Buhler CSUs prove popular in the Asian market
Buhler AG offers a wide range of products for the gentle and
efficient handling and storage of valuable agricultural raw
materials such as grains or derivatives. It has long been involved
in the design, construction and supply of continuous ship
unloaders (CSUs), as well as other bulk handling equipment.
Buhler’s product range includes:
  •   mechanical and pneumatic continuous ship unloaders;
  •   shiploaders;combined systems for loading and unloading;
  •   silo and storage solutions (steel and concrete silos/flat storage);
  •   mechanical conveyer systems; as well as
  •   automation systems for all of the above services (energy consulting, plant maintenance, spares and so on).
COMMODITIES HANDLED BY BUHLER CSUS
The grain handling business unit of Buhler focuses on grains,
oilseeds and derivatives. The vast majority is dry bulk that goes
into the food and feed industries.
 
STAYING COMPETITIVE IN THE MARKET
Buhler believes that the best way to stay competitive in today’s
tight market is to ensure that its customers are happy with its
products and services. Therefore for each key customer
concern, Buhler has developed a solution to address the concern
directly.
The first concern is food safety. To address this, Buhler has
developed traceability solutions for storage plants, and data
tracking for all process steps. The second is keeping production
costs low; to ensure this, Buhler’s mechanical conveyor
programme and its mechanical shiploaders and unloaders, all of
which boast low energy consumption, make it possible to keep
costs low. Mechanical ship unloaders typically have lower
specific energy consumption than pneumatic unloaders. Many
customers also want a full A to Z service in the delivery of
plant, which is enabled by Buhler’s expertise in engineering and
plant design.
Another concern is environmental protection; Buhler offers a
dust-suppressing loading head for its shiploaders, keeping dust
emissions to a minimum. Energy savings are also of paramount
importance to customers; Buhler’s customer service team
started a programme to help customers reduce energy
consumption of their plants. Buhler can provide its customers
with a thorough analysis of saving potentials and detailed actions
that will help to reduce energy cost. Many customers require
full plant automation, from unloading to the storage and
shipment of goods, with full traceability throughout the entire
process. Buhler is able to offer this with its automation
solutions, which provide, on a scalable basis, just what its
customers need to automate and track — from single machine
to full plant control, recording all necessary data as required by
the process.
Another key issue is of course unloading time of vessels.
Buhler has developed a software tool that helps its customers
optimizing their unloading performance.
For existing plants, unloading times are improved by
optimizing the unloading sequence of the hatches. The safe and
stable position of the vessel is controlled by tilt and stress
calculations. Manoeuvring of the unloaders is minimized and
their capacity is used at best possible performance. For new
plants it is easy and fast to compare the influence of different
plant layouts and machine performances. The plant will be
custom tailored to its customers needs.
 
RECENTLY COMPLETED PROJECTS
In 2010, Buhler had one of its most successful years for its ship
unloaders. Over ten units were sold, with almost 80% of these
installed in Asia. This is a clear sign that Buhler’s manufacturing
platform is a success, and is a strong argument for business in
the region. This follows Buhler’s credo, ‘in the region for the
region’.
Another success factor is Buhler’s clear focus on its
mechanical ship unloading solutions. From the development of
new features and options, to sales of customer-specific solutions,
Buhler’s focus is on supplying the best mechanical unloader
available in the market.
 
SHIP UNLOADING TEST FACILITY IN UZWIL SWITZERLAND.
At the same time that Buhler celebrated its 150-year
anniversary, its Grain Handling business unit launched its 3-D
animation system in the Grain Technology Center in Uzwil (for
more details on this system, please see p65 of the August 2010
issue of Dry Cargo International). In addition to the 3D animation
system, a test-size mechanical ship unloader was also installed in
the test centre (see pictures on p69). A small-scale marine leg
unloads the material from a small barge style container. From
the marine leg the material is circulated with chain conveyors
back into the barge.
The test-bed is equipped with throughput measuring
equipment to verify functionality of new developments and
control performance enhancements done in our research and
development department. Current developments are mostly
focused on throughput improvements, decreased energy
consumption and rest-unloading of the ships. All three points of
focus can be tested and verified with Buhler’s new test-bed in
Uzwil. Buhler invites its customers to come and take a look and
run trials on their challenging products.
 
