Bulk Handling Review Sep -Oct 2017

www.bulkhandlingreview.com

Volume 22 No 5 | September/October 2017

 AGL Loy Yang’s new conveyors  In discussion with Nepean’s Miles Fuller  Q&A with stockyard automation guru  TUNRA on DEM’s evolution  New column: Ask an engineer

Introducing the ‘ME-Trackweigh®-2D-FR’ Mission Critical train weighing system

WHICH OF THE TOP 4 ELBOW PROBLEMS DO YOU NEED TO SOLVE IN YOUR PNEUMATIC CONVEYING SYSTEM?

PROBLEM

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Wear and failure when conveying abrasives

such as sand, glass, alumina or mineral filled plastic pellets incur never-ending costs of replacement elbows, labour and downtime.

CAUSE

Abrasives hit the outside radius of conventional impact elbows at high speed, continually wearing through the elbow wall.

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when conveying pelletised resins and compounds causes downstream quality problems.

such as pet food, coffee beans or grains, decrease product quality, consistency and salability while increasing waste.

when conveying sugar, rubber pellets, hot melt adhesives, clay and other pressureand heat-sensitive materials prone to build-up.

Pellets skidding and/or bouncing against the outside radius of sweep elbows create friction and heat, melting pellet surfaces, forming streamers.

Friable materials hit the outside radius of conventional impact elbows at high speed, degrading the material and generating fines.

Materials skidding against the outside radius of conventional elbows create friction and heat, causing product build-up.

Formation of streamers, angel hair and snake skins

Breakage and dusting of fragile materials

Plugging and build-up

SOLUTION Smart Elbow® Deflection Elbow

from HammerTek® ends problems by eliminating impact and frictional heat Unlike conventional “impact” elbows and “plugged-tee” elbows that rely on material impact to change direction, HammerTek’s Smart Elbow® design employs a spherical chamber that protrudes partially beyond the desired 90º or 45º pathway, causing a ball of material suspended in air to rotate.

Since the ball of material rotates in the same direction as the airstream that powers it, incoming material is cushioned by the ball’s rotation, and is gently deflected around the bend.

By preventing impact with the elbow wall, HammerTek’s Smart Elbow® deflection elbow virtually eliminates costly elbow wear, material degradation, melting and plugging.

Free, No-Risk Trial Offer See how Smart Elbow® deflection elbows eliminate conventional and plugged-tee impact elbow problems—at no cost or obligation.

45° and 90° elbows available in cast iron, carbon steel, aluminium, stainless steel and specialised alloys with flanges and socket-weld ends in tube, schedule 10 pipe and schedule 80 pipe sizes in diameters from 32 mm (1.25 inches) to 457 mm (18 inches).

FF-0820

+61 (7) 3360 8580 • sales@HammerTek.com.au www.HammerTek.com.au

CONTENTS

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EDITOR Charles Macdonald Tel: 02 9994 8086 Email: charles.macdonald@mohimedia.com HEAD OF SALES Patrick Roberts Level 14, 309 Kent St, Sydney, NSW 2000 Tel: 02 9994 8086 Email: patrick.roberts@mohimedia.com PEER REVIEW Ronda McCallum Tel: +61 2 9994 8086 Email: ronda.mccallum@mohimedia.com PRODUCTION MANAGER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER Magazines byDesign - Linda Gunek Tel: +61 2 8883 5890 Email: production@bydesigngraphics.com.au FOR SPONSORSHIP & EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES Patrick Roberts Tel: 02 9994 8086 Email: patrick.roberts@mohimedia.com PLEASE SEND ADVERTISING MATERIAL TO Ronda McCallum Email: ronda.mccallum@mohimedia.com Tel: +61 2 9994 8086 PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Michael Mohi Email: michael.mohi@mohimedia.com

AUSTRALIAN BULK HANDLING REVIEW (ABHR) is published 7 times a year by Mohi Media Pty Ltd ACN: 611591210 ABN: 436111591210 PO Box 455 Rozelle, NSW 2039

contents

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017

6 BMT designs new coal and overburden conveyors for AGL’s Loy Yang

46 Aurecon engineers expansion of Qatar’s gabbro terminal from 16 to 30mtpa

10 ABHR editor interviews Nepean boss Miles Fuller; pair discuss Sandvik acquisition, strategy

50 As Flinders buys Townsville Bulk Storage, ABHR charts the

14 ABHR discusses stockyard automation technology with FLSmidth expert Rasmus Stefansen

57 US plastics company cuts maintenance with switch to

18 Dos Santos high angle conveyors for Columbian mine 18 4B relocates to bigger Brisbane premises ENGINEERING SERVICES 20 2017/18 Directory of bulk handling engineering firms ABHR’s listing will help operators at mines, mills, ports and plants of all types pinpoint exactly the right engineer for their job.

South Australian company’s growth HammerTek deflection elbows 59 Schaeffler monitors motors and drives 60 Flexicon system moves brittle pasta without breakage 62 Minerals processing maestro Chris Kelsey tunes up waterless technologies

31 Comment: Dr Tim Donohue of TUNRA on DEM’s evolution in solving industry problems

65 FLSmidth foresees end of tailings dams with new system

33 Grant Wellwood of Jenike & Johanson: go slow to go fast

66 Controlled ball mill lifts with Enerpac strand jacks

34 Kinder on solving mechanical conveyor problems

67 Brazilian quarry likes Metso’s new MX crusher

35 GEA building Asia’s largest milk production facility

69 Flexicon IBC discharger for low headroom areas

36 Q&A with founders of Eng Access – online marketplace for RPEQ engineers

70 Bulk solids PhD Jon Roberts focuses on dust suppression

38 Yenem embraces abseiling, drones, 3D models for structural audits 40 Switch of private equity owner for Schenck Process 41 Comment: David Singleton asks – whose interests are served

by M&A in consulting?

42 Napier Port buys six more Konecranes’ lift trucks 43 Air Springs’ Pronal cushions aid heavy horizontal lifts

71 Cut To Size Plastics on using engineered plastics to handle concrete 72 Weir Minerals’ top tips for crusher maintenance 73 Rabobank on agricultural technology and sensors 75 Ask an engineer: a new column from Jenike & Johanson will answer readers’ most pressing questions

ISSN 1444-6308 Circulaton: 5,263 (audit period ending September 2015) Member Circulation Audit Bureau (Australia)

Copyright © 2017 Mohi Media Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the editorial or pictorial content by any manner without written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

While contributed articles to ABHR are welcome, return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings and photographs if they are to be returned and no responsibility can be assumed for unsolicited materials. All rights in letters submitted will be treated as unconditionally assigned for the publication.

All products listed in this magazine are subject to manufacturer’s change without notice and the publisher assumes no responsibility for such changes.

The publisher’s advertising terms and conditions are set out in the current Advertising Rate Card, which is available to read before placing any advertisements.

ABOUT THE COVER www.bulkhandlingreview.com

Volume 22 No 5 | September/October 2017



AGL Loy Yang’s new conveyors



In discussion with Nepean’s Miles Fuller



Q&A with stockyard automation guru



TUNRA on DEM’s evolution



New column: Ask an engineer

Introducing the ‘ME-Trackweigh®-2D-FR’ Mission Critical train weighing system

International expansion and new products for Meridian Engineers Train weighing and loading specialist Meridian Engineers recently launched its flagship product for low speed in-motion train weighing applications – the ME-Trackweigh-2D-FR. Two of the new systems were installed in the last year and Meridian CEO Tony Pruiti reported “exceptional accuracy and redundancy capabilities” and delighted clients.

Other Meridian news includes: - The company’s systems now offer SQL cloud-based database management and full HTML web-based user interface solutions - The launch of a new ‘hybrid’ train loading technology - IP68 certification and ATEX/IECEx approvals for bolt-on transducers - Participation in US and Polish rail expos and two new contracts in the US For the full story, see page 44.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

3

EDITORIAL

Keeping it in the family It’s not easy being a manufacturer in Australia, as the past or pending departures of Ford, Toyota and Holden show.

Challenges abound. There’s our tiny home market, compared to the billions living to our north. There are the huge distances and expensive logistics. A stubbornly high Australian

By Charles Macdonald dollar. High wages. Sometimes trucuEditor – ABHR lent unions. Adding to the mix more recently are sky high electricity and gas costs.

One company that is succeeding despite these obstacles is Nepean, a heavy manufacturer founded by David Fuller in Narellan in 1974.

Now run by David’s son Miles, the business has grown to 1,100 employees active across 13 diverse lines including conveyors and longwall equipment.

Growth has been organic and by acquisition. The latest buy was Sandvik’s conveyor components and systems business, which has added 300 employees, state-of-the-art roboticised factories in Germany and Brazil, and market-leading brands like Prok, Gurtec and Roxon.

Miles Fuller, in conversation with ABHR on page 10, describes local manufacturing as “a wonderful test of endurance”.

To prosper, Miles has instituted a culture at Nepean which wouldn’t look out of place in California’s Silicon Valley. Businesses are run like entrepreneurial start-ups. The management

World Leaders in Bulk Materials Handling with over 40 years of experience in Research and Consulting We are experienced and offer assistance in everything that is BULK SOLIDS, including: • Testing of Bulk Materials and Bulk Materials Handling Equipment • Consulting Services for Storage, Flow and Handling • Conceptual Design of storage and Handling Systems Upcoming Short Courses; Storage, Flow & Conveying 14-16 November 2017, Perth

For more information, visit www.bulksolids.com.au or call +61 2 4033 9055

4

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

structure is flat. And the best is brought out in the company’s supervisors and managers by Harvard Business School programmes.

Doubtless Miles has had financiers and bankers knocking on his door with plans to take the company to the Australian Stock Exchange. But he has no interest in a short-term windfall, instead taking about “long term not short term returns” and “inter-generational opportunities.”

For the full story, see page 10.

Private equity on the look-out Were Miles looking to cash in, this is probably a good time to do it. Care of quantitative easing and low interest rates, there is a lot of money available to the private equity sector which, estimates suggest, will raise US$220 billion in 2017 as ‘dry powder’ for deals.

In a sign of the times, measuring technology firm Schenck Process has switched private equity owners. The Germany-headquartered firm, which has a deep footprint in Australia in areas like train load-out equipment, has just been sold by boutique private equity firm IK Investment Partners to one of the giants of the sector, Blackstone.

The latter firm intends to grow Schenck both organically and by acquisition. For the full story, see page 40.

Any questions?

In this edition, ABHR includes the first of a series of columns entitled “Ask an engineer”. In it, experienced engineers from specialist firm Jenike & Johanson are available to answer readers’ pressing questions. If you have a question that you would like answered, please contact me at charles.macdonald@mohimedia.com

ether g o T s n o ti lu o S g in c Pie

For More Information Visit

www.kockumsbulk.com.au Call 03 9457 8200 to speak to your local representative

CONVEYORS

Loy Yang’s new conveyors BMT has designed new coal and overburden conveyors for AGL’s Loy Yang Mine, as explained by the engineering firm’s Gary Ryan.

T

he AGL Loy Yang Mine just east of Melbourne recently completed two major new conveyor projects which were required due to ongoing mine development.

After more than five years of planning, Loy Yang’s Travelling Stacker 4 is now in service at the bottom of the mine, with the L410 coal conveyor also in operation. This is a significant milestone in the development of the Loy Yang Mine and a key component of its progressive rehabilitation strategy.

BMT undertook the design of all the new equipment for the new conveyors, from the concept design phase through the detail design phase, while also providing technical support during construction. Experts in the design of bulk materials handling conveyors, and with decades of in-house experience with the brown coal mines in the Latrobe Valley Victoria, BMT was able to deliver complex designs, including a downhill conveyor with a specialised braking system.

The first of the major new projects designed by BMT is the new coal conveyor, L410. The second is the new overburden conveyors, L702 and L705.

Conveyor system after introduction of the new conveyors (new conveyors in green).

L705 looking up the ramp toward the tail end. This picture shows the design details to suit clean-up and prevent erosion on the ramp. There is clearance under the conveyor, and concrete has a cross fall and drain on right.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

CONVEYORS

Details of operations and equipment design

room. The mine has a drive head transporter which is used to move the eight older design drive heads in the mine and the new drive head.

All the older drive heads in the mine were designed to operate with 610kW drives with eddy current couplings. In 2003 BMT designed a new standard 1000kW VVVF drive for the mine, to supplement the older drives. The new BMT design drive head design allows for 3 x 1000kW VVVF drives, providing a total of 3000kW installed power at the gearbox input shaft compared to the old drive head power of 2270kW. The combination of two primary and one secondary drives is also better for managing the belt tensions than the older drive head arrangement. The drive head switch room is located on top of the drive head for cleanliness. The switch room contains all the Rockwell VVVF drive equipment.

The design challenges for the new L410 drive head included: • Maintaining the same overall geometry so that the old and new drive heads are interchangeable.

• Keeping the mass within the existing drive head transporter limits.

• Achieving clearances under the drive head so that the drive head transporter can manoeuvre and correctly position itself close to the centre of gravity.

• Ensuring the structural design tolerated the drive head being placed on uneven ground.

Loy Yang Mine uses four bucket wheel excavators, each with a dedicated face conveyor (L100, L200, L300 and L400 respectively) and trunk conveyor system to the mine outlet. At the mine outlet the excavated material is directed either to the raw coal bunker or the overburden dump.

Starting operations in 1980, Loy Yang plays a critical role in supplying two coal-fired power stations (totalling 3,000MW) that provide 30 percent of Victoria’s power needs.

As the mine grew, the three upper faces developed in a block operation, where the face conveyor is moved sideways regularly and the corresponding trunk conveyor is extended to suit. The bottom face conveyor (L400) was able to continue to operate in a pivot operation until earlier this year, when a new trunk conveyor L410 was required to change the face to a block operation.

Mine plans have always envisaged that the overburden would be dumped into the mine, and environmental approvals for the external overburden dump place a limit on the external dump size. The introduction of the conveyor L410 freed space at the bottom of the mine so that internal overburden dumping could start. The BMT-designed new trunk conveyors L702 and L705 are used to transfer overburden to this internal dump.

The new conveyor L410 is designed as a movable conveyor.

