most important project implemented in Brazil the last decade, and it has enabled the expansion of Brazilian mining sector, allowing local iron ore producers to increase the mineral export to international markets in a fast and efficient manner.

The Porto Sudeste project has been a big challenge for all departments of TAIM WESER S.A., design, manufacture, logistics, erection and commissioning, as it is the biggest volume, capacity and complexity project developed by the company so far.

All TAIM WESER’s staff in Zaragoza (Spain), Bad Oeynhausen (Germany) and Curitiba (Brazil), composed of more than 300 people, worked hard to achieve a successful project: from the company direction and project management, who handled the biggest project in the history of the company; the engineering team, who designed a tailor-made solution for the customer; the specialized workshop team, who manufacture the equipment; the logistics department who co-ordinated the shipping of the equipment to Brazil; and the team that travelled to Itaguai for site supervision, who coordinated more than 500 people at different stages of the erection and commissioning stages.

This project has confirmed the relevance and strong presence of TAIM WESER in the American market, where the company has supplied some projects in the mining, steel, ports and raw materials export sectors.  
 
 
STM: Italian expert in belt conveyor systems  

STM is an Italian company that prides itself on 30 years’ experience in the engineering and supply of belt conveyors systems for bulk materials handling facilities. STM offers its customers a full range of project services: engineering, fabrication and commissioning. It carries out every step by developing flexible, individual and effective solutions. In this way, STM succeeds in creating equipment of any size and complexity which fully meets its customers’ needs.

The whole supply process, from feasibility study to final delivery and commissioning, is completely implemented in the STM factory, which has its headquarters in Tito Scalo (Potenza). This makes it possible for STM to optimize the design, the industrialization time and the information exchange with the customer.

APPLICATIONS IN 20 COUNTRIES ACROSS FOUR CONTINENTS

Over these 30 years, STM has developed innovative solutions for bulk materials handling in order to meet the needs of all its customers in 20 different countries across four continents. With its attention to quality, focus on the customer and the uninterrupted improvement of industrial standards and practices, STM is globally recognized as trusted partner in developing custom made solutions.

Thanks to the deep knowledge acquired operating in many fields, applications in the STM portfolio have become more challenging and specialized, with specific and innovative solutions for each applications: mining conveyors, RCC conveyors, tunnelling conveyors, crushing plants conveyors, batching plant conveyors and waste to energy plant conveyors.

THE OPPORTUNITIES OF THE BULK TERMINAL MARKET

In the last years, the economic situation has led to the development of new mineral projects that are ever more technologically complex and efficient from an economic and energy point of view. In this way, STM provides worldwide innovative integrated solutions in order to increase efficiency, reliability and cost savings for its customers’ production processes.

Considering the high volume of dry bulk materials involved in the mining and energy sectors, transport by sea is the most commercially and environmentally sustainable viable option. STM is aware of the huge opportunities presented by the need to develop new bulk terminals, or to upgrade existing terminals in terms of increased capacity and to meet stringent environmental regulations, in terms of dry bulk handling.

STM is ready to share its experience in the terminal bulk market, thanks to the great expertise gained operating in many fields, to develop even more innovative solutions for bulk materials handling in order to meet the needs of all its customers. This is why, in the last few years, applications in the STM portfolio have become more challenging and specialized to meet also the demand from grains, cement and biomass handling facilities that are encouraging investments in new terminal ports. In particular, STM has worked to meet the needs of contractors which want equipment able to assure them uninterrupted feeding; it developed the new swinger conveyor: a special conveyor with main features of rotating (even up to 360°) and self-elevation.

COAL HANDLING: FROM MINES TO POWER STATIONS

STM has great experience in the handling of coal, designing and developing conveyor systems to process coal both in mines and in power stations. The conveyors for this application are designed for long lifetime and for minimizing extraordinary maintenance and downtime risk. Thanks to its flexibility and long experience in this field, STM has succeeded in creating and managing equipment of any size and complexity, including mobile plants. This configuration satisfies the plant owner who wants to have freedom to move the plant after limited time usage in determined area.

A valuable example of the long experience of STM in coal handling is the supply of seven conveyor belts to ENEL’s Federico II power plant, in the territory of Brindisi (Italy). This thermal power plant, with a total capacity of 2,640MW installed and with an area of about 270 hectares, is the second-largest thermal power plant in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. The material that the conveyor system has to transport is the result of the coal combustion so it appears as light humidified ash. For this reason STM team created conveyor belts able to handle a very hot material with high level of moisture and abrasiveness. Moreover the conveyors are situated outdoors so they are equipped with a rainproof roofing and they are treated so that they can handle different atmospheric conditions like temperature leaps and a saline and industrial atmosphere.

STM: LONG EXPERIENCE IN THE MINING SECTOR

Based on a modular concept that greatly facilitates relocation or expansion as the mine develops, STM systems can expedite, optimize and economize the process of overburden removal, redistribution and stacking. STM is committed to delivering high- value performance and to meet customers’ needs for: excellent reliability, investment cost, delivery time, lower operating costs, high standards of safety and sustainability.

Saint-Gobain’s Termoli Manufacturing Plant is a valuable example of the long experience of STM in the mining sector. This is one of most advanced combined plaster and plasterboard manufacturing plant in Europe. The plant is capable of handling and storing raw materials to be crushed, homogenized and conveyed to grinding and calcining mills for manufacturing plaster, pre-mixed plasters and plasterboard.

The plant covers the whole process from supply of bulk materials to the final product.

STM succeeded in reaching these outstanding achievements thanks to its distinguishing features: expertise in every area of activity, strong focus on the customer, passion for innovation and improvement and particular attention to the quality.