“We have produced this brochure to educate the cement manufacturing sector in the strategic cost
saving benefits of wear protection of plant and equipment,” said Kingfisher MD, John Connolly.
“Wear protection is critically under- employed in Cement Manufacturing, generally, and especially so in the UK, and this is costing British industry millions of pounds annually in unnecessary maintenance costs and lost production time.”
Kingfisher Industrial provides wear solutions for process plant used to convey, process or store bulk solid materials, in either dry or hydraulic states. Such plant often suffers premature wear due to handling large quantities of materials at velocity in a constant operational cycle. With its range of ceramic, metallic and polymer protection systems, Kingfisher can overcome wear problems; engineering suitable protection systems that can add many years of life to a plant, and in some cases outlast the design life of a process completely. These solutions cater for the operating criteria, budget and life cycle of either new equipment — particularly when initially installed — or existing equipment, which can be retrofitted with a protection system to add to its current asset value.
Shamrock Materials, Petaluma, CA provides ready-mix concrete and a diverse line of concrete accessories and building materials, as well as masonry, stone products and landscaping materials from six CA locations. The company has been in business since 1954.
In 2005 Shamrock built a transloading facility at Petaluma to unload sand and gravel to be used for production of concrete. These materials arrive by ship from Canada and are transferred to barges at anchorage in San Francisco Bay. After staging, barges are taken one at a time up the Petaluma River, a tidal waterway that joins the San Pablo Bay to the north end of the San Francisco Bay. The barges must reach the Shamrock facility on the high tide and be unloaded well before low tide, which is about six hours later.
Robert McIntosh was the President of Shamrock’s Landing Way Depot for this start-up project and ran the operations for several years. He is now an independent consultant with his own business, but still has close contacts with Shamrock. “We started with a self-unloading barge,” McIntosh said “but that was a slow, inefficient, low capacity operation. We needed something much better for full scale operations.
“Next we considered a 700hp diesel excavator that could unload about 650 tonnes per hour. That was still too slow, reach was marginal, and we anticipated high maintenance and downtime due to wear and tear on the complex hydraulic arrangement. We expected we would have to replace the excavator every 10,000 to 15,000 hours. That cost plus the risks and likely interruptions to our operations were unacceptable. Further, the clamshell bucket was very awkward to use and required lots of operator training. So we continued our search.”
McIntosh explained that during the investigation process, Shamrock became aware of E-Crane’s uncomplicated equilibrium design with its high capacity, simple maintenance, long service life and ease of operation — all the things the Shamrock transloading operation absolutely needed. E-Crane people came to Petaluma to explain how the E-Crane works and learn about the Shamrock operation. “We explained our situation,” McIntosh said,“and they came back with a comprehensive proposal that made it very clear very quickly that the E-Crane was perfect for Shamrock’s unloading application. Their approach was very simple and accommodating:‘Here’s what you need’.”
Shamrock chief operating officer Jeff Nehmens further explained: “This was an entirely new type of operation for us, and we were making long-term decisions about equipment we were unfamiliar with. The E-Crane USA sales team, and Mark Osborne in particular, gave close support to our evaluation and decision process, and it became clear that E-Crane was the only rational choice. That decision and the continued relationship with E-Crane has vindicated our selection, and we would enthusiastically recommend E-Crane to anyone with similar needs.
“The essential machine design is ideal for the controlled-motion “lift-and-drop” cycle we need,” Nehmens said. “The E-Crane configuration and power options enabled us to get the reach, lifting capacity and cycle times we needed, with the fewest possible moving parts. Being able to do that with electric power is a huge advantage, and one we underestimated in the early stages.”
Shamrock utilizes a Series 1500 E-Crane with optional 300hp motor (250hp is standard) and has a 1,200tph (tonnes per hour) capacity. The machine has an 86ft. outreach, 18.2 US ton duty cycle capacity, and 20.9 US ton lifting capacity.
“We gave E-Crane the order in June 2005,” McIntosh said. “They installed it in early December, and the E-Crane offloaded its first barge on December 22nd. The assembly and construction crew was very professional, very knowledgeable — they really knew what they were doing. Everything went smoothly in spite of heavy rains and generally horrible weather. When that first barge was unloaded, we knew we had a winner,” McIntosh enthused. “Smooth, quiet, efficient operation, and the E-Crane can unload faster than the 1,000tph shore equipment can handle.