This permits the conveyor to be readily relocated in the future and makes it very tolerant of ground movements. The same design is planned to be used for other new conveyors required in the future. The head end of the conveyor is a “movable drive head”, and contains the conveyor drives, take-up and switch

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ground) • Coal (Surface/Under • Ports • Salt • Steel Platinum, Iron Ore, etc) • Hard Rock (Gold, Copper,

• Fertilizer • Sugar • Sand & Gravel • Aggregate

• Crushed Stone • Preparation Plants • Cement • Grain

• Load Out Facilities • Potash • Mobile Crushing • Chemical

12

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

7

CONVEYORS

L410 drive head (right) and L705 head end (left) on ship during delivery. The L410 trailing frame is on top of the drive head frame, and parts of the L705 tail drive structures are further along the ship.

had to remain in service until the changeover outage. BMT developed the design so that: • The L702 head end foundations were able to be constructed before the changeover outage.

• The new L702 tail take-up was completely constructed behind the existing tail end before the outage.

• The new L705 conveyor was constructed and partly commissioned before the L702 head end was installed (L702 loads onto L705).

• The L702 head end design comprised five major assemblies which were erected and completed over L705 during the changeover outage.

The new conveyor L705 carries overburden at 8,500tonnes/ hour into the mine with a change in level of 130m. In normal operation the drives regenerate power and brake the conveyor and in this case the conveyor regenerates approximately 2MW in normal operation.

The main design challenge for this conveyor was the backup braking system. The concept design was developed before AS4024 part 3611 was issued, however BMT’s design concept was consistent with the requirements of the new standard. The conveyor has three drive pulleys each with a 1000kW drive assembly on one side and a large Svendborg disc brake on the other side. The drive assemblies also have a high speed brake.

The braking control uses a Hubner over-speed switch, duplicate speed encoders, a Svendborg brake controller, back-up braking power supplies, and other details. Typically, the failure of any one item will allow the conveyor to stop using a speed controlled deceleration ramp either from the drives or from the brake controller.

More severe events with multiple simultaneous failures trigger a constant torque brake application. The challenge was to cover all failures without applying sudden and excessive braking torque that would result in excessively high belt tensions.

BMT’s design work included dynamic modelling of the L705 conveyor belt during severe braking events using BMT’s Belsim conveyor analysis software. Excessively high belt tensions may result in splice failures and other damage.

The new conveyors were all designed to meet AGL’s requirement for robust and reliable plant, where maintenance provisions designed into the equipment are critical to minimise outage durations.

The new internal overburden conveyors and L410 conveyor were installed and commissioned in early 2017.

L410 drive head (rear) and L705 head (foreground) during erection.

8

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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NEWS

Nepean boss reflects on strategy, Sandvik acquisition

Conveyor at an FMG operation at Port Hedland. The Sandvik acquisition bolsters Nepean’s offerings in terms of conveyor rollers and related products.

Following its acquisition of Sandvik’s conveyor components and systems businesses, Nepean’s chief executive, Miles Fuller talked to ABHR editor Charles Macdonald about the company’s strategy.

N

Miles Fuller, chief executive, Nepean.

10

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

epean is that rarest of breeds: an Australian heavy industry company that is expanding internationally, manufacturing locally and succeeding despite an energy crisis in its home market.

Founded by his toolmaker father David Fuller in 1974 in Narellan, NSW, Nepean remains a privately-held family business but one now with subsidiaries around the world and over 1,100 employees.

While Nepean encompasses a diverse spread of activities across engineering, mining services and industrial manufacturing, underlying all its businesses is an entrepreneurial culture and system of continuous education involving the Harvard Business School.

In July 2017, Nepean announced a transformational deal for its conveyor business with the acquisition of Sandvik’s conveyor components and systems businesses, based in Hollola, Finland.

With that deal Nepean acquired well established brands such as Prok, Gurtec and Roxon – themselves hoovered up by Sandvik

NEWS

over the years – the 340 highly experienced staff behind them, valuable intellectual property, and sophisticated, roboticised manufacturing plants in Germany and Brazil.

Already the largest manufacturer of pulleys and idlers in Australia, the Sandvik acquisition transforms Nepean into one of the largest specialists in conveyor components globally, alongside companies such as Lorbrand and Rulmeca.

The combined Nepean/Sandvik will produce many thousands of large engineered pulleys and millions of conveyor rollers annually.

Of the Sandvik deal, Miles Fuller said: “There is a deep and rich history in the brands that Sandvik acquired – Roxon, Gurtec, Prok – where the employees and the capabilities in those companies before they were rolled into Sandvik were dominant players in their own right.

“The employees are deeply competent. We are very excited about the capability of the people.

“The actual facilities, particularly in Brazil and Germany, are absolutely outstanding. They have impressive robotics, they have really excellent operational processes, systems, plant and equipment. Without any question, we are confident that we can compete with Asia given the capability of that plant and equipment which has been built around some unique intellectual property in terms of the manufacturing know-how.

“It all dovetails into unique products that are hands-down – and can be evidenced by the history of operations, quality of the product, independent testing – superior to anything else on the market”.

In terms of specific products, Sandvik has delivered to Nepean a composite roller, referred to in the market as HR185, which boasts a shell 70% lighter than steel equivalents and 40% lighter than other plastic ones. Sandvik’s composite, however, was a bit slower to market than competitors’ offerings.

“It was a little behind market trend” said Miles. “They wanted it to be perfect and it’s a function of excellence in engineering but slowness in marketing. That’s okay.”

Another Sandvik product is the HM roller of which Miles said “there would not be a better manufactured roller in the world.”

Roller manufacture needs to be local While some roller products are perceived as being commoditised, with cheap Chinese manufacture a key part of the equation, Miles is at pains to stress the need for local manufacture of Nepean’s products.

“There are many variations on a roller although they might look the same,” he said. “The right product for the right application takes a very skilled partner to stock, service, manage, and support so that customers get the lowest cost per tonne and the longest life. It’s a far more engineering-orientated business than one would perceive.

“We make what customers need, which differs by geography.

Rollers for western Australia are different to those for the east coast. Rollers for South Africa are different to those for Australia.

It means that we couldn’t just make rollers and ship them to other locations, because we’d carry unreasonable amounts of inventory trying to guess what the customer needed.

“Our east coast idler manufacturing operation is renowned for speed of service and the ability to give the customer exactly what they need, not necessarily what they think they need.”

Harvard Business School training On his own admission, Miles struggled in his early years at school. However, he had a determination to succeed and persevered in his studies. Ever since, he’s been determined to develop Nepeans’ employees with programmes of continuous improvement and education.

“This is very personal and I’m very committed,” said Miles.

“It’s not an event for us, it’s a constant journey. We have got so

much to take away from great learning experiences and we think that is the backbone of how we can give the tools to our people to run companies really well.”

Miles spoke to ABHR the day before the opening of the Nepean Leadership Academy in Australia, an intensive two-day course for 130 of the company’s managers and supervisors. Run

by Professor Boris Groysberg from Harvard Business School, the course, into its fourth year, sees Nepean people develop initiatives which are implemented in their workplaces and analysed the following year.

“There are case studies, they do pre-work, they do work after the event,” explained Miles. “We take those themes and turn them into tangible implementable business projects and they report on those projects next year. They incubate them by comparing them against case studies and ideas and teachings. They go into the business, they initiate the projects, they execute them, they report back to the company next year.”

We use a lot of electricity and gas… it’s been a very unreasonable incremental cost to our business Challenges of Australian manufacturing While Nepean is going from strength to strength, Miles is open in saying that local manufacturing is hard.

“It’s a wonderful test of endurance,” he said. “It absolutely is not easy to be a manufacturer in Australia – you have lots of challenges. In 2013 we went through a real test and we had a lot of headwinds. We had a lot of people not believing that manufacturing was possible in Australia, and could be financially viable.

“We have worked tremendously hard to develop a business model and engage our people on a journey that was absolutely lean and competitive enough, and strategic enough, and innovative enough for us to defy the odds and come out the other side doing incredibly well.”

Punitive energy costs Like every energy intensive business in Australia, Nepean is feeling the pressure of sky high electricity and gas prices.

“In our building and infrastructure business, we run galvanising facilities and hot form steel lintels,” said Miles. “We use a lot of electricity and gas and in both cases it’s been a very unreasonable incremental cost to our business that’s hard for us to understand and it makes it tough for us to operate those businesses.”

Specialising in the “dirty, dangerous and difficult” Nepean operates 13 sometimes disparate business units, comprising: conveyor systems, galvanising, longwall equipment, electrical equipment, aircraft towers, light towers, galvanised steel lintels, methane gas extraction, roller brake testing, fabricated metal products, perforated & expanded metal products, and robotic wheel polishing.

Miles, in various media pronouncements, has stated that the various business units, very different though they are, are all operated as entrepreneurial start-ups, with flat structures and empowered staff.

“The wrap of all our businesses is firstly an entrepreneurial commitment to running businesses, empowering leaders to run them who are hands-on, flat organisational structures, with a backbone of manufacturing, engineering and industrial,” he said.

“They can be dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs but we like to make them challenging, exciting and fun.”

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

11

NEWS

Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri by night. The underground coal sector is another key market for Nepean.

Transformational acquisitions Nepean has grown through organic growth, many small acquisitions, and, prior to the Sandvik deal, one large acquisition. The latter was a $60m transaction in 2007 which saw Nepean acquire Graham Group and its 300 employees and enter the building and infrastructure area. The Sandvik deal adds much more geographical diversification, with many international facilities and customers in 66 countries.

In the bulk handling space, Nepean acquired Ellton Conveyors in March 2016. Looking back, Miles is happy with that transaction: “The people that came over have been absolutely outstanding and very difficult to replicate; it would take many, many years internally to develop,” he said. “I’ve been very happy with that acquisition. The market in the east coast in Australia in coal projects would have been busier and more difficult had those extra people been in the market. It’s been a wonderful thing. We couldn’t have executed some of the substantial projects that we have recently without those additional resources.”

The Ellton team was important in Nepean designing and delivering a $50m conveyor system for Yancoal’s new Moolarben mine. “The Ellton team played a very important role in the execution of that project,” said Miles.

Industrial internet and digitisation Miles Fuller, like every other senior executive, spends time thinking about how the digital revolution will affect his, and his customers’, businesses. However, he is taking a measured approach to digital initiatives.

“We certainly think about it and we think a lot about what not to do so that we don’t make our business cluttered with data that doesn’t help our customers,” he explained. “We constantly 12

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

think about how we can make a product smarter to help our customers but in many ways we need customers to drive the initiative as a project to help us drive the development. So, if customers aren’t ready for it, it’s hard to be pushing data that they don’t have a need for.

“With the integration between Nepean Power and Nepean Conveyors we are very mechanically and electrically intelligent and we have tremendous capabilities.

“But the opportunity for us to be a very progressive, very smart manager of information we see almost as more valuable for us to make our products more reliable and lower their operating costs per tonne than what customers are asking for at this point.

“The long term is a transition from us being a manufacturer of equipment, to a systems designer, to us potentially renting on a cent per tonne basis the best package in the world that would give the customer the lowest cost per tonne.”

Family-owned and staying that way Company founder David Fuller, Miles’ father, still attends the founding location, walking around and seeing staff every day.

“He’s 77 and has done an extraordinary job to build in such an entrepreneurial way the backbone of the business that I took over 10 years ago,” said Miles. “I’ve been in the business for 23 years. It’s been a very exciting journey but I’ve stayed grounded along the way. I drove my 350,000km ute to the conference today because I had to do a delivery!”

Asked by ABHR whether he had thought of taking the company public, Miles concluded by saying, “Not really. I like the job and the journey that I’m on. I feel a sense of responsibility that there are inter-generational opportunities that we are creating.

We think long term not about short term returns.”

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STOCKYARD AUTOMATION

Stockyard automation technology expert

in conversation with ABHR

BlueScope Steel wanted a stockyard automation solution to cut operational costs, maximise stockyard area utilisation and boost reclaiming throughput. The company’s compact, high-utilisation stockyards are equipped with three ship unloaders and two bucket-wheel stacker/reclaimers, which were commissioned in the 1970s and converted in 2014 from relay control to PLC. Image shows early phase overview of the raw materials stockyard. FLSmidth’s unmanned control lead to a virtual doubling of reclaiming throughput.

FLSmidth’s BulkExpert automation technology is being embraced at stockyards and bulk handling sites globally, including by Australian companies such as BlueScope Steel. ABHR editor, Charles Macdonald spoke to Rasmus Stefansen global product line manager, bulk handling, FLSmidth about the technology.

(ABHR) To set the scene: what is BulkExpert? Who are you (role at FLSmidth, length of time there, where based)? And how were you involved in the development of BulkExpert?

(Rasmus Stefansen) BulkExpert is a state-of-the-art automation technology for dry bulk equipment that has made it possible to obtain an unmanned and optimised operation of any type of stacker/ reclaimer, ship unloader/loader and train loader system on the market. It is accurate beyond what any person can achieve.

I am global product line manager for bulk handling at FLSmidth. I am based in Denmark and I am globally responsible for the FLSmidth BulkExpert unmanned control product. I joined FLSmidth in 2007 carrying-out design, programming and order handling of SCADA-based distributed control systems. This included two years in the USA. In 2013, I returned to Denmark to implement, adapt and further develop acquired BulkExpert 14

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

advanced unmanned control technology, including full project management and site management, performance guarantees and client site acceptance.

(ABHR) I believe that the BulkExpert system was 10 years in the making. Can you tell me about some milestones along the way?

(RS) Development of the system was based around the introduction of new sensor technologies. The goal was for fully automatic and autonomous operation of stockyard machines.

When reliable, long-range, true 3D laser scanners became available for the industrial market, it opened up the opportunity to successfully carry out real-time scanning of terrain surface profiles. We could develop algorithms that were capable of utilising the information for reliable and effective autonomous operation.

By combining the 3D rangefinder technology with advanced positioning

Rasmus Stefansen global product line manager, bulk handling, FLSmidth.

technology, we were provided with an accurate and reliable base for full autonomous operation that would take into account the actual working environment.

The first operation was commenced with four units in January 2001. Since then, an average automated operating time of more than 95% has been attained. Actually, projects for the automation of up to 40 stockyard machines for stacking and reclaiming have been realised successfully.

The system is designed with a consequent dual-channel design for all safety functions, and has been approved for unmanned operation in accordance with DIN EN 954-1, Safety Class 3.

The system is based on automation technologies developed by iSAM AG that are patent-registered in several countries.

These technologies and patents have been acquired by FLSmidth and are now marketed under the registered trademark FLSmidth BulkExpert. We still work

STOCKYARD AUTOMATION

closely with iSAM AG, realising advanced automation projects.

(ABHR) In general terms, what benefits can BulkExpert offer stockyards and operators of large materials handling machines?

(RS) I can see four distinct benefits.

