PPC contracts highlight Takraf Africa’s cement expertise

Key equipment supplier TAKRAF Africa, part of the global Tenova TAKRAF group, is nearing completion on two major material handling contracts for a prominent African cement producer, PPC Cement Ltd. The projects, one of which is for the PPC Slurry Plant in South Africa’s North West province, whilst the other is for the PPC Port Elizabeth Plant in the country’s Eastern Cape province, are interlinked. This means that precise scheduling and planning is required to ensure that the hand-over of both material handling systems are synchronized with one another and the client’s production schedule.

 

The projects comprise, respectively, upgrade of the material handling system for the loading of clinker onto both rail and road transport systems at PPC Slurry and, on the receiving side, the material handling for rail offloading at PPC Port Elizabeth. Both projects cover design, engineering, construction, instal­lation and commissioning, including all civil works. The systems also need to be tied into existing facilities during a limited shut down period to avoid production disruptions.

 

Increased manufacturing capacity at PPC Slurry, a clinker manufacturing plant traditionally servicing the PPC Gauteng plant, has meant that additional clinker can also be supplied to PPC Port Elizabeth. As a result, an upgraded clinker loading facility to load clinker onto both road and rail trucks was necessary for PPC Slurry to achieve the required clinker dispatch capacity. The upgraded system comprises a high capacity rail loading system and a separate installation for road transport loading.

 

The system provided by TAKRAF Africa features a fixed conveying system operating at 300tph (tonnes per hour) to offload into trucks with a loading accuracy of ±1%; whilst the rail system comprises a shuttle conveyor operating at 800tph and offloads into rail wagons with an accuracy of ±0.5%.

 

A challenge associated with clinker material handling is the potentially high dust levels generated from the handling of such material. Both the fixed and shuttle conveyor systems are equipped with Cascade chutes in addition to Tenova Reverse Bag Filters, resulting in reduced dust levels to within regulatory limits of 20 mg/Nm3. The Cascade chute prevents particle separation and minimizes material degradation, thereby eliminating dust generation at source.

 

The contract for PPC Slurry was awarded in February 2018, with completion of the road and rail offloading systems by June 2019.

 

The PPC Port Elizabeth Plant is a fully-fledged clinker manufacturing plant, which currently produces cement but, for various reasons including the age of the plant and future environmental emission requirements, is being converted into a cement-milling depot. Clinker will therefore be brought from other PPC clinker producing factories including PPC Slurry, thus requiring facilities to be established at the plant for the offloading of clinker.

 

TAKRAF Africa’s material handling system to offload clinker into a storage building prior to it being milled comprises a 400tph belt feeder, hopper and two Redler en masse chain conveyors. TAKRAF Africa is also modifying the clinker storage facility to enable it to meet the extra capacity requirements.

 

Establishing a new facility on a brownfields site added to the complexity of the project as much of the material handling system had to be designed and erected to cross over existing buildings.

As with the PPC Slurry plant, dust control was another focus area and dust extraction systems have been provided at all transfer points to reduce levels to within regulatory limits.

 

The contract was awarded in April 2018 and will be completed, as per contract, in April 2019.

 

Known as Bateman Engineered Technologies prior to Tenova acquiring the Bateman group in 2012 and being integrated into Tenova TAKRAF, TAKRAF Africa’s reference list in the cement industry stretches well back into the last century and includes projects with all of South Africa’s leading cement producers.

 

The extensive business relationship with PPC includes, in recent years, the supply of Tenova Reverse Bag Filters to replace existing electrostatic precipita­tors at PPC’s Slurry facility and at its De Hoek cement plant. In addition, a 29.5m side arm scraper reclaimer installed at PPC’s Dwaalboom factory, as part of a contract to provide conveyors and reclaimers for the plant’s expansion, was one of the largest of its kind in the world. Seven Tenova Reverse Bag Filters were also supplied as part of this project.

 

“The award of these two important material handling projects for PPC’s Slurry and Port Elizabeth plants highlight the continuing wide acceptance of our expertise in the cement sector,” says Richard Späth, General Manager – Technologies, TAKRAF Africa. “Our services to the cement industry cover the complete process chain from collecting, through conveying, storage and conditioning, to classification and ‘outloading’. Our advanced design skills are further complemented by our access to world class licences, such as the Redler conveyors, as well as our own in-house developed technologies.”

 

TAKRAF, a Tenova company, is an integrated solutions provider to the global mining, bulk material handling, minerals processing and beneficiation industries, offering innovative tech­nological solutions as well as process and commodity knowledge along the industry value chains. With the integration of the well-known DELKOR and, Tenova Advanced Technologies (formerly Bateman Advanced Tech­nologies) brand of products into TAKRAF as specialized product lines, our portfolio for the mineral processing and beneficiation sectors has been considerably enhanced.

 

Tenova, a Techint Group company, is a worldwide partner for innovative, reliable solutions in metals and mining. Leveraging a workforce of over 3,000 forward-thinking professionals located in 22 countries across five continents, Tenova designs technologies and develops services that help companies reduce costs, save energy, limit environmental impact and improve working conditions.