“As the E-Crane clamshell bucket closes, there is a corresponding lift so that the jaws close directly against each other and can closely scrape the bottom of the barge,” McIntosh added. “The E-Crane puts a skid loader into the barge toward the end of the unloading process to scoop material into piles, and the clamshell picks up these dregs.”
E-Crane trained Shamrock’s operators and maintenance personnel on site. Nehmens said that the operators took to the machine immediately because of easy operation, cabin comfort and clear visibility. Operators perform a spray-lube on the swivel before each shift, and they check and top-off the auto-lube system as needed. The maintenance group services the bucket lube points daily.
Other than regular inspection and fluid checks, there has been “impressively little” maintenance needed, according to Nehmens. “We’ve been operating the E-Crane 1500 since the end of 2005 with no serious problems of any kind.”
“The operation and maintenance manual is very comprehensive and easy to understand,” McIntosh added. “The E-Crane has a very short learning curve. Standard maintenance involves a fifteen minute routine at start-up for each barge transloading cycle. The automatic lubrication system does almost everything else.”
“We engaged the E-Crane service team to do the early service work on our machine,” Nehmens said. “And we expect to continue with service calls periodically just to have an experienced eye to look for possible wear, to critique our operating and maintenance work, to update training for our maintenance staff, and to offer tips to our operators.”
Shamrock has purchased an additional bucket since the original purchase. The new bucket was hard-faced before going into service; and the original bucket was rebuilt, hard-faced and held in reserve. “We originally intended to buy the new bucket from an aftermarket supplier,” Nehmens said. “But as we experienced the E-Crane equipment in the service environment, we decided to stick with the factory bucket.”
The E-Crane product line includes five series of machines based on capacity requirements: 700, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 3000 models for scrap handling and offloading or transloading bulk materials from barges and ships up to Panamax class. Outreach ranges up to 165 feet and duty cycle capacity up to 50 tonnes. The hydraulically pivoting, mechanically linked boom design keeps the machine in near perfect balance throughout its full working range. Having gravity work for you instead of against you reduces horsepower requirements and power consumption as much as 50%.
ABB to supply state-of-the-art equipment for new cement plant in Turkey
Major power and automation technology group ABB has received an order to provide electrification, automation and drive solutions for Medcem’s greenfield cement plant project in Turkey. The contract was awarded in July 2012.
The new plant will be located in Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast. With an estimated 10,000 tonnes of clinker per day, the plant will have the largest production capacity in Turkey. Production start-up is planned for March 2014.
ABB’s scope of supply for the greenfield project includes its state-of-the-art control System 800xA, Expert Optimizer process optimization software, medium and low voltage electrical motors, ACS800 series low voltage drives, ACS1000 and ACS6000 series medium voltage drives, ZS1 series medium voltage cubicles, MNS series low voltage cubicles, site erection,
installation, commissioning and services. The equipment will provide high availability of the complete production process and raise efficiency through high-quality production at low energy consumption.
Medcem Mining & Building Materials Inc. is part of the Eren Holding. Starting its commercial activities in 1969 in the textile sector, Eren Holding and its affiliates are now also operating in the energy, paper, packaging, retail, cement, textile and tourism sectors. By adapting a growth strategy based on equity, the group became one of the leading business conglomerates in Turkey.
ABB’s well-established relationship with the Eren Group, the ability to provide all solutions as single source supplier as well as its extensive cement engineering experience and knowledge of local electrical regulations were major factors for winning this order.
Oman’s Port of Duqm to have cement terminal
The port of Duqm in Oman is to have a specialist terminal for the importation of cement. The port will also have a terminal for the import of bitumen. These terminals are required to support the development of the regional Special Economic Zone.
The cement import terminal will be managed by a well- known Oman manufacturer, while the bitumen terminal is being offered to one of the world’s leading producers of the substance.
The cement terminal will have a 150,000-tonne annual capacity and will be located on the port wall. It will be linked by system of pipelines and conveyors to a 4ha site within the port where storage, bagging and other added value services will be undertaken.
A completely separate project will result in the development of a manufacturing plant for cement within the port.
The bitumen terminal will cover a 3–4ha area.
Both terminals are expected to be operational by the end of 2013.