Increased reclaim performance guarantee – This is one of the only existing systems for full autonomous operation of stacking and reclaiming. As such, we can issue a performance guarantee to the client regarding increased nominal reclaim capacity.

Real-time inventory survey – It makes it possible to always know the stockyard inventory with certainty, allowing for spot price trading.

Full centralised autonomous operation – No operator is needed for any parts of normal operation, pile face-up, etc. This is the only system that uses 3D laser scanning combined with an absolute positioning system. This combination provides the most accurate and reliable surface profile technology available, which can be re-used for every bucket wheel stacker reclaimer setup in any type of stockyard.

Guaranteed project results and system performance – Typically, project start to finish is around nine months from ordering to on-site signed performance guarantee. The clients are not buying a research and development system - they are buying a commercial solution with guaranteed implementation results and a fixed timeframe.

(ABHR) I’ve seen mention of lifts in stockyard throughput of ‘10% to 15%’ in your literature. These are massive productivity lifts. Can you spell out some of the applications where BulkExpert has delivered these returns?

(RS) Only a small number of clients are willing to share any type of performance numbers, but based on feasibility studies at client sites, we’re able to provide a contractual guarantee typically in the range of 10-15, depending on the operation of the machines.

(ABHR) I believe BulkExpert is in operation in around 30 sites. Can you describe some of the more interesting applications? Also, what are the Australian applications?

(RS) Yes, there are over 30 systems

operating around the world - from the snow and cold of Canada to the heat of Australia. We have systems working in Europe where heavy rain, winds and even hailstorms may all occur on the very same day without affecting operations.

Most installations are located at steel plants and import/export terminals handling a wide range of material types and sizes. Bauxite, coal, iron ore, limestone, quartz, sinter, coke, gabbro, urea, ammonium nitrate and phosphate are some of the commodities handled

by BulkExpert systems.

One Australian application is steel producer BlueScope Steel Limited. What is fascinating about a site like BlueScope Steel is that they had these massive 40-year-old machines which have now been updated with the latest technology and are now operated autonomously from a central control room in a comfortable environment. The application consisted of: - 2 x bucket wheel stacker/reclaimers (combined machines). These were Thyssenkrupp machines commissioned in the 1970s and converted from relay control to PLC in 2014 (Rockwell L73 safety PLC). They

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

15

STOCKYARD AUTOMATION

The stockyard’s two stacker/reclaimers were equipped with FLSmidth’s BulkExpert unmanned control system, consisting of high-precision RTK GPS receivers and 3D laser scanners. Autonomous operation has transformed the management of the stockyard at Port Kembla.

were fully automated by November that same year thanks to BulkExpert.

- 3 x ship grab unloaders. The ship unloaders have been equipped with GPS, which is used for anti-collision purposes between the SRs and SUs. (ABHR) There are lots of systems from lots of manufacturers promising automation, to some degree, of stockyards and yard machines. How does BulkExpert differ?

(RS) It is an off-the-shelf solution – there’s no need to develop the system for each machine to achieve a performance increase and full unmanned operation. There’s not even a need for extensive re-programming or modification when replacing or redeploying machines.

It was the first of its kind to operate as a “seeing” automatic system using 3D laser scan technology, which unlike radar sensors, have no risk of radio interference or dedicated certification requirements for usage.

The BulkExpert system is the most comprehensive and flexible proven system on the market, which fully takes into account the surrounding environment with all its limitations.

The stockpiles are scanned, verified and machine operations are adapted on the fly, just as an on-board operator would do, but the movements are then executed with the control and precision that only an autonomous automation system can deliver.

Overall, the success of BulkExpert can best be measured in the experience of its operators, who report on a range of 16

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

BulkExpert allows the stacker/reclaimer to work in close proximity to the grab unloader – operation is made safer by removing the on-board operator. The system has nearly doubled reclaiming throughput for BlueScope, from 10-12,000 to 19,000 tpd.

immediate benefits after commissioning of their systems.

These include: - Marked increases in performance, reliability and equipment lifespan - Reduced wear and tear and downtime for repairs - Freeing up of personnel to take on other duties - Increases in real-time inventory volume, with greater profitability

STOCKYARD AUTOMATION

Inspection of the raw materials stockyard while the stacker/reclaimer is positioning itself during commissioning.

(ABHR) There will be sceptics! Can BulkExpert outperform the most experienced operators?

(RS) It’s a big picture solution. So, in brief periods of time – no.

But in long periods of time – yes. Always.

On complex piles in short periods of time − say one to two hours − an experienced operator can maintain a flow typically higher than the BulkExpert system. However, that’s a short win and is typically achieved by cutting a few corners, which renders the pile harder to reclaim for whomever is next to reclaim on the same pile.

The BulkExpert system is governed by a strict set of rules for operation and is not allowed to cut any corners during operation. It will ensure consistent optimised uniform operation with the ability to operate on even the most complex piles.

Over a full operator shift, this will outperform any on-board operator while at the same time providing much less variations in the flow of material.

(ABHR) What about thick dust, water spray and shocks? Can these impede BulkExpert?

(RS) Shock and water sprays are not a problem. Penetrating dust is generally not a problem for the laser beam from a long-range scanner either. But dust can become a problem if residue builds up on the lens. Many will argue that radar is then a better compromise to use on very dusty applications. However, this is not the case. Radars have a much lower resolution, shorter range, and most often require certification for use over ground level.

As for any instrumentation, it is imperative that BulkExpert is implemented and used correctly, taking into account the environment where it’s intended to be used. Placing the longrange 3D laser scanner on the apex of the machine will eliminate dust problem. In fact, most of our reference sites, both in and out of Australia, don’t have any scheduled cleaning of the laser scanner at all and their operation remains unaffected.

-

No personnel required within the vicinity of working machinery - the creation of a zero-incident operating environment

(ABHR) Tell us about the hardware and communications technologies that need to go into a yard with BulkExpert? Is it a lengthy and/or expensive process?

(RS) It’s not a lengthy process – typically taking only nine months. It’s not complicated either. A BulkExpert system sits on top of an existing machine control system (PLC) and provides input to it for the control of all the authorised machine movements. The BulkExpert system sends simple commands (move left, move faster, slew slower, etc.) to the machine using a fieldbus interface (Ethernet based protocol preferred for simplicity) and via direct hardwired 4-20mA/24VDC signals. The interface protocols are client-specific, but the signals are the same for every delivered system.

The machine hardware required is: - 2 x GPS receivers per machines - 1 x 3D scanner - 1 x automation panel for data processing - 1 x network connection +10Mbit

- - - -

The operator room hardware required is: 1 x GPS base station 1 x server panel 1 x dual screen operator PC 1 x network connection +100Mbit

(ABHR) Train loading stations are one of the greatest choke points at many bulk handling sites. How can BulkExpert aid productivity?

(RS) Train loading stations operate through a repetitive batch process - car after car after car. Any optimisation in the speed and quality of the loading provides great operation gains in the long run.

The key element in the BulkExpert TLO system is the traintracking algorithm. Using lasers to perform longitudinal scans of the incoming and outgoing trains, the system can very accurately determine the absolute position of the cars in relation to the chute(s). This allows for the automation system to fully execute adaptive loading control based on the known position, not a relative position based on point wise measurement and time delays.

Combining the longitudinal scan with an additional set of cross-sectional laser scanners allows for full unmanned operation with compensation for damaged cars, carry back material, and density variations during loading. You are no longer loading the cars blind by only relying on resulting rail scales output after loading the individual cars.

(ABHR) Looking into your crystal ball: how can the system be improved in years to come?

(RS) The system can be improved and optimised through cognitive computing, and by evaluating big data from logistics management systems.

By implementing a system that adaptively learns from the process and, to further extent, interacts naturally with people, we can amplify the functionality of the equipment and thus the overall process. This will be a system that helps solve problems by penetrating the complexity of big data gathered from the process.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

17

CONVEYORS

High angle conveyors for Columbian gold mine US company Dos Santos International is to supply two high angle conveyors to the Buriticá project in Columbia.

D

os Santos will provide the DSI Sandwich belt high angle conveyors, in cooperation with M3 Engineering of Arizona, to Continental Gold’s Buriticá project in Antioquia, Columbia.

The DSI Sandwich high angle conveyors will serve as transfer conveyors elevating crushed pebble ore, each at a rate of 135 tonnes per hour, and operating at an incline angle of 45°.

This is the second gold project on which DSI has cooperated with M3 Engineering. In 2010, DSI executed a contract through M3 for an overland conveyor system at Goldcorp’s Los Filos Project in the Nukay mining district of central Guerrero State in Southern Mexico.

DSI says its Sandwich belt high angle conveyors take on many forms and offer many advantages. Each DSI Sandwich Conveyor uses two standard, smoothsurfaced conveyor belts, face-to-face, to gently but firmly contain the product being carried. This not only makes steep angles possible; it also offers a spillage free, environmentally sound operation because the material remains secured between the belts.

According to Dos Santos: “A DSI sandwich conveyor is capable of higher

The DSI Sandwich high angle conveyors will serve as transfer conveyors elevating crushed pebble ore, each at a rate of 135 t/h and a 45° incline, for Continental Gold’s Buriticá project in Antioquia, Columbia.

conveying speeds and greater capacities than other high angle conveying methods. With the availability of wider belts and accompanying hardware, capacities greater than 10,000 t/h can be easily achieved. High angles of 90° are typical, and lifts of 300m are easily accomplished.

“The use of all conventional conveyor parts ensures high availability and low maintenance costs, as well as interchangeability of components and fast

delivery of replacement parts.”

Dos Santos International specialises in sandwich belt high angle conveyors.

The company was founded and is currently led by the inventor of the system, Joseph Dos Santos.

Buriticá is approximately a two-hour drive on the paved, Pan-American highway from Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city.

Contact: www.dossantosintl.com

NEWS

4B Australia relocates

4B’s new premises at Acacia Ridge in Brisbane.

Growing bucket elevator and conveyor component supplier 4B Australia has relocated to larger premises close to its old base in Queensland.

T

he modern office and warehouse complex is located 1.9kms or three minutes’ drive from 4B’s old location at Acacia Ridge, the heart of Brisbane’s main transportation hub.

According to 4B Australia managing director Paul Dennis the new warehouse has more than twice the storage capacity of the old location, offering increased inventory capacity.

“A new fully automated second belt line has also been installed, for faster turnaround on all belt orders,” said Paul.

The new warehouse comes with an internal container loading and unloading facility and separately dedicated loading and unloading docks.

“Our product inventory in Australia now consists of the full range of sizes in the CC-S HDPE & PU elevator buckets, the Starco and Super-Starco pressed steel bucket range and the industrial Atlas AA Nylon elevator bucket ranges,” explained Paul. “We stock Frasor, heat resistant and food grade elevator belts in a variety of tensile strengths, as well as many

18

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

different styles/sizes of elevator bolts in both metric and imperial sizes.

“Our electronics range has now also grown to include the highly successful range of level indicators, and we now stock almost all the electronics that 4B offers globally to support the growing requirement for products that meet the high standards of IECEx certification. Since re-locating, we can now also offer our customers from stock a range of forged chain products for drag conveyors with a variety of flight options.”

4B Australia’s new address is at Building 1, 41 Bellrick Street, Acacia Ridge, 4110, Queensland.

Contact: tel 07 3216 9365, 4b-australia@go4b.co

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ENGINEERING SERVICES

2017/18 Directory of bulk handling engineering firms

Charles Macdonald Editor – ABHR

ABHR’s directory of bulk handling engineering firms is aimed at those companies planning a bulk handling project.

This could be the design of a new stockyard or terminal, installation of an overland conveyor at a mine, or the upgrading of chutes and transfers at a process plant.

It could also take in a nest of new silos at a grain handling facility, bulk handling systems at a sugar or cement plant, or a pneumatic system at a plant handling plastics or food powder.

The list includes those firms offering design and consulting engineering services, as well as some related activities such as EPCM. On page 30, the directory also includes entries for firms that provide engineering “solutions” tending more to equipment supply and services.

If your firm has been unjustly omitted, or you can suggest improvements to the format and content, please contact me in confidence on telephone (02) 9994 8086 or email – charles.macdonald@mohimedia.com

Aspec Engineering CONTACT: Richard Morgan EMAIL: rmorgan@aspec.com.au WEB: www.aspec.com.au PHONE: (07) 3193 0400 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Material handling

machines: Design audits of stackers, reclaimers and ship loaders for mining companies and ports; compliance design checking of existing machines; upgrade feasibility; retrofit detailed design.

Configuration of stockyard and shiploaders for new or expanding terminals | Structural integrity: ongoing asset audits of ports and mines; specialist investigations for life extension of structures and mechanical components involving finite element analysis, strain gauging, fracture mechanics and engineering design, risk studies and functional safety | Engineering projects: ROM and rail dump stations; bins, bunkers and silos; conveyor systems; reclaim tunnels; crane and machine runways; supports for vibrating machinery; marine structures; mooring systems.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Richard Morgan, director | Frank Gatto, director | Robert Gibson | Jeff Brook | Mark Biggs | Adam Mayers.

MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: RG Tanna Coal Terminal – Stockpile SP22 expansion. Project involves new stacking and reclaim system for 300,000 tonne stockpile | Hay Point Shiploader SL2 and Berth 2 fender replacement. | EPCM services assessment for continued use of reclaimers, stackers and shiploaders for Port Kembla Coal Terminal | design audits of Cape Lambert B stackers, reclaimers and shiploaders | Hay Point stacker reclaimers (SR1 & SR2) replacement project.

