Case Studies
Grain Ship Loading Chute
Project Scope
Bulk material: Grain – wheat and barley
Equipment: Telescopic ship loading spout/chute
Challenge: High dust levels and non-standard operating procedure
Upgrade of Gravity Reclaim Stockpile
Project scope
Bulk material: Iron ore fines
Equipment: 42,000 cubic metre conical stockpile with two reclaim hoppers for train loading
Challenge: Insufficient live capacity due to rathole formation above reclaim hoppers
Design of Slewing and Luffing Stacker Transfer
Project scope
Bulk material: Coal
Equipment: Central transfer on a slewing/luffing stacker operating at 8000t/h and speeds over 5.6m/s
Challenge: Development of a favourable concept design in view of tight structural constraints
Redesign of Road Receiving Hoppper
Project scope
Bulk material: Nickel ore
Equipment: Road receival hopper
Challenge: Arching and ratholing due to difficult nature of material resulting in blockage and downtime
Discharge System for Aluminium Hydrate
Project scope
Bulk material: Aluminium hydrate, known to be a very abrasive material
Equipment: Existing metering valve used to discharge alumina into a pneumatic conveying system at a rate of 1 to 20 t/h. The valve operates via a conical plug moving up or down, thus changing the annular opening size and controlling the material discharge.
Challenge: Feeding into the conveying system is unreliable, leading to process interruptions. This problem has existed for 20 years.
Optimisation of Reclaimer Belt Wear and Tracking
Project scope
Bulk material: Coal
Equipment: Reclaiming system with bifurcated surge bin feeding yard belt conveyor via two belt feeders
Challenge: Belt wear and tracking issues required replacement of the feeder belts after only 12 months of service
Double Spoon Transfer Design
Project Scope
Bulk material: Potash
Equipment: Chute at the end of long, fast-moving feeder operating at 6000t/h
Challenge: Limited head height, wide and slow-moving stream, steep outgoing belt inclination
Improvement to System Conveying Flyash
Project scope
System performance analysis: Is it achieving design capacity?
System performance analysis: Is there opportunity to improve capacity using existing system components?
Optimising Fertiliser Dispersion Patterns
Project scope
Aim: Predicting and optimising fertiliser dispersion patterns for agricultural rotary spreaders
Challenge: Are the fertilisers evenly spread using the current rotary spreader?
Recovery and Pumping of Marine Sediment
Project Scope
Bulk material: Marine sediments
Equipment: Twin screw feeder, twin screw mixer, swing tube cylinder positive displacement pump and 100 meters of 1.6 MPa 90mm plastic pipe
Challenge: Recovering and pumping marine sediment to a shore landfill
Development of Dustless Chute Technology
Project Scope
Bulk material: Grain (wheat, durum, barley)
Equipment: Telescopic ship loading spout/chute
Challenge: High dust levels during loading and limited reach leading to increased loading time
Surge Bin Design for Consistent Slurry Density
Project Scope
Bulk Material: Mineral Sand
Equipment: Surge Bin
Challenge: Inconsistent slurry density at discharge, slumping and blockages
Global Belt Tender Project
Project Scope
Equipment: Belt Conveyor Systems
Challenge: Comparative testing of conveyor belt samples from a range of belt suppliers for a global tender project
DEM Analysis of Silo Eccentric Flow Loads
Project Scope
Bulk Solid Material: Coal
Equipment: Storage Silo
Problem: Cracks on Silo Wall
Aim: Analysis of Silo Asymmetry Normal Pressures due to Eccentric Discharge using DEM Simulation.