Barry Cross
Guttridge conveyors for abrasive duties in new Lafarge aggregate blending unit
Guttridge Ltd, a renowned manufacturer of materials handling solutions, has supplied a suite of conveying equipment to the Lafarge Barnstone Works (Nottinghamshire, UK) for feed and product transport through a new aggregate blending unit. Specified to ensure maximum reliability for highly abrasive process streams, the six Hi-Load bucket elevators and the Kleenbelt belt conveyor incorporate sensors for upset detection as well as a number of features that streamline maintenance. Lafarge is major global producer of building materials and has installed the new plant to make sand/cement/aggregate blends for specific applications within the construction industry.
“We already had Guttridge machines working reliably on site,” explains Adam Elmes, project manager for Lafarge,“so we were well aware that the company could provide us with quality systems at an acceptable price. Beyond that, though, we were impressed with the company’s willingness to innovate new solutions that would help us to achieve the very highest levels of
reliability — a major goal for our site. The Guttridge engineers are both responsive and knowledgeable and this was an important factor in ensuring the success of the project.”
The six bucket elevators are used to vertically lift different streams — cement, aggregate, sand and associated mixtures — at various points in the process. The belt conveyor is a completely enclosed system that transports a cement and sand mixture some distance, from a vibratory screen to the elevator feeding the mixer. All equipment was supplied with a host of carefully engineered features designed to ensure reliable long- term abrasives handling with minimal manual attention, as well as to ease maintenance.
“All the systems came on stream quickly and easily and are working well,” continues Elmes,“but we’re especially impressed with the Kleenbelt. It’s a really robust design with an excellent sealing system. All of the incoming material is fed cleanly onto the belt without spillage and we have complete product
containment even though the stream is very dusty. This is a major improvement compared with our previous experience of a conventional belt conveyor.”
The Kleenbelt conveyor is a unique but well-proven solution for applications where it is especially important to avoid product spillage or emission. Capable of handling flow rate up to 800m3/hour, it is suitable for the widest range of materials — from rolled oats to rubber crumb, coal to cement.
ABOUT GUTTRIDGE LTDGuttridge Ltd is a major manufacturer in the UK of bulk materials handling equipment, with a history of supplying efficient and reliable solutions that extends over five decades.
With a wealth of practical experience, the latest 3D design and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, Guttridge designs and manufactures elevators, conveyors, hoppers, bins and all the associated ancillary equipment need to engineer robust, customized, cost-effective handling systems, for even the most demanding applications.
Headquartered in Spalding, Lincolnshire, UK, Guttridge incorporated the Carier brand in 2004, to strengthen its offering to the agricultural sector. Across the UK the company sells via a team of regional, expert sales representatives while exports are currently either direct or via local distributors and agents.
Guttridge capabilities extend to maintenance and spares supply for a significant number of other brands of materials handling equipment including Carier, for which the company offers an extensive repair and upgrade service.
Tenova TAKRAF: always at the ready
TAKRAF India Pvt. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of TAKRAF GmbH. Tenova TAKRAF is a competent, experienced, capable and reliable partner for its customers and offers system solutions within the core areas — open-cast mining and bulk material handling technology. The company offers a wide range of equipment for a variety of markets, including the cement handling sector.
Tenova TAKRAF offers a time-effective service and a highly regarded experience-based approach for bulk materials handling. Operational readiness for an immediate response to customer needs, reliability and a proactive style are integral elements of its business. Skilled teams of Tenova TAKRAF technicians and engineers guarantee a rapid on-site response in an emergency, giving customers the security of engineering added value. Tenova TAKRAF has supplied more than 250 items of equipment in the past five years to major cement and power producers in India and Middle East and Africa.
The company’s current activities include: v studies into capacity expansion and the refurbishment of
existing facilities; v complete supply, erection and commissioning of bulk material
facilities/mining systems; v preventative and regular maintenance refurbishment and
modernization of existing facilities; and v maintenance contracts.
Tenova TAKRAF’s supplies equipment for open pit mining (bucket wheel excavators, spreaders etc.) and bulk handling in mines, ports and yards. These include stackers, scrapers reclaimers (bridge type, portal and side scraper reclaimers), circular blending systems and conveying system (yard, overland, pipe conveyors, ship loaders and unloaders.