Aurecon CONTACT: John Leech EMAIL: john.leech@aurecongroup.com WEB: www.aurecongroup.com PHONE: (07) 3173 8016 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: From planning and

feasibility investigations to detail designs to optimisation of operations in the mining, minerals processing, agricultural and construction industries – especially for coal, iron ore, metal ores and concentrates, cement industry products, fertilisers, sugar, grain, sands and aggregates. Specialisations include optimisation of materials handling systems in complete supply chains, detail design for mine and port facilities, high capacity belt conveyors, shiploaders, transhipment facilities, train and truck loading/unloading systems, stacking and reclaiming systems, storage sheds, bins and silos, feeding and dosing systems, dust control systems, sampling systems and pneumatic conveying. Also design audits, safety and condition audits, spillage and dust audits, failure investigations, 20

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

brown-field upgrades (big and small), specialised lifting systems.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Mackay: Steve Cutting | Gladstone: Peter Smith | Brisbane: John Leech, Lee Williams, Paul Jacobsen | Newcastle: David Baigent | Sydney: David Baigent | Melbourne: Carolyn Yates | Adelaide: David Chin | Perth: Kon Farmassonis, Paul Muscat | Darwin: Alan Thomas | Jakarta: Rifki Feriandi, Irwan Sakti Siregari | Johannesburg: Michael Vincent, Victor Neto, | Wellington: Steve Jenkins MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Yard machine replacements at Richards Bay Coal Terminal, South Africa | Shishen to Saldanha Ore Line Expansion, South Africa | Nacala Coal Export Facility, Vale, Mozambique | Tiebaghi Nickel Ore Export Facilities, SLN New Caledonia | Cannington Metal Concentrates Export Facility, Townsville Port | Fisherman’s Landing Plant Expansion, Cement Australia | Rolleston Coal Mine, Glencore | Master Plans for coal port developments at Hay Point and Abbot Point | NCIG Kooragang Island Coal Export Terminal | Hay Point Coal Terminal, Stage 3 Expansion | Dalrymple Bay coal terminal, Stages 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7X | Abbot Point Coal Terminal, Stage 1, X25, X50 Expansions | WICET Wiggins Island Coal Terminal | Port Warratah Coal Terminal, T4 Expansion Feasibility Study | Port of Fujairah Aggregates Terminal UAE.

BMT WBM CONTACT: Rob Angus EMAIL: rob.angus@bmtwbm.com.au WEB: www.bmtwbm.com.au PHONE: (07) 3831 6744 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: From planning and

feasibility investigations to detailed design for both mines and ports. Specialising in materials handling systems and machinery (auditing and design of systems, conveyors, stockpile plant, rail and container handling equipment); large machines (audit, inspection and life extension of bucketwheel excavators, stackers, reclaimers, shiploaders, shovels, draglines, grinding mills, centrifugal fans, vibrating screens, cooling towers); conveyors (design and analysis of large overland, horizontal, vertical, cable, underground); In pit Crushing & Conveying (investigations and advice); electrical consulting (HV, LV, SCADA); analysis (stress / fatigue, fluid, particle modelling, FEA, DEM, CFD); Test & measurement; Troubleshooting and root cause investigation, design rectifications; vibration, stress, rotating machinery.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Rob Angus, Machinery Group Operations Director |Rob Widders, Sydney, rob.widders@bmtwbm. com.au, (02) 89607755, Steve Saflekos, Melbourne, steve.saflekos@bmtwbm.com.au, (03) 86206117, Richard Douchkov, Newcastle, richard.douchcov@bmtwbm.com.au, (02) 4940 8882 | Francois Coetsee, Perth, francois.coetsee@bmtwbm.com.au, (08) 9328 2029

Superior

Engineering

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AT FLEXCO, WE KNOW THAT MATERIAL TRANSFER POINTS CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOUR PRODUCTIVITY. Engineered to overcome common issues with traditional transfer chutes, Flexco Transfer Systems feature Tasman Warajayâ„¢ Technology, the most powerful controlled flow technology on the market. The systems maximise throughput, reduce maintenance and clean up, and provide years of reliable service.

Talk to a Flexco Technical Expert Phone: 1300 098 435 Email: salesau@flexco.com

www.flexco.com.au Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

ENGINEERING SERVICES

MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS:

Samalaju Port Development, Malaysia - Key engineer – Richard Brown; Adani, - Abbot Point TO Expansion, Detailed design, Key engineers –Richard Brown, Chris Shearer; Kemi, Finland – material handling plant concept design – iron concentrate port facility.

Key engineer – Gary Ryan; Loy Yang Mine – internal overburden conveyor L705 detailed design, conveyor L410 detailed design & conveyor L801 tripper detailed design. Key engineers – Gary Ryan, Chris Shearer; Jembayan Port Project, Indonesia – detailed conveyor design, Key Engineers : Richard Brown, Gary Ryan; Port Waratah Shiploader, engineering audit, Key Engineer Steve Saflekos; Esperance Ports – berth 3 shiploader audit – machine independent annual inspections, Whyalla –shiploader modification and upgrade. Key engineer, Steve Saflekos; Geelong Port, Woodchip Conveying & Shiploading Project, concept & engineering audit Key Engineers: Richard Brown & Steve Saflekos | BMT WBM wagon vibrator. Key engineer, Russ Morrison; China Light & Power, Castle Peak power station – conveyor audit, conveyor upgrade, grab unloader audit, stacker reclaimer refurbishment, electrical system upgrade.

Brolton Group CONTACT: Mark Lix EMAIL: sales@brolton.com.au WEB: www.brolton.com.au SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Multi-disciplinary

engineering company providing integrated solutions for bulk materials handling, electrical, mechanical, civil and construction.

Design and construct turnkey projects for multiple industries including: food and beverage, cement, mining and quarrying, materials handling. Engineering and design services from consultation and concept design through to systems development and process design, detailed design and ‘for manufacture’ drawings. PLC, SCADA automation/software development, robotics solutions, safety risk assessments, machinery safety guarding, vision inspection and testing.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Ben Lynch (Managing Director); Darren Kramer (Director); Javier Juchnewicz (Operations Manager); Frank Bichler (Senior Project Manager) MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Hanson–Design and construct compete quarry at Bass Point; Morgan Cement International-Turnkey D&C of a 30tph slag drying system and 400t bulk storage silo; Morgan Cement International–D&C of a 150t bulk additives conveying system consisting of +200m belt conveyor FEL hopper feeding system, 75t storage silo and support and access tower; Adelaide Brighton Cement–Turnkey D&C of a 60tph slag drying system and 1100t steel bulk storage silo; Sydney Water/RMP-Several Reservoir Re-roof and Refurbishment; 3D model, fabricate and install new structural steel roof for steel reservoirs, diameters up to 69m; Sydney Trains–Train Wash Facility Upgrade; D&C of three new train wash facilities.

Bulk Materials Engineering Australia (BMEA) CONTACT: Andrew Grima EMAIL: agrima@uow.edu.au SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Bulk materials han-

dling: flow properties and dynamic testing, bins, hoppers, feeders, conveyor transfers, chutes, segregation, dust control and suppression, bin wall and feeder loads, pneumatic conveying, dust explosion hazard minimisation. Testing, troubleshooting, engineering design, retrofit experts, audits, calibrated DEM computer simulation modelling/design (in excess of 15,000 tph).

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Andrew Grima, Chief operating 22

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

officer and Principal design engineer; Peter Wypych, General manager; David Hastie, Expert adviser and design engineer; Ian Frew, Infrastructure manager; Peter Arnold, Expert adviser MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: New rail wagon design for efficient and reliable discharge of iron ore | High-angle belt conveying for alumina | Coal handling plant design and washery upgrades | Gold mine modifications to avoid blockages and flooding problems | Improved bauxite handling and loading operations | Reduced dust emissions at mine sites, ports and power stations | Safe handling and conveying of highly explosive powders | Improved live capacity of bottom-reclaim stockpiles | Improved ship loading and unloading operations, including new dust suppression technology.

Cortex Engineering CONTACT: Joe Scerri WEB: www.cortec.com.au PHONE: (03) 95435225, mobile 042 9874599 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Engineering design,

procurement and construction management services. Expertise in bulk materials handling of construction materials such as cement, lime, flyash, ground slag, washed sand, quarry sand, crushed rock and liquid admixtures as produced in quarries and used in concrete batching and mixing plants; agricultural products bulk handling including wheat, barley, canola, pulses, fertilisers; mining bulk material handling applications including mineral sands rutile, zircon and leucozene; ore materials including iron ore, copper and gold ore, coal. Material receival, storage, reclaiming, transfer and/ or loading into road trucks, rail wagons and ships KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Joe Scerri BE (Civil), MIE Aust CPEng: General Manager MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Hanson Hobart Quarry 14 degree decline downhill belt conveyors system to convey primary crushed 200 mm minus crushed rock over 1.5 km; Newmont Gold Tanami mine 600 tonne cement bulk storage and metering system for paste back-fill plant; Straits Resources Tritton 500 tonne mine cement bulk storage and metering system for paste back-fill plant; FMG Cloudbreak mine overburden conveyor system handling > 8000 tph of 250mm minus from open pit via mobile high angle conveyor system; Northport NZ Woodchip ship-loading at > 800 tph | Solid Energy NZ Tauranga port 70,000 tonnes of coal in shed storage, reclaim to 1500 tonne over rail holding silos and rail wagon loading at 3,000 tph; ABA Globex 50,000 tonne capacity grain export terminal at Appleton dock, Port of Melbourne; NAT 60,00 tonne capacity grain export terminal conceptual designs for terminal development staging, plant layouts and feasibility study for Mayfield and No 2 Dyke locations at Port of Newcastle; Iluka Minerals Port of Portland 50,000 tonnes storage shed, wharf conveyors and 1500 tph mineral sands mobile ship-loader. N.T Tanami Expansion Gold mine Project, 350 tonne cement bulk storage and equipment for the paste backfill plant. South Australia, Prominent Hill Gold mine Project, 1000 tonne cement bulk storage and equipment for the paste back-fill plant; Forrestania mine Project, WA, 200 tonne cement bulk storage and equipment for the paste back-fill plant; Feasibility Study and Market Analysis for Dry Bulk Food in the Ciwandan Port of Banten, for PT Pendidikan Maritim dan Logistik Indonesia. Complete concrete batching plant “Euromobil 4 Fast Dry” 70cu.m/hr - model plant with cement silo capacity of 120 M Cu for Griffth N.S.W.

EMtek CONTACT: Josh Proud, Technical Director WEB: www.emtek.com.au EMAIL: info@emtek.com.au

The Leaders in Conveyor Products

Our focus is on high performance, low maintenance products to ensure we deliver our clients solutions that improve plant availability, reduce downtime and minimise maintenance expenditure.

www.tsglobal.net.au Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

ENGINEERING SERVICES

PHONE: 1300 135 466 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Multi-discipline in-

dustrial engineering technology provider offering high value, low cost customised solutions that optimise bulk material handling and mineral processing plants. High quality multi-disciplinary engineering solutions, project services and specialised services for the bulk material, mineral processing and resource sectors.

Greenfield services from concept through to project implementation. Brownfield Services include plant de-bottlenecking, plant upgrades and expansions. Specialised Services include Overland Conveyor analysis/design, machine and mechanical component design, Discrete Element Modelling (DEM), Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Advanced Process Control Optimisation, integrated 3D design systems, in-house shop detailing services, laser scanning and 3D printing.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Melbourne: Josh Proud, josh.proud@ emtek.com.au | Joel Herron, joel.herron@emtek.com.au | Gary James, gary.james@emtek.com.au | Colin Preston, colin.preston@ emtek.com.au | David Bradbury, david.bradbury@emtek.com.au MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Detailed design works at Rio Tinto’s Silvergrass Mine, on behalf of RCR Resources, specifically the design of the Overland and Primary Discharge Conveyors and the Transfer Station arrangement feeding into the existing Nammuldi operations. Rio Tinto Iron Ore – Hope Downs 1 / West Angelas / Yandi / Paraburdoo| OZ Minerals – Prominent Hill / Carrapateena |BHPB – Yandi 1 | FMG – Solomon, Firetail and Kings Valley / Cloudbreak / Christmas Creek | MMG – Roseberry / Sepon | Newmarket – Fosterville | Westerns Areas – Forrestania | McConnell Dowell – Roy Hill Port Facilities| Metals X - Nifty Copper Mine| Roy Hill – Mine and Port.

Prior to the formation of EMtek, the team has had previous experience working on: Solomon Front End Crushing Hub (FMG) | Hammersley Iron Channar, 10km OLC system | Marradong (Worsley Alumina), including 11km curved OLC | Western Turner Brockman (RTIO), including 20km curved OLC system | Oakajee Port and Rail Study | Hope Downs 4 (RTIO)| Mesa A (RTIO) | Kwinana Bulk Terminals | Port Waratah Coal Service, MMG (Century) | Pt Kaltim Prima Coal (Indonesia)

GHD CONTACT: Mal Peattie EMAIL: Mal.Peattie@ghd.com WEB: http://www.ghd.com, http://www.ghd.com/global/

services/materials-handling/ PHONE: (02) 4979 9084 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Bulk materials han-

dling from concept to operation: Multi-discipline engineering, concept, pre-feasibility, feasibility, definition studies, detailing, brownfield upgrades and construction management, of materials handling systems. Individual components to complete exploration to export for the mining industry; conveyors, stacker/reclaimers, rail/ship loading and unloading, stockyards, crushing and screening; automation and control; commissioning and audits.

The industries for which GHD has provided materials handling services include mining (soft and hard rock), mining (open cut and underground), power, food, industry, rail, ports. Materials covered include: coal (black and brown), iron ore, magnetite, wood chips, sugar, bauxite, grain, fence posts, bulk fuels, drums, gravel, gold, copper and heavy metal concentrates.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF:

Newcastle: Warwick Biggs, warwick.biggs@ghd.com | Brisbane: Shane Coles, shane.coles@ghd.com | Perth: Rohan Watts, Rohan.

Watts@ghd.com | Hobart: Neil MacRae, Neil.MacRae@ghd.com |Melbourne & Morwell: Chris Johnston, chris.johnston@ghd.com | Orange: David Buchanan, David.Buchanan@ghd.com | Sydney 24

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

Malcolm Peattie, Mal.Peattie@ghd.com | Manila: Manuel Ancheta, Manuel.Ancheta@GHD.com | Chile: Javier Gomez, Javier.

Gomez@ghd.com | USA & Canada: Ted Schilling, Ted.Schilling@ GHD.com MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Antiene Coal Unloader Upgrade | BHP, Mount Arthur Coal 32 Expansion | BHP Rapid Growth Project 6 | Newpac No 1 Colliery Expansion | Pilbara Iron Mine Expansion | Queensland Sugar Corporation Terminal Expansion. Port Waratah Coal Services stage 2 | Lekir Bulk Terminal and LBT upgrade | Albany Hematite processing and port facilities | Kenmaman bulk import terminal and processing plant; BMA Broadmeadow Trunk Conveyor, Hawsons Iron Project, Grange Resources Savage River Crushing and Overland Conveyor, BHP Mount Arthur Coal Export Circuit Upgrade, BlueScope Steel Sinter Screening Project, Southern Port Authority Shed to Ship Study, Yenikoy Kemerkoy Elektrik In Pit Sizing and Conveying

Hatch CONTACT: Brian Moore EMAIL: Brian Moore | hatch@hatch.com.au WEB: www.hatch.com.au PHONE: (07) 3166 7777 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Global EPCM ser-

vices provider; bulk materials handling equipment selection and design; mining engineering (surface and underground); capacity simulation modelling (logistics); debottlenecking studies and BMH plant audits to achieve nameplate capacity; conveyor dynamic transient analysis; discrete element modelling (guided flow chutes); machine audits & upgrades (stackers, reclaimers, shiploaders). Hatch supplies engineering, project and construction management services, process and business consulting and operational services to the mining & metals, energy and infrastructure sectors.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Brisbane: Andrew Catto | Wollongong: Barry Fraser, Brian Moore | Perth: Lee Shoesmith | Newcastle : Russell Hart Johannesburg: Stephen Stacey, Hendrik Visser | North America: Colin Barbeau, Noel Wallace, Jean-Francois Marchand, Predaq Jokovic, Tom Maus, Jerry Westermann | South America: Colin Barbeau, Gustavo Gilberti.