 
Demand for Golfetto Sangati CSUs returns to high level
Continuous ship unloaders (CSUs) form a major
part of Golfetto Sangati SpA’s (GS) product
offering. The company designs, constructs and
installs complete grain terminals for shiploading
and unloading. The range of grain terminals
covers any possible technology — fixed or
mobile, on rails or tyres — for loading and
unloading, or the combined type in the same
structure. Two types of unloaders are produced
—pneumatic and mechanical. Specially designed
unloaders are available for non-free flowing
commodities.
In recent months, the level of demand for new
projects has returned to a high level. GS
customers vary widely, according to geographical
location. Most orders for new equipment are
currently coming from the Far East, Africa, South
America and Eastern Europe. Demand ranges
from seaports to riverside facilities. The
products being handled by GS equipment are
either free-flowing grains or non-free-flowing
commodities such as soyameal.
In the far East and on the Indian subcontinent,
the demand is either for new facilities,
or for equipment to increase the handling
capacity of existing facilities — or for the
enlargement of existing facilities. There is a great
deal of demand for new grain terminals coming
from Africa.
Customers continue to demand units that are
fully equipped with dust filters and they want
equipment with cost-effective power
consumption. They also want their investment and
operational costs to be optimal. Therefore, in order to keep
costs as low as possible, where possible the steel structure is
locally manufactured.
GS recently installed two 1,000tph (tonnes per hour)-
capacity continuous mechanical, chain type unloaders in
Shanghai, P.R. of China. The customer was Shanghai Liangyou
Group Co., and the unloaders were installed in the Shanghai
Waigaoqiao grain reserve depot and terminal
facilities. The unloaders will service ships of up to
70,000dwt at this facility. Each installed unloader
can travel on rails, having a centreline of 10.5m.
A specially designed system allows for
continuous feeding from the unloaders to the two
belt conveyors mounted on a concrete structure.
All mechanical, electrical and hydraulic
components were manufactured and delivered
from Italy, while the steel structure was
manufactured locally according to GS’s design.
The operation of the unloaders can be performed
either from the operator cabin or using wireless
remote control. A 15-tonne hoist was installed to
lift the payloader inside the hatch for final
cleaning.
Maximum consumption is 700 amps at the rate
of 1,200tph, which means about 0.2kWh/tonne,
while the power consumption registered during
the complete unloading of a 40,000dwt ship was
0.34kWh tonne (below the guaranteed
contractual figure of 0.37kWh/tonne).
 
ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik wins another
continuous barge unloader contract
Thyssenkrupp Foerdertechnik, Germany (TKF), recently bagged
another contract for a 3,000tph (tonnes per hour) continuous
barge unloader (CBU) for coal. This unit is destined for
Kalimantan on Borneo. It will be the third CBU operating in
Indonesia, designed and built by TKF.
PT Nusa Tambang Pratama, a company of the well-known
Bakrie Group, recently placed the order with TKF for the
Arutmin North Pulau Laut Coal Terminal. One of the decisive
factors in making this decision was TKF’s excellent track record
of supplying more than 50 continuous ship and barge unloaders
which are in operation worldwide; some of these have been in
service for more than 25 years.
This latest CBU will be designed for unloading 8,000dwt to
10,000dwt open coal barges at a rate of 3,000tph or 3,500m³/h.
In 2008, TKF received the order for a CBU with an unloading
capacity of 4,000tph. This unloader, operated by PT Indominco
Mandiri, has now been operating successfully at Bontang, also in
Kalimantan, since the beginning of 2010. Seeing the performance
of this machine in operation was perhaps what finally convinced
the client that TKF’s CBU design was the right choice.
Features of the CBU include not only a high unloading
capacity, travelling mobility, low maintenance and installed power
and energy consumption (compared, for example, with the
screw-type ship unloader or a conventional grab unloader), but
also great efficiency in emptying the hull right down to the
bottom of the barges without the need to use a Bobcat. This
feature makes ‘sweeping’ of the barges practically superfluous,
and is a particular advantage offered by the TKF type of
continuous barge unloader. A further CBU is currently being
designed and built by TKF for PT Pupuk Kaltim Timor, Indonesia.
ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik wins another continuous barge unloader contract
This machine is due to go into service this year. Two further
similar TKF CBUs are already in operation in a power plant and
a steel mill in Germany.
ThyssenKrupp Foerdertechnik, Business Unit Materials
Handling — better known in former days as PHB or PWH —
first developed the bucket elevator type of continuous ship
unloader (CSU) at the beginning of the 1970s. Its first CSU,
designed to unload asbestos, was commissioned in 1974. It took
some years before customers, who until then had been working
with conventional grab type ship unloaders, saw the advantages
of a CSU compared with the conventional grab type more
commonly used in those days. Since that time, however, the TKF
type of CSU has made its mark in the field of dry bulk ship
unloading. Today TKF CSUs are designed for handling such
products as coal, iron ore, phosphate, urea, sand unloading bulk
carriers of up to 250,000dwt.
In recent years, particularly in countries which depend heavily
on importing their fossil fuels, coal-fired power plants are
invariably built directly at deep water sea locations with the
convenience of having their own coal unloading terminal
facilities. Two such coal-fired power plants for example, are the
Tanjung Bin and Jimah power stations in Malaysia. Here four TKF
CSUs are in operation. Another prime example is the Hou Shi
Power Plant in Fujian Province, P.R. of China, where three TKF
continuous ship unloaders are in operation. However, large coal
import terminals, for example in China, have also in the last ten
years turned more and more to using CSUs. To date, TKF has
supplied a total of 15 CSUs to China. In South Korea there are
already nine TKF-designed CSUs in operation in coal-fired power
plants.