HANDLING A WIDE RANGE OF COMMODITIESTenova TAKRAF’s equipment is engineered and customized to handle materials of different physical and chemical properties. In cement plants, these are used to handle limestone, additives, reactive and coal. Apart from cement plants,TAKRAF’s equipment handles all kinds of dry cargo at ports, steel, power and fertilizer plants. In mine sites, its equipment is used to handle ores, as well as overburden.
MAJOR CUSTOMERS
Tenova TAKRAF equipment is used by a number of major cement customers, including: Grasim Cement, Chettinad Cement, JSW, Ambuja, ACC Cement Ltd., Dangote and Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC).
KEEPING AHEAD IN A COMPETITIVE MARKETTenova TAKRAF believes in developing and maintaining good, long-term relationships with its customers to understand their needs and serve them better. Its key strength is the knowledge base, skilled manpower and technological expertise, which is derived from a global presence and gathered through decades of experience. The company does not just try to sell a machine; it sells the Tenova TAKRAF concept.
Finally, the company’s price competitiveness comes from optimizing cost. It always works hand-in-hand with the customer and ensures delivery of the machine on or before time. Having a wide network of suppliers’ coverage within India and a global procurement team with a rich database of prices helps attain the most competitive prices.
RECENT CONTRACTS
TAKRAF India recently won a contract worth INR 330 Crore for the supply of two bucketwheel to NLC. Scheduled to be completed in 36 months, this is one of the major projects handled out of India. The scope involves the engineering, fabrication, supply and installation of the machine in Neyveli (TN), India.
The 9.02 MMTPA Guru Govind Singh Refinery Project of M/S HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL) at Bathinda (Punjab) is a recent installation from TAKRAF India. This petcoke handling system included the entire conveying system, a luffing and slewing bucketwheel stacker-cum-reclaimer, a truck loading system and a rail loading system.
RECENT TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS
The bulk handling industry in India is currently going through a technological change as a lot of upgrades and assimilations are taking place. The customers in this segment have been instrumental in encouraging and implementing the latest technology. The range of stackers and reclaimers is used for the
pre-blending stockpile and continuous homogenizing of raw material and solid fuel (coal, lignite, petcoke) in the modern dry process. Mechanization and automation of existing or new facilities have created the need for higher-performance machines. Automation, together with the communication system, safety and self-diagnostic features on the equipment allows unmanned operation of the machines. Continued improvements in materials used for manufacturing the equipment have substantially improved the availability and reliability of the equipment.
Silo cleaning technology keeps material flowing at Illinois Cement
One of the major US manufacturers of cement and other building materials has overcome a severe blockage of Type I cement in its 80,000-tonne capacity storage silo by employing an innovative pneumatic cleaning technology that was remotely controlled from outside the domed
structure, writes Elizabeth Allen. The Eagle Materials Illinois Cement facility experienced the blockage when a support cable on the reclaim screw conveyor came loose, sending thousands of pounds of material down into the silo at one time. But with the unique whip design of the cleaning equipment and some round-the-clock dedication from a Martin Engineering crew, the accumulation was efficiently cleared and loaded out, allowing repair personnel to set up a crane and lift the auger back into position.
The unique design of the equipment allowed it to be lowered from the top through a manhole opening, and although the crew was on-site around the clock for nearly a month, the material could be loaded out with normal operating procedures. “During the process, we were able to use our auto load-out system from the bottom of the dome, because the material being knocked down fell primarily in the center,” recalled chief chemist and quality control manager Kevin Jensen.“There was no need to transfer cement in the tunnel, and that helped minimize the disruption.”
Founded in 1964, Eagle Materials is one of the nation’s largest cement providers, with four plants supplying a combined total of about 4mt (million tonnes) annually. The company’s Illinois Cement facility in LaSalle manufactures approximately 1.1mt of that total each year.
Like most cement manufacturers, the plant uses large storage vessels to hold finished material until it’s ready for shipment. At the LaSalle facility, the domed storage unit is 99 feet tall and 186 feet in diameter.
During the course of normal operations, the cable connectors on the reclaim screw worked themselves loose, causing the auger to fall onto the pile and halting the flow of material. The only way to rectify the situation was to position a crane over the top and lift the conveyor out, so the cable could be reattached. But to do that, operators first needed to clear out enough material to access the disabled equipment, a massive task in light of the nearly-full dome.
“Our first step was coming up with a plan to tackle the load-out job,” recalled Jensen.“We needed to remove a significant amount of material in order to make the repair, and there was just no easy way to go about it.”
Jensen contacted Martin Engineering (Neponset, IL) for assistance, and technicians were on site to inspect the situation the next day. They reviewed the options and determined that the best approach was to employ the Martin
® Heavy Duty Whip, one of several technologies making up the company’s Silo Cleaning product line.
Powered by compressed air, the Whip’s patented gyro motor can use a variety of flails and cutting edges to knock down accumulated material without damaging storage vessels.
Abrasion-resistant steel chain is best suited for most applications, with non-sparking brass chain for combustible materials. Urethane flails can also be employed to protect lined vessels that could be susceptible to damage from metal tools.
“With this technology, there’s no need to send a man inside and risk injury,” observed Martin Engineering territory manager Jim Densberger. “The equipment can be set up quickly outside the vessel, and it’s portable enough to move easily around various bin sizes and shapes.” In most cases, the
technique allows material to be recaptured and returned to the material stream.
With safety harnesses in place, Martin Engineering technicians secured the equipment through an access hatch at the top of the dome. Though all of the company’s silo cleaning crews are OSHA and MSHA certified for confined space entry, they instead used remote control from outside the vessel to safely guide the head. The two-man crew lowered the whip through an opening created in the blockage,
As dislodged material fell to the bottom of the vessel, Illinois Cement was able to use its auto load-out system.
then worked their way downward from above, dislodging material as they went. By undercutting
the wall accumulation, it eventually began falling in sections from its own weight. The modular boom of the Martin Heavy Duty Whip extends up to 8.5 metres (28 feet) and can clean vessels up to 18 metres (60 feet) in diameter from a central opening of just 450mm (18 inches).
With the reclaim conveyor repaired and the process back up and running, Jensen was asked to summarize the experience.“The crew’s performance was excellent,” he concluded. “Martin Engineering was very responsive, and provided an innovative solution to the problem. We had good communication throughout, and all work was done in a safe manner.”
Founded in 1944, Martin Engineering is a major manufacturer, making bulk materials handling cleaner, safer and more productive. The firm is headquartered in Neponset, IL, offering manufacturing, sales and service from business units in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa,Turkey, India and the UK.
Scorpio Engineering offers range of cement handling solutions
Scorpio Engineering is a specialized bulk material handling systems company with more than 25 years’ experience. Cement distribution and logistics is one of the company’s key offerings in terms of special equipment and systems. Scorpio’s portfolio in this area includes the following:
- Conversion and retrofitting of river and coastal barges to cement self unloaders Self-unloaders use the principle of cement fluidization. The bottom of the barge holds is aerated and sloped to a central point. Cement is then sucked from this central point to a pair of pneumatic dense phase transporters located at the deck level of the barge. Compressed air is used to pump out the cement in sequence from these transport units. Cement can be pumped to shore silos about 200m to 500m away. Typical barge sizes for such retrofits would be from 2,000dwt to 10,000dwt.
- Cement flat storage: Self-unloading barges can be used in conjunction with shore based flat storage warehouses which will receive the cement pumped in from the self unloaders. The same fluidization principle is used to lift cement from the storage heaps in the flat store to adjoining packing plant or bulk trucks. The flat store is a low cost option to building large and expensive cylindrical silos which also take time to build. The simple flat store structural buildings can be dismantled and ‘recycled’ when the cement market demands moves to new locations.
- Pneumatic ship unloaders: Where it is not possible to retrofit barges and where one has to use commercial barges, bulk cement loaded in such barges (through air gravity conveyors) can be unloaded by using shore based mobile pneumatic ship unloaders. Scorpio designs and manufactures these units to suit each customer’s needs. Capacities range from 100tph (tonnes per hour) to 400tph. The units are essentially industrial duty ‘vacuum cleaners’. A hydraulically manoeuvered suction boom digs into the cement in the barge hold and a suction pipe sucks out the cement to a pair of dense phase transporters on a wharf-parked
mobile trailer unit. This unit houses the suction boom, dense phase transfer units, suction blowers and compressors, filters and controls. The cement is pumped from the suction units to far silos.