PLUS AURECON HATCH JOINT VENTURE PROJECTS INCLUDING: Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group Coal Export Terminal

– EPCM | Hay Point Coal Terminal, HPX3 expansion – Detail Design | Dalrymple Bay coal terminal, 7X Expansion – EPCM | Abbot Point Coal Terminal, X50 Expansion – EPCM | Wiggins Island Coal Terminal – Detailed Design | Port Warratah Coal Terminal, T4 Expansion – Feasibility.

Jenike & Johanson CONTACT: Grant Wellwood (General Manager) EMAIL: gwellwood@jenike.com, info-australia@jenike.com WEB: www.jenike.com PHONE: 1300BULKSOLIDS SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Jenike & Johanson

is an employee-owned science based consultancy that exists to help those in the material resources sector remain focused on their core business (value creation) by solving their most complex bulk solids handling problems. As the world leader in the application of bulk material science, we provide peace of mind solutions (handling, processing, storage) for systems featuring any bulk materials including iron ore, bauxite, rock, coal, grains, foodstuffs and powders.

A customer first organisation with an uncompromising approach to quality specialising in wet and sticky material, transfer chutes,

ENGINEERING SERVICES

storage bins, fines agglomeration and proactive design support for owners’ project study teams and their preferred EPCM/EPC organisations.

Materials flow properties testing: wall friction (hopper angles for mass flow), cohesive strength (rathole and arching dimensions), bulk density, permeability, segregation, TML, dust extinction moisture, belt surcharge angle, abrasive wear, pneumatic conveying.

Engineering: on-site assessments (reviews), design and study team participation (options analysis), functional design of silos, stockpiles, hoppers, chutes and feeders, Discrete Element Method (DEM) analysis, structural engineering and detailed design.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: David Craig, Ph.D-Director of Engineering | Terry Tan, Ph.D-Senior Engineer | Corin Holmes, MSc & Chris Muller, BE Mech (Hons)-Project Engineers MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Debottlenecking various pit to port material handling systems, bauxite agglomeration, transfer chute design for fine and/or wet and sticky ore, stockpile withdrawal, live capacity calculations for various coal, bauxite and mineral concentrates, independent peer reviews.

Kerman Contracting CONTACT: James Rowdon EMAIL: james.rowdon@kerman.com.au WEB: www.kerman.com.au SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Industrial pro-

cessing plants, bulk storage and materials handling facilities, complete design and construction of mine site infrastructure,

accommodation villages and large industrial warehouses, factory and workshop buildings. Activities include: civil, structural, mechanical and piping design; civil and concrete construction; equipment procurement; inspection and quality control; fabrication, surface treatment and field erection of: structural steelwork; platework; storage tank construction; mechanical plant installation; pipe spooling and field installation; insulation; electrical services and plant commissioning.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Project managers: Jim Walker | Klaus Hartmann | Wenge Liu | Jason Whitburn | Peter Hendrie | Michael Gray. Project engineers: Jon Butler | MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Design & construction of the new Quattro Grain Export Terminal (Berth 103) at Port Kembla, NSW; Sino Iron Project – lines 3 to 6 SMP and electrical works as well as provision of civil and concrete works at Cape Preston, WA; CBH/Blue Lake Milling Oat Milling Plant; ACFS Container Park; CSBP Fertiliser Blending Plant; Tianqi Lithium Production Buildings; Port of Newcastle Shipunloader. Yarnima Power Station SMP completion works and non-generating infrastructure package 2 at Newman, WA; Nammuldi Below Water Table Project – design & construction of non-process infrastructure and explosives compound; Design & construction of iron ore export shed, reclaim and shiploader facilities at the Whyalla Port Expansion project in SA for Arrium Mining (OneSteel); Construction of explosive storage & handling facility at Marandoo, WA for Hamerlsey Iron; Design and supply of enclosed conveyor modules for BHP Billiton at Finucane Island, Port Hedland, WA; Design & construction of non-process infrastructure facilities at Jimblebar Hub, WA for BHP Billiton Iron Ore; Design & construction of resource recovery plant and all material handling systems for BioVision / SITA in

Improve unloading speed and efficiency Boost your productivity by thoroughly unloading each truckload and get your trucks back on the road fast.

Improve turnaround when unloading bulk solids from dump truck beds by fitting an Enmin Truck Vibrator.

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Call Enmin today & speak to one of our experts on (03) 9800 6777 Or visit enmin.com.au

We sell solutions, not just products

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

25

ENGINEERING SERVICES

Neerabup, WA; Design and construction of iron ore storage and material handling systems for the Esperance Port Authority, WA and similar facilities for OneSteel at Whyalla, SA; Design and construction of grain storage and material handling systems for AWB Limited in NSW, Victoria and Qld and for the CBH Group in WA.

Kockums Bulk Systems CONTACT: Jason Groves (Sales Manager) EMAIL: j.groves@kockumsbulk.com.au WEB: www.kockumsbulk.com.au PHONE: 03 9457 8200 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Engineering design

and supply of equipment for handling bulk materials in process industry. Dust management and reliable flow promotion, especially where abrasives, combustible dust or gasses, toxic or high temperatures are present. Equipment range covers: sack filling and emptying, bulk bag filling, emptying and conditioning, IBC systems, container unloading, pneumatic and mechanical conveying, batch weighing and feed systems, blenders, sifters, breakers, specialist valves, flow aids, dust filters, automatic bagging and baling machines, vacuum lifting systems, palletisers, wrappers and hooding machines.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Ivan Price (Chairman), i.price@ kockumsbulk.com.au; Jason Groves (Sales Manager Powders), j.groves@kockumsbulk.com.au; Brian Watson (Senior Application Engineer, Heavy Industries), b.watson@kockumsbulk.com. au; Steve Miles (Senior Application Engineer, Food Industry), s.miles@kockumsbulk.com.au MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Design and supply of a total compounds batching plant for Knauf Plasterboard Australia at Altona, Victoria; Design, supply, install and commission a major upgrade of the Cereform (AB Mauri) cake and pastry Ingredient Batch Processing Plant located in NSW; Design, supply, install and commission of a three stage system upgrade of a three-line Garden Products Automated Bagging, Palletising and Hooding plant at Martins Fertilizers located in NSW; Design, supply and commissioning of a substantial upgrade to the Dry Compounds Plant of Winstone Wallboards (GIB) located in Auckland NZ; Design and supply of 160 tonne/hr suck and blow system for supplying cement from barges to shore in the building of Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong; Design and supply of a dry disposal dense phase system for PFA flyash at Bayswater Power Station in the Hunter Valley for 300 tonne per hour collection and transfer off site, a total distance of 1.6 km.

Laing O’Rourke CONTACT: (East): Soren Goldsmith, sgoldsmith@laingorourke.

com.au CONTACT: (West): Dale Ewart, dewart@laingorourke.com.au WEB: www.laingorourke.com.au SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: As an engineering

lead construction company, Laing O’Rourke provides innovative services and solutions to clients from concept/feasibility level phases through to Early Contractor Involvement (ECI), construction and commissioning. The extensive bulk materials handling (BMH) experience via the former Barclay Mowlem heritage covers the full pit to port bulk materials handling including iron ore, coal, hard rock and bauxite. The in-house multi-disciplinary engineering team covers all project disciplines providing capability to drive value solutions for clients incorporating modularisation/ pre-assembly, design for constructability and maintainability.

Specialisation includes long distance overland conveying (OLC) through the exclusive partnership with Conveyor Dynamics Inc. 26

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

(CDI). The capability of the proprietary dynamic analysis software ‘Beltflex’ and Super Low Rolling Resistance (SLRR) rheology enables long distance (>20km) belt conveyors to be realised as demonstrated on the Curragh North OLC project.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Brad White (Principal Structural), BradleyWhite@laingorourke.com.au; Davor Jambrek (Principal Electrical), djambrek@laingorourke.com.au; Soren Goldsmith, sgoldsmith@laingorourke.com.au; Joel Downie, jdownie@laingorourke.com.au MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Rio Tinto Cape Lambert; FMG Solomon Mine Stockyard conveyors and train loading; BHPB Yandi RGP5 crushing and overland conveying; Centennial Airly Mine; Centennial Cooranbong surface upgrade; Overland Conveyors including Wesfarmers Curragh North and Indokodeco in Indonesia; North Parkes Lift 2 underground crushing and drift conveyors; Argyle Diamonds Underground and Overland conveyors; BMA Blackwater.

pitt&sherry WEB: www.pittsh.com.au PHONE: 1300 748 874 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Infrastructure con-

sultancy across multiple specialisations, including industrial, mining, energy, food & beverage, transport and community sectors.

Specialist engineering services throughout life cycle of plant and machinery assets. Design, verification and asset management of hazardous plant and machinery. Lifting and access design solutions across multiple sectors.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Nick Bailey, Clinton Ford, Doug Ford.

MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Cyolite Recovery conveyor design – Bell Bay Aluminium, Tasmania | ALC plant upgrade project, Bell Bay Aluminium, Tasmania | Lime dosing facility - Tas Alkaloids | Atomiser 1 expansion project - Bahrain Atomisers International | Phase 1 & 2 process and bulk handling plant project, Ecka Granules of America LLC, South Carolina | Mobile woodchip conveyors design - Tas Ports, Bell Bay Terminal.

Sedgman CONTACT: David Proud EMAIL: David.Proud@sedgman.com WEB: www.sedgman.com PHONE: 07 3514 1000 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Minerals process-

ing and associated infrastructure solutions for the global resources industry, with process engineering and materials handling solutions for the coal, minerals and iron ore sectors. Sedgman also provides contract operations, maintenance, operations support and consultancy services for process and materials handling plants and infrastructure.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Australia: Ewan Juillerat (Principal Materials Handling Engineer); Simon Stockwell; Ken Boulton; Danie Coetzee. Canada: Mark Wilkin. Asia: Ed Sun. MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Woodlawn, Zinc Copper project – Heron Resources (EPC of a 1.5 Mt/a processing plant); Aurora Gold Project for Guyana Goldfields in Guyana (EPC of a 1.75 Mt/a processing plant and power station); Solomon Iron Ore Mine Project for Fortescue Metals in Western Australia (D&C of 7.5 Mt/a ROM Feed modular iron ore processing plant); Mungari Gold Project for La Mancha Resources in Western Australia (EPC of new processing plant); Caval Ridge Coal Processing Plant for BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance in Queensland (detailed design and commissioning of 2400 t/h coking coal processing plant); Boggabri Coal Project for Boggabri Coal in New South Wales

ENGINEERING SERVICES

(EPC for 6.9 Mt/a coal handling and processing plant); Ukhaa Khudag Coal Project for Mongolian Mining Corporation in the South Gobi Desert, Mongolia (EPCM and Operations Management of 21 Mt/a coal handling and preparation plant); Boseto Copper Project for Discovery Metals Limited in Botswana (3 Mt/a copper flotation plant and associated infrastructure); Daunia Coal Project for BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance in Queensland (EPC of 5 Mt/a coal handling and preparation plant); Maules Creek Coal Project in New South Wales for BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance in Queensland (detailed design of initial coal handling and preparation plant including equipment supply for an ultimate 13 Mt/a resource); Moatize Coal Project for Vale in Mozambique (detailed design and procurement of the world’s largest coal processing plant at 26 Mt/a); Bocamina Power Station Project for Chile’s largest energy supplier, Endesa (EPC of coal handling plant upgrade from 400,000 t/a to 1.4 Mt/a including replacement and upgrade of thermal coal station’s coal yard equipment from end of ship unload conveyor to bunker conveyor, and coal stacking system); Benga Coal Project for Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique (EPC of 5 Mt/a coal handling and preparation plant).

SEMF CONTACT: Adam Coode EMAIL: adam.coode@semf.com.au WEB: www.semf.com.au PHONE: 1300 357 363/03 8545 0400 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Specialising in the

design of complete materials handling processes and applications,

including transportation, stock piling, storage, reclaiming and loading. Design of all types of ship loaders, stackers, mobile machinery, road, rail and ship loading/unloading stations, large bulk storage buildings with integrated in-load and out-load systems. Multi-disciplinary engineering capability of all aspects of materials handling projects, including concept, preliminary and detailed designs, condition auditing, feasibility studies, project management, procurement management, site construction management and commissioning.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Melbourne: Adam Coode (Industrial Project Director), Jason Bodnar (National Delivery Manager), Rodney Mawson (Senior Project Manager), Glenn Baker (Senior Project Manager), Chris Tattersall (Principal Structural Engineer). Hobart: Bob Dunbabin (Principal Structural Engineer), David Oudman (Project Manager), Chris Tummon (Principal Structural Engineer), Simon Turner (Senior Electrical Engineer), Sydney: Ben Collins (Senior Electrical Engineer), Ray Sassine (Principal Mechanical Engineer), Magdalena Geraldo (Principal Process Engineer).

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reclaim system (woodchips); Condong/Broadwater, NSW fuel handling systems for co-generation plant (bagasse); Australian Wheat Board, numerous up-country grain terminals; GrainCorp significant upgrade projects including grain terminals, grain storage and handling; Laminex Industries, Ballarat, major plant upgrade (woodchips and particle board).

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tions for processing companies, resources and heavy industrials nationwide. Specialists in bulk materials handling, underground mining, chute and machinery design. Experts in Discrete Element Modelling (DEM). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), fracture mechanics, computational dynamics, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), dynamic and thermal analysis. Specialist in professional witness and forensic engineering services, risk and life-cycle studies. Engineering services include mechanical, civil and structural design, integration of plant and equipment, pipe engineering, detail drafting and 3D modelling. Drone/aerial inspection, structural audits and condition reports.

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Structural Integrity Engineering CONTACT: Doug Hawkes (Managing Director) EMAIL: dhawkes@siepl.com.au WEB: www.siepl.com.au PHONE: 08 9316 9400/07 3256 8333 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: SIE is an Australian

owned, specialised structural engineering consulting company, providing services to the mining and heavy industries, including port facilities. Investigation and compliance services - investigation and expert witness services relating to structural issues, incidents and failures. Independent design and compliance auditing (Australia and offshore) of fixed plant, new and existing, plus AS 4324.1 assessments of stackers, reclaimers and ship loaders, new and existing. Structural design services–upgrade and optimisation assessments and rectification design. Mining and minerals processing plant and marine facilities structural design services, including advanced finite element analysis capabilities, structural assessments and prescription of remedial measures.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

au; Perth-Simon Edgar (Senior Structural Engineer) sedgar@siepl. com.au.

MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: 125 machine inspections and over 30 machine design audits in the last 10 years; BHP Billiton Iron Ore expansion projects RGP3, RGP4 and RGP5 stackers (9), reclaimers (6) and ship loaders (7) design audits; Citic Pacific Mining Sino Iron machine audits (3); Various failure investigations; Inco Goro Project stacker design audit; Rio Tinto Brockman 4 stacker and reclaimer design audits; Various offshore workshop fabrication reviews and audits; Advice/expert witness to State Solicitors Office.

thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (Australia) CONTACTS: Leif Berndt (Head of Sales); Russell McBain (Chief Operations Officer); Lee Corbett (Head of Services).

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PROJECT AREAS: Mine process infrastructure, comminution and conveying, minerals processing, stockyards/materials handling, shiploaders, oil refining, oil and gas processing, petrochemicals, chemicals, alternative fuels and clean coal sectors, sugar cogeneration.

KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Gustav de Wet (Chief Technology Officer), Jeff Lofaro (Head of Engineering), Simon Ryan (Modernisation Projects) MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Materials handling equipment at Yandi, Jimblebar, Finucane Island, Nelson Point, Anderson Point, Solomon, Christmas Creek, Port Kembla Coal Terminal & East Intercourse Island.

TUNRA Bulk Solids Handling Research Associates, The University of Newcastle CONTACT: Dr Tim Donohue PHONE: 02 4033 9055 EMAIL: enquiries@bulksolids.com.au WEB: www.bulksolids.com.au SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Flow properties,

wear characterisation, idler testing, transfer chute designs, computational modelling (DEM, CFD & FEA), DEM calibration services, belt conveyor testing, dust minimisation, abrasion minimisation strategies, bin and hopper functional designs, stockpile

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draw-down optimisation, belt conveying systems, wall loads, pneumatic conveying systems and testing, hydraulic conveying test work, general material handling audits, site visits and professional development courses KEY ENGINEERING STAFF: Professor Mark Jones (Director), Prof Alan Roberts (Founding Director), A/Prof Craig Wheeler (Associate Director), Dr Tim Donohue (Manager) MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Complete materials handling review of Port Waratah Coal Services T4 Expansion; Australian coal terminal reclaimer belt wear optimisation; Partner in AMIRA and ACARP research teams investigating transportable moisture limits for iron ores and coals; Iron ore head chute wear optimisation; Gold ore crusher pocket redesign in Central America; Belt abrasion investigation for iron ore feeder in the Pilbara; Audit of entire biomass transfer and handling system; Investigation into rolling stock discharge; Conveyor Indentation Rolling Resistance Test Facility; Comprehensive idler testing; ISO 9001 accreditation.

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livers projects, provides expertise in engineering, procurement and construction and offers a wide range of consulting and advisory services. It covers the full project lifecycle, from creating new assets to sustaining and enhancing operating assets, in the hydrocarbons, minerals, metals, chemicals and infrastructure sectors. In materials handling, optimising materials handling processes by implementing value added solutions. Materials handling services include: conveying systems and slurry pipelines, stockyards and stockpile management, car dumpers, stackers and reclaimers, shiploaders and unloaders, train and truck loading and unloading, crushing, sizing and screening, supply chain optimisation (dynamic simulation).

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executive; John Prest, Principal materials handling engineer (Perth) MAJOR OR MARQUEE PROJECTS: Adani Carmichael coal PMC; Roy Hill PMC; Glencore Rolleston CHF expansion-1,250 t/h ROM feeder, sizers, roller screen, conveyors, fixed stacker; Adelaide Brighton Cement: cement mill upgrades, storage silos, automated stacking and reclaiming facilities, raw materials handling and storage systems, ship-loader upgrades, sand drying plant; KEPCO Bylong FS: 1,000 t/h open cut coal and 400 t/h reject handling; Ok Tedi copper Mine PFS-ROM pads, in-pit crushers, conveyors, coarse ore stockpiles; Territory Iron East Arm Port Stockpile: conveyors, transfer stations, chutes and stacker; Tampakan Copper Mine FS-10,000 t/h ore crushing and conveying system, 6,000 t/h waste rock crushing and conveying system, and copper concentrate conveyor systems with ship loading and unloading equipment, enclosed 90,000 t copper concentrate stockpile with shuttle conveyor stacking and FEL reclaim, 120,000 t coal stockpile with automatic stacker and FEL reclaim; Iluka Jacinth Ambrosia mineral sands EPCM-HMC transport and logistics, storage, reclaim, conveying and shiploading.

Equipment, solutions, installations, services Archimedes Engineering CONTACT: Jay Baker EMAIL: sales@archimedes.net.au WEB: www.archimedes.net.au PHONE: 07 3818 6966 SERVICES AND AREAS OF SPECIALISATION: Materials handling

solutions including design and drafting, fabrication, site installation and commissioning. Mechanical maintenance services. Design, specification/sizing, manufacture of screw conveyors, bucket elevators, slat conveyors, bins, chutes, silos, tanks and mixers.

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veyor and lifting solutions–bulk material handling, safe lifting solutions, engineered lifting devices, conveyors, conveyor conversion kits, engineering site reports, optimisation of existing systems, tyre protection and traction solutions. Specialised in chain bucket elevators, belt bucket elevators, apron conveyors, en Masse chain conveyors, forky drag conveyors, biomass conveyors, systems for energy and power generation, conveyors for gasification and combustion. Also lifting beams, overhead lifting and hoisting solutions, transmission of large components, safe calibrated drive solutions, FEM analysis of existing systems and, system optimisation, mechanical systems for maintenance platforms, traversing systems and trolleys.

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DEM’s evolution in solving industry problems In this article, Dr Tim Donohue* of TUNRA Bulk Solids comments on the increasing role of numerical modelling in solving industry problems.

T

Dr Tim Donohue

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here can be little doubt about the importance of bulk materials handling to the mining industry, and by extension more generally to the success of Australia’s processing industries on the global scale.

In current market conditions, the focus is increasingly on optimisation and productivity of existing plant with a view to extracting the most from current assets. It follows then that we can state there is an industry need, right now, to find efficient and timely methods for optimising current plant productivity.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

The following commentary centres on this industry need and the rise of numerical modelling as a viable means of finding a solution to bulk solids handling problems.

I have been an engineer with TUNRA for over 10 years, and in this time I’ve enjoyed a front row seat to experience the evolution of Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) and its use in solving industrial problems in the material handling field.

From this perspective, there appears to be a cycle to the application of this analysis

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Figure 1: classification system for DEM problems.

tool. Note the terminology here, DEM is an analysis tool and NOT a standalone solution.

The technique of DEM has existed for many years in academia. Commonly referenced early works are from Cundall and Strack (1979), however DEM was sitting in wait for the computing world to catch-up before it could be applied to large scale industry problems.

In the early stages, DEM was picked up by many and applied in some cases without a thorough understanding of the contact mechanics. For this reason, there were instances of this tool being used to design solutions that overpromised and under-delivered. These examples gave rise to detractors of the method who did not see DEM as a realistic method of design. In these cases, the analysis tool of DEM was being judged as being an inferior analysis tool, when in fact it should have been judged on its poor application.

Fortunately, DEM is currently experiencing a second wind as more users are applying it appropriately. As a result, DEM has matured into a developed and viable technology. To aid in this process there have been many research and education campaigns undertaken by many groups (including ours) to allow the users of the technology to gain a better understanding of the technique, its limitations and assumptions. This brief overview sets the scene for the following discussion.

It is worth noting that for the true theorist, simulations (numerical solution)

are viewed as an imperfect solution. In fact, there is a statement that is sometimes used in academic circles that cuts to this point exactly: “Simulations provide a weak solution from a weak mind”.

However, in my experience, being in a role that directly engages with industry, means we are often faced with finding the optimal solution within a set of design constraints (time and budget), not necessarily a perfect solution we could strive for where dollars and production deadlines are not a concern. This leads to an opposing argument I’ve also heard thrown around: “Those that live in the academic world are free from the constraints of solving real problems”.

I don’t support one argument over the other; neither is true: some of the best innovators in the world have come from academic roots. My position is that solving industry problems is difficult, complex and in some cases underestimated.

On top of obvious time and budget constraints there are so many real-world variables to the problems we are called on to solve that, if looked at in a scientific manner, would be eliminated from the problem by a set of controls.

The observation from this is that in most cases research lags industry. This in turn alludes to a very important relationship where industry needs research to provide advanced solutions and research needs industry for direction and relevance.

This ties in with my earlier comment about TUNRA Bulk Solids being in

a unique position. We have built a successful business in its own right that, in addition to solving industry problems, has been funding University research for over 43 years. In performing this essential and unique function of interfacing industry and academia, to the benefit of both, TUNRA has bridged the gaps between industry projects and academic research. The success of TUNRA and its value to both industry and academia is largely a result of the vision of bulk materials handling pioneer Emeritus Professor Alan Roberts.

Coming from the position of needing to provide solutions to industry in a timely manner (i.e. now!), and not having the timeframe of a 3-year research program, it is of critical importance that the method being used to design the solution is fully understood. This includes knowledge on the limitations and assumptions of the tool – I’ll come back to this point shortly.

It is also important when a numerical modelling tool is being used, such as DEM, that it is supported by a more traditional approach (where possible).

These approaches might range from a ‘back of the envelope’ calculation based on a mass/volume balance, to a more indepth method such as the application of theoretical, classical analysis. It should also be recognised that in the case of DEM, as with all modelling approaches, the quality of the outputs is limited by the quality of the inputs. This can be difficult for DEM as it models real bulk materials, Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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which are for the most part inhomogeneous and not easily characterised.

At TUNRA we offset this challenge by undertaking rigorous material testing that seeks to classify bulk material behaviours and characteristics against a set of criteria – commonly bulk density, particle size and shape, material strength and cohesion, and wall friction and adhesion.

However, there is still the step from physical test results to sometimes nonphysical DEM parameters – this step is known as calibration. Again, reflecting on the symbiotic relationship between industry and academic research, there are ongoing research activities in our group and across the world that continue to refine this process. It is clear that the success of numerical modelling to bulk materials handling problems needs to be strongly linked with material testing.

In terms of the successful application of numerical modelling to materials handling problems, there are a number of questions that must be answered to ensure a robust solution. The limitations of the method need to be taken into account to ensure that the solution is practical and offers value.

In conjunction with this, the assumptions that the method is making should also be considered and stated so everyone involved in the process is aware of them. Again, taking DEM as an example, the following questions should always be asked at the outset on the path towards a solution: • Can we capture the correct failure mode? For materials to flow they must fail – is the failure mode by gravity alone or forced flow? Will the bulk material be failing internally or at a wall surface?

• What is the scale of the problem and can it be modelled with enough resolution? This includes both the scale of the geometry as well as the scale of the particles.

• What is the tonnage? The trend is for higher tonnages (>20,000tph), can this be modelled with small enough particles (again, resolution)? Too small a tonnage can also be problematic in terms of resolving the particle scale adequately with respect to the burden height.

• Under what circumstances does the specific behaviour you are looking at occur? i.e. if you are trying to solve a problem using DEM, it is first necessary to establish the problem can be recreated in DEM • Are the effects time dependent? If so, how much simulation time would be needed to capture the behaviour and is this reasonable?

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

By addressing each of these questions we are ensuring that the application of DEM, and numerical modelling more broadly, will remain valuable in the bulk materials handling field. Given the history of DEM to materials handling, it is important that we all cast a critical eye over any modelling work and I encourage all involved to ask questions about the application, and have a robust discussion about the limitations of the method with respect to the application being studied.

Looking forward, I am reminded of an excellent presentation at the 2016 conference on Discrete Element Modelling (Qiu, 216). The presentation was titled “DEM Simulations in Mining and Mineral Processing” and delivered by Dr. Xiangjun Qiu (reference).

The presentation covered a range of topics, but the specific section I reflect on is the classification system for DEM problems. I have modified this classification system slightly and it appears in Figure 1. As you can see, the green section represents what I would call the “easy” DEM problems – bulk materials that are coarse in nature and are relatively free flowing. A typical application that might fit into this region would be the analysis/ design of a transfer chute handling lump iron ore. More and more though industry problems are challenging us to move into the yellow zone. A few recent examples that would fit into this classification that we have looked at are listed below: • Vibrating screen – challenges of: modelling a wide size range from 2-3mm up to 70-80mm of non-round particles; higher stiffness being needed for the small particles meaning smaller time steps; the large domain (>7m) and longer time period of simulation (>60s).

• Silo quaking – challenges of: large application (geometry) of train loading bin with complex phenomena; particles must be small enough for numerical robustness but large enough to allow reasonable time of simulations.

• Particle breakage – challenges of: non-round polyhedral particles used where high stiffness is needed; a wide range of particle sizes from 3-4mm to over 50mm; large geometrical domain of over 30m in the vertical direction.

The three problems listed above are examples of industry needs that can’t be entirely addressed by current research.

There are scholarly papers published on all of these topics, however there have not been adequate solutions presented that will allow us to solve these industry problems in detail. In time, these challenges will largely be overcome through

increased computing resources, but industry is demanding an answer now and through ongoing interaction with academia there is a pathway for industry to drive the research.

While the focus of this article has been on DEM, it can be equally applied to the other numerical modelling tools that are used in the bulk materials handling field. Tools such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are more mature technologies, however their use in bulk material handling problems is still being developed, particularly in the applications where they are being coupled to DEM. This multi-physics approach is the next area for growth and development in bulk materials handling to look at problems such as dust flow in transfer chutes, interactions between the bulk material and conveyor belt, as well as modelling slurry flow through a pipe or in an open flume.

At TUNRA we are developing tools in each of these areas to be more equipped to help industry solve the increasingly complex set of problems. Now more than ever there needs to be pathways for collaboration that allows industry to continue to drive research to ensure it remains relevant. This is particularly true in the bulk materials handling field. *Dr Tim Donohue is the manager of TUNRA Bulk Solids and holds a Conjoint Lecturer position with the University of Newcastle. Tim completed his Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Newcastle, and then studied under Emeritus Professor Alan Roberts, Professor Mark Jones and Associate Professor Chris Wensrich to complete his PhD. Since the completion of his PhD, Tim has been with TUNRA Bulk Solids for over 10 years and has been involved in many projects encompassing the full spectrum of bulk materials handling problems. Tim has particular expertise in the field of materials handling, and is considered a leader in the application of DEM to materials handling. Tim is currently serving on the Scientific Committee of the International Series on Discrete Element Modelling.

References 1. P.A. Cundall, O.D.L. Strack, A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies, Geotechnique, 29 (1979), pp. 47-65 2. X. Qiu, “DEM Simulations in Mining and Mineral Processing”, 7th International Conference on Discrete Element Methods, August 1-4, 2016, Dalian, China (Paper number G010111)

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When it comes to bulk solid flow problems you need to go slow to go fast In this article, Grant Wellwood* explains that while it comes as a surprise to many, if your business relies on the controlled flow of bulk solids, then in terms of revenue and productivity you are really in the “flow” business.

“downtime heroes” who spring into action and get things moving again when flow issues arise. But given the cost and risks associated with recurring flow disruptions, there comes a point where the financial pain becomes unbearable and the management team involved seeks a permanent solution.

A common response from frustrated management teams is the directive to “Just do something!” In most cases, there is no shortage of well-intentioned providers ready to step in and have a go.

Unlike other areas of continuous improvement where persistence and a MacGyver spirit can prevail, application of the trialand-error approach to deal with flow problems is false economy.

The true cost (planning, design, capital, installation, disruption...) of each trial is usually high as is the cycle time, during which the process is haemorrhaging value. The ultimate kicker though is the fact that without the science, those involved are unlikely to ever converge on the best long-term solution as they are simply repeating the flawed process that created the problem in the first place.

ALLIED GRAIN SYSTEMS

WE MEAN BUSINESS Grant Wellwood*

U

nlike liquids whose flow is described by a single property (its viscosity), the flow behaviour of bulk solids is complex as it depends on surface chemistry as well as a number of physical properties which often are interdependent and can vary in a non-linear fashion (think of dry sand that starts as free flowing then passes through a sandcastle-solid phase only to flow again as its moisture content increases).

Because bulk solid flow behaviour depends on these discrete particle properties, every system is unique in terms of one or more of these characteristics. Therefore, is not possible to use library values as we do for liquids. To leverage the science of bulk solids flow, every bulk solid in your value chain needs to be properly characterised.

For operations reliant on bulk solids, revenue is directly proportional to effective flow through the value chain; therefore, any disruption in flow means an instantaneous destruction of value. In a recently published case study (Wellwood, 2017), an iron ore operation was destroying around A$1m/day in value due to its flow problems.

Many flow difficulties emerge during wet commissioning, when baked-in design problems arising from incomplete homework and uninformed designs manifest.

However, flow problems can arise at any time when the handling system or material characteristics change (new feeds, weather, upstream changes in unit operations like crushers…).

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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So what to do? Despite its complexity, the science describing bulk solids flow is well established, and it is possible to converge on the best solution in a single iteration if a scientific approach is taken. While it is counter to the “Don’t think, just do” school of thought, the best approach is to go slow (apply the science) to go fast (solve it in a single change iteration). This winning strategy can be distilled down into three simple steps (see figure 1).

1. First, Get Fit: get the facts, understand your situation and, if necessary, fill in the gaps by testing your materials.

2. Next, Catch-Up: make sure your understanding of the situation lines up with current practice. The science of bulk solids flow is usually applied via computer-generated or physical models, but if the configured models can’t predict the current situation, they are going to be worse than useless in forecasting the outcome of change.

3. The final step is the Break Away, using the validated models to solve problems. But even validated models are just tools − they can’t generate solutions in their own right. They need

creative input from humans in the loop. So in addition to being the one to spot flow as a root cause, this is where you can add real value and become the hero or heroine of your story: using the model to consider the “what if’s” in the virtual world, to converge on long term solutions for a single iteration delivery in the real world. In terms Figure 1 of levers, we usually can’t engineer the material characteristics, so “what if’s?” normally involve trying to broaden the handling system sweet spot. For installed plant, the options can be limited.

So while it may seem crazy to not immediately “start doing” when confronted with a bulk solid flow problem, pursuing the go slow to go fast scientific approach is the second best way to maximise value. And the best way? Apply the science before the detailed design so there are no real-world problems to start with! *Grant Wellwood is general manager of Jenike & Johanson Australia and a bulk solids science advocate and intrapreneur.

Reference: Wellwood, G. A., 2017. One perfect (production) day – A bulk solids handling perspective, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2017, pp 443-452, (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Contact: 1300 BULKSOLIDS

Solving mechanical conveyor problems Neil Kinder, boss of Kinder Australia, says his firm has the software and know-how to solve many site conveyor problems.

M

echanical conveyor problems are prevalent at many bulk handling sites. What may present itself on the surface as a minor conveyor belting issue can quickly escalate to production down-time and, in the worst case, a mechanical shutdown.

Conveyor component supplier Kinder Australia says it has the relationships with bulk handling sites, and the know-how, to solve these problems.

“Sites can tap into our solid technical know-how and troubleshooting tools to solve mechanical conveyor problems,” said Neil Kinder, CEO, Kinder Australia.

“With a key focus on our customers’ productivity improvements, we have made significant investments in specialist conveyor engineering and design software.

“We can provide advice on equipment selection for idlers, pulleys and shafts. We can calculate conveyor pulley and idler shaft dimensions and do idler bearing life and shaft deflection calculations. We are adept at working out size requirements for pulleys and drives to minimise capital and spares holding costs.”

Neil Kinder says his company’s expertise extends far beyond supply of components to the solving of challenging conveyor problems.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

Contact: conveyorsolutions@kinder.com.au

MILK POWDER

GEA to build Asia’s largest milk production facility in India Early in 2017, GEA in India received an order from the AmulFed Dairy (formerly Mother Dairy) in Gandhinagar for a new turnkey dairy plant for the production of 150 tonnes per day of skim milk powder and 120 tonnes per day of dairy whitener/baby food.

T

he order is said to be for a ‘lower double-digit, million-euro amount’. The milk powder plant is scheduled to begin production in 2018. When completed, the plant will be the largest skim milk powder and dairy whitener plant in Asia. The company markets its milk and milk products under the Amul brand and its baby milk powder under the name of Amul Spray.

The plant, to be installed on a turnkey basis by GEA, will process around 90,000 litres per hour of milk to produce multiple value-added products. AmulFed already has two milk powder plants in the same location, supplied by GEA. Together they make AmulFed the largest plant in Asia at a single location. GEA says the new plant features its most advanced safety system and uses hygienic architectural design principles to make it one of the most advanced plants it has built to date.

GEA detailed some other features to be included in the AmulFed plant: • The use of a Mechanical Vapor Re-compression (MVR) system from GEA within the evaporation plant. MVR continuously recycles energy by recompressing the vapor within the evaporator. This reduces energy costs and the CO2 footprint to minimize the environmental load.

• The use of a Reverse Osmosis (RO) polisher to treat the milk condensate from the evaporation plant and recycle the water for reuse within the plant. This significantly reduces water usage and approaches zero liquid discharge concept.

• The application of a GEA clarifying separator to remove the entire life cycle of bacteria from the milk, thereby ensuring a supply of bacteria-free healthy milk throughout the process cycle.

• The inclusion of GEA Sanicip bag filters in series with cyclones to collect powder fines, save product and reduce emissions to the atmosphere.

• The inclusion of a GEA sifter to provide a uniform distribution of the powder particles and, therefore, a more homogenous final product.

• The plant will also be equipped with powder packing and a conveying system from GEA.

• The plant will be designed to operate in fully automated mode. This includes the powder production, conveying, storage, packing, final packed product conveying and a complete management information system.

“We will provide AmulFed with a hygienically-superior plant that will deliver peak performance,” said Abhay Chaudhari, GEA country managing director, India cluster. “The AmulFed milk powder plant at Gandhinagar will not be just the largest in Asia but it will also be the most environment friendly,” he said.

One of two existing AmulFed milk powder plants supplied by GEA. A third will be commissioned in 2018.

Inside the Indian plant.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

35

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ENGINEERING SERVICES

Eng Access founders in conversation with ABHR In its July/August edition, ABHR reported on the birth of Eng Access, an online marketplace linking customers for engineering services in Queensland with the state’s 12,000 registered engineers. Below, ABHR editor Charles Macdonald talks to Eng Access founders Doctors Stuart McCarthy and Matthew Robinson about progress.

(ABHR) In a nutshell, what is Eng Access?

(Eng Access) Eng Access is an online marketplace that connects RPEQ engineers and clients: from job posting through to quotation, acceptance, and payment. The first platform of its kind for registered engineers in Australia, Eng Access endeavours to improve job opportunities for professional engineers, and reduce the amount of time, money, and uncertainty invested by clients attempting to secure their services.

(ABHR) Why did you develop the platform?

(Eng Access) With our experience in engineering consulting and products businesses, we understood the clientengineer connection problem intimately, and knew there had to be a more effective way for clients to find appropriate RPEQs, a legislated requirement in Queensland. We wanted to help solve the ‘no work’ problem for engineers, and the ‘who to ask’ problem for clients.

Our marketplace provides professional engineers with the opportunity to select jobs that suit their interests, capabilities, and availabilities, while clients can access multiple quotes to compare skills and costs. The platform facilitates all interactions between RPEQs and clients, from job-posting through to deliverables and payment. It should reduce the cost of professional consulting engineering services by enabling clients to only pay for the engineering services employed, and not unnecessary additional corporate overheads.

(ABHR) What were you and Matt doing before Eng Access?

(Eng Access) We both studied engineering here in Queensland and achieved PhDs; Matt’s expertise is in aerospace, and mine is mechatronic engineering.

We met after we both joined a local SME, mainly focussed on providing services and solutions to resource businesses.

Our backgrounds are very diverse, though we both have always had strong interests in technology applications. Before he joined the SME, Matt was involved in cutting-edge technologies at a European aerospace centre. My own experience has involved a range of challenging 36

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

Stuart McCarthy (left) and Matthew Robinson.

engineering pursuits, largely focussed on automation of agricultural farm machinery, combine harvesters, and wireless technologies – both within Australia and the USA. (ABHR) What’s your assessment of existing platforms and services aimed at linking engineers and clients?

(Eng Access) We need to provide context that Queensland is still the only Australian state or territory in Australia that legally requires engineers to be registered to provide engineering products or services, though other jurisdictions are making noises that they are exploring similar registration systems.

As such, there are very few existing platforms solely focussed on answering these questions. Sure, other freelancing platforms may have a few RPEQs registered, however these connection services are not focussed on RPEQs, so still do not make it simple for clients to identify and engage an appropriate expert, let alone have a choice! Amazingly, amongst digitising of so much of our lives, it still seems that clients must rely on referrals to find a RPEQ. (ABHR) Is Eng Access only for soletrader RPEQs?

(Eng Access) Absolutely not! Eng Access is for all RPEQs to gain benefits, and they may register on behalf of their company, be it sole trader, SME, or larger enterprise, with a view to attracting new work opportunities. Like online open tender publications, individual RPEQs within businesses should be encouraged to pursue enquiries on behalf of their employer, so it is obviously not a conflict of interest.

(ABHR) Can the platform handle sophisticated clients offering large contracts, e.g. coal mines or ports offering work around materials handling?

(Eng Access) We are excited about the potential benefits that Eng Access may provide to assist resource businesses, and we challenge them to disrupt their legacy procurement processes.

At this stage, most of the opportunities are focussed on project work, which can be provided on time and materials or fixed price bases. Of course, larger contracts are based on similar calculations, though sadly details and boundaries usually come down to whoever has the best legal team.

We are ready for any project work to be posted on the platform, and the technology base is flexible and scalable, which ought to enable growth and larger

ENGINEERING SERVICES

jobs. Oh, and we must mention that all data is secure, and archived regularly so it is not lost.

(ABHR) Aside from matchmaking clients and engineers, can the platform promote price competition?

(Eng Access) We at Eng Access are not solely driven by price competition, even though this is one of the key benefits of the platform. We want to improve the standard and standing of our profession, in accordance with legislated Queensland requirements. By evening the playing field, clients can choose from a selection of qualified experts, maintain legal compliance, and pay experts what is agreed to be a fair and reasonable remuneration.

By promoting a community of credible professionals, clients may have confidence and choice for expertise that they require, and engineers ought to be able to pursue their preferred work, possibly simplified with reduced corporate overheads.

(ABHR) How is progress in signing up RPEQs? (Eng Access) Progress has been excellent, and we are very pleased to have the support of our peers and their extended network. We hope that we may ultimately reach a significant proportion of the current 12,000 RPEQs. We have received wonderful support from registration entities, and continue to seek collaboration, and growth opportunities, with their support. We have an encouraging shared vision for the general improvement of the engineering profession, especially with community safety outcomes in mind.

(ABHR) More generally, how do you see the internet and digitalisation impacting the engineering profession longer term?

"Quality solutions for quality products“

(Eng Access) The most significant impacts that we will probably see for the engineering profession longer term will be related to information access and availability. Against this, engineering service provision is very well suited for improved digitalisation.

Engineers are responsible for most of the technological frameworks, software and hardware, to enable such activities, yet provision of expert services is generally the same as it has been for more than decades. The smartphone in your pocket has more intelligence than the lunar landings, yet finding an appropriate engineer to inspect plant equipment is based on word of mouth referrals? That does not make any sense to me.

(ABHR) What about Artificial Intelligence?

(Eng Access) Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been discreetly entering our lives for some time now: think about your media player’s playlist suggestions, or even internet search suggestions. In the context of Eng Access, we already have implemented AI to help with some core functionalities, and as needed, we will probably explore the implementation of others, for example, improved searching and matching, based on required skills and locations.

(ABHR) How should engineering firms and engineers respond to the “commodification” of their profession?

(Eng Access) Easy one. They should evolve or get left behind.

Like most service providers, professional engineers need to find differentiators and increase their reach within the market place.

Of course, we would suggest that the simplest response is to get involved, and give it a go! Register as an expert on Eng Access, and form a view based on actual experience, possibly creating new connections and service offerings.

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ENGINEERING SERVICES

WA company embracing new technologies for structural audits A Western Australian firm is using abseiling, drones and 3D modelling for its structural audits, techniques that it expects to improve safety and potentially save millions of dollars.

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enem Engineering Services has a strong focus on the integration of technology to its services in order to help prevent injury and minimise shutdown time and financial losses for companies it works with.

“The resources industry experiences safety issues, at times brought on by a lack of preventative maintenance and regular structural audits,” said director of Yenem Engineering Services Dave Meney.

“The importance of structural audits should not be understated, in fact they can save both the lives of workers and millions of dollars in downtime and repairs,” he said.

“For example, a failed gantry bridge at a mine in WA was to blame for the death of a boilermaker just last year. A report into the incident found the gantry bridge had deteriorated due to corrosion and could no longer support itself.”

Many structural audits are limited by a company’s ability to get physically close to a structure, but Yenem says it is using innovation to get around the issue.

“In the NSW mining town of Cobar we recently used abseiling as a way of accessing otherwise inaccessible areas.”

Yenem is adding drones to its inspection artillery to get at otherwise inaccessible places.

“The drones we use can handle 70 km/h winds, and can get to all of the places a human can’t safely,” said Mr Meney.

The company is implementing technology-savvy practices in its reporting.

“We wrote an iPad app, so now we go on site and take photos and put them in our report in pdf form. We write the report there and then,” he explained.

“A client can have a report within days complete with a risk matrix and practical recommendations. Our clients can save on shutdown time if solutions are delivered quickly.”

The company is working towards a fully interactive report that clients can immerse themselves in.

“You’ll be able to view a 3-D model on a web browser and as you move around the model, you can see hi-res photographs, even a report page with a recommendation and a risk rating. So, it becomes an interactive report, that people would enjoy using.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

A technician abseils a structure for a structural audit, with his findings going straight into a digital model.

“You can then really involve and engage the people in the conference room, they can actually see the problem, rather than be looking through a 100-page report. We can be there with them, using video conferencing software like Zoom, answering any queries they have.”

It’s part of a wider plan that Mr Meney hopes to introduce to the mining sector, where Yenem provides a full 3D database of a site’s structures and loads, for

ongoing management of the structures during their design life.

“The client will essentially have a ‘digital twin’ of each structure, with which we can quickly assess the safety of a structure that has deteriorated, or been modified, or damaged.

“A preventative structural maintenance program will definitely save money over the long-term as well as significantly reduce unplanned shutdown time and monetary loss to companies.”

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The new ‘laser cell’ in our SA engineering facility will have the highest-power laser beam used for laser cladding in the Southern Hemisphere. We already operate the three most powerful lasers in this industry in Australia. These are supported by many other processes and technologies, such as HP HVOF, all supported by our own well-equipped metallographic

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NEWS

Switch of private equity owner for Schenck Process Measuring technology multinational Schenck Process has been sold by private equity firm IK Investment Partners to larger private equity firm, Blackstone.

Loading underway at Caval Ridge via a Schenck Process system recognised at the 2015 Australian Bulk Handling Awards.

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hile Schenck, globally, is a diverse group with 2,300 employees spanning weighing, feeding, conveying, screening, automation, and air filtration, locally the company is best known for its vibrating equipment and train load-out products.

Schenck’s German management, Blackstone and IK Investment Partners were all enthusiastic about the change of ownership.

“Schenck is an innovative and unrivalled leader, and we see considerable opportunity to grow the business both organically and by acquisitions in its various end markets. We are excited to team up with management and accompany Schenck in the next stage of its development,” said Lionel Assant, head of European private Equity at Blackstone.

“This investment underlines our strong commitment to the German market as we continue to evaluate further opportunities across Europe. Blackstone has a proud record of working with growing companies and supporting their strategies and we are hugely excited about our new partnership with Schenck,” added Juergen Pinker, managing director at Blackstone.

“As we embark on an exciting new chapter for Schenck, I would like to thank IK for their invaluable support over the past years. Blackstone’s significant sector experience and financial backing make them the ideal new partner. As we commit to further investment in innovation and developing new technologies, we look forward to accelerating growth across our international 40

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

footprint,” said Andreas Evertz, president & CEO of Schenck.

“During the IK 2007 Fund’s ownership, Schenck has transformed its business focus from a mechanical manufacturer to a service and integrated solutions provider, achieved significant growth by expanding the product portfolio and entering new markets both organically and through selected addon acquisitions. It has been a pleasure working with the management team, and we wish them the very best as they continue on their growth trajectory,” said Detlef Dinsel, partner at IK Investment Partners.

An Australian award winner Schenck Process has numerous centres of excellence globally for its plethora of technologies and products. Australia is its centre of competence for vibrating equipment and train load-out products, supporting other global locations.

In 2015, Schenck was recognised for its Caval Ridge train load-out system, highly commended at the Australian Bulk Handling Awards. Earlier, the company was a joint winner with Rio Tinto in the Excellence in Transport and/or Conveying category at the 2010 Australian Bulk Handling Awards for a new rail car loading system at the giant Yandicoogina iron ore mine in the Pilbara Schenck Process has an extensive footprint in Australia, with offices, engineering, assembly and field services centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Henderson near Perth, Rockhampton, Mackay and Newcastle.

Schenck Process Australia’s Raja Ratnam.

“Our philosophy is to have design centres and then after-market service support in various strategic locations, close to what we think of as the hubs of mining operations,” said Schenck Process Australia’s general manager minerals and metals Raja Ratnam.

While new projects and greenfield expansions have been thin on the ground in Australia in recent years, Schenck has been busy optimising its customers’ existing assets.

“Our customers want to squeeze more out of their assets, get more performance out of them and reduce the cost of maintenance,” explained Raja.

“As an equipment supplier, we have been looking at ways to help them run their equipment for longer durations between planned shutdowns and also looking at ways to reduce their shutdown times.”

The impact of the change in ownership at Schenck will likely take some time to play out around the world.

ENGINEERING SERVICES

Whose interests are served by M&A in consulting?

In this article, consultant and advisor David Singleton* looks at the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions in the consulting sector. How often are they a success? What can go wrong? And can small firms remain successful?

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ou can spot a successful merger or acquisition a mile away.

There is a good cultural fit, clarity of business objective, a clear strategic direction and understanding amongst staff and stakeholders as to ‘why’ the deal was done. Desirably, there is transparency around appointments in the merged entity, with no secret deals.

Successful mergers are few and far between But successful mergers between professional service firms are few and far between. In fact, the track record – in terms of staff engagement – is not good. Considerable effort is expended in achieving best possible cultural fit but it is a characteristic of culture that one will come out on top. Usually, this is the culture of the acquirer or the larger party to the merger. And then the exodus of disenfranchised staff begins. There are conspicuous examples of this in Australia.

What is more difficult to spot are the broader implications of these mergers and acquisitions on the industry at a wider scale.

Many of the big firms are listed entities, with short-term responsibilities to their shareholders. Their drivers may become more and more about share price or profit or the CEO achieving his/ her KPIs. How will this affect tendering behaviour and how will it affect project quality? I believe that these influences are yet to be fully realised in Australia.

Global consulting firm Arup, which is trust-owned, was once considered a large firm, with over 10,000 employees across the globe. But AECOM, with its acquisition of URS, now numbers in excess of 100,000 and WSP Global, which acquired Parsons Brinckerhoff in October 2014, now numbers 32,000 staff. Interestingly, Parsons Brinckerhoff was purchased from contractor Balfour Beatty plc for US$1.3B, in a cash transaction.

In September 2013 we saw Sinclair Knight Merz’s 660 employee shareholders achieve a significant payout after the board of the Sydney-based engineering consultancy agreed to a $1.3 billion merger with Jacobs Engineering, now with around 66,000 staff.

Santo Rizzuto, SKM CEO, said the merger would strengthen SKM’s market position: “This is an exciting opportunity. It uniquely positions us amongst our global peers and opens the way for us to achieve even greater things in the future,” he said. “It adds scale, diversification and growth opportunities to our business.”

“And then the exodus of disenfranchised staff begins,” David Singleton.

Jacobs’ president, and chief executive Craig Martin said that the combination was a unique fit that strongly delivered on the company’s strategic ambitions. “SKM’s culture, values, and operating philosophy are very compatible with ours, making our companies an excellent fit for one another,” he said. “Our capabilities and geographies have little overlap, enabling us together to continue to expand our client relationships and provide significant opportunities for our employees. We are enthusiastic about the potential.”

Unfortunately, it appears that many previous SKM shareholders departed Jacobs. Surely the capability, client relationships

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ENGINEERING SERVICES

and experience of these people were a significant reason for Jacobs’ acquisition? So, why did they leave? Is it that the cultural fit was poor? Was it the challenge of reporting to Pasadena, Jacobs’ global HQ? Clearly some will have simply decided to take their share payment and move on. But it does cause one to question whether the objectives behind the acquisition have been met.

What will be the impact on these once ‘larger firms’ that are not listed and are not in a position to or wishing to pursue mergers and acquisitions? What will this mean in terms of client perceptions of them? Will there be questions about their ability to deliver? Will they be able to retain and attract the best staff? Will they be able to compete on price, not only in terms of minimum cost structures but also their ability to shave margins for strategic intent?

And how will ‘smaller’ firms be affected, as many firms become smaller in relative terms?

Do small-medium firms have a future?

Do small to medium firms have a choice but to position themselves as a merger and acquisition target, in order to stay afloat?

These are the challenges that the leaders of these firms will increasingly face.

They will need to fight hard to remain independent. They will need to fight hard to be competitive financially and to retain good staff. They will need to be very clear about their strategic

advantage, their points of difference. They may have to cut back on some of their activities and service offerings. They must remain nimble and quick to seize upon opportunity. They must nurture their strong client relationships.

In my opinion, the medium sized firm does have a future. The challenge is for their leadership to be clear about that future and for their staff to be enrolled in that vision.

Author *David Singleton is a non-executive director, independent advisor, built environment specialist. Currently David is Chairman, College of Leadership and Management, Engineers Australia; Chairman and Director, Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia; a member of Council at Swinburne University of Technology; and a non-executive Director, Standards Australia Ltd. For more than 40 years David held roles with Arup involving global sustainability policy and strategy; global planning strategy; leadership of the global infrastructure business (Chairman of Global Infrastructure, fee income £360m); CEO of the Australasian region, including operations in New Zealand and Singapore; and high level advice to governments on economic policy and strategy and emerging complex policy issues.

Contact: davidjohnsingleton@gmail.com

NEWS

Napier Port in New Zealand orders six more lift trucks from Konecranes To cope with rapid growth in the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand’s North Island, Napier Port has ordered six new lift trucks from Konecranes, to be delivered in December 2017.

From left, Tony Maxwell, MD Port Solutions;Warren Young, Container Operations Manager, Napier Port; Maurizio Altieri, Sales Director Konecranes; and Adam Harvey, Terminal Manager Napier Port with the previously delivered FDC 480 G4 full container handlers.

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he most recent order from Napier Port includes two Liftace R 6-41 MS reach stackers, two Liftace FDC 25 K7 DB empty container handlers, and lastly, two Liftace FDC 480 G4 full container handlers. Another two FDC 480 G4 full container handlers have recently been put into operation in the terminal.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

As the new reach stackers are foreseen to handle containers on both ship and rail side, Napier Port has deliberately opted for Liftace R 6-41 MS reach stackers. Being equipped with front side stabilisers, these machines feature up to 41-ton capacity in the second row and have a particularly low turning radius.

Warren Young, container operations manager at Napier Port, explains: “Our port is the logistic turnstile of the entire region. Technology from Konecranes has been a key element of our sustainable growth strategy and we are currently operating six Konecranes Gottwald mobile harbour cranes, four of which were delivered over the last four years. As these machines have become an integral part of our operation, it was logical to also opt for lift trucks from Konecranes. We are sure that relying on equipment and aftermarket support from one single supplier will enhance the efficiency of our operations.”

Tony Maxwell, managing director of Port Solution − distribution partner of Konecranes Lift Trucks − concludes: “Napier Port is situated in a region known as ‘the fruit bowl of New Zealand’ due to its high quality fruit production. The terminal is one of the country’s most important gateways to the world, with regard to both the export of goods such as food and timber, and the import of oil products, cement, fertilisers and general commodities, and Konecranes machines play a key role.

“In 2016, it was above all Napier’s container handling activities that grew significantly, and we are very pleased that this fast developing port decided to continue to benefit from Konecranes diversified offer.”

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he CPF 10 bar (145psi) Platform Lifting Bags – with individual starting thicknesses of 25mm and individual lifting capacities up to 84.6 tons – can be stacked in threes for stable lifts up to 510mm.

Their flat, interlocking tops and bottoms make them a practical lifting solution in compromised and difficult stabilisation situations including in softer, irregular and remote areas, says James Maslin, national sales and marketing manager for Air Springs Supply, which is national distributor for Pronal products.

CPF’s can be used: to lift pressure vessels, electrical machinery and fabricated steel components; for emergency removal of heavy weights (slabs, beams) from trapped people and objects, including in construction and resources developments; for machine height adjustment; to raise vehicles and mobile machinery; in maintenance situations.

Available in individual lifting capacities of 31.4 to 84.6 tons, the five models of CPF bags weigh from 11 to 26kg,

adding to their safe ease of handling and positioning in awkward and emergency situations.

CPF lifting cushions and Air Springs’ complementary Pronal ranges combine the advantages of durability and power with controlled lifting that can spread the load over broader surfaces of the object being lifted, rather than focusing the power on point loads.

“These robust, smooth and powerful lifters – built to the same Pronal global standards trusted by military, civil, aviation and maritime authorities – are the ideal product to lift heavy horizontal objects effortlessly,” says Mr Maslin.

Made from several layers of elastomer, they are vulcanised under vacuum in an autoclave for dependable long-life performance, says Mr Maslin.

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COVER STORY

International expansion and new products for Meridian Train weighing and loading specialist Meridian Engineers has had a busy year with the release of new products and a successful push into overseas markets. Meridian managing director Dr Anthony Pruiti spelled out developments to ABHR.

A

ccording to Dr Pruiti, a highlight of the past 12 months was the release of Meridian’s new flagship product for low speed inmotion train weighing applications, the ME-Trackweigh®-2D-FR. “This fully redundant system sets a new standard in accuracy and reliability for in-motion weighing systems,” he explained.

“With two of these new systems installed this year, our clients are delighted with its exceptional accuracy and redundancy capabilities. More are scheduled to be installed across the Pilbara over the coming year.”

Pruiti listed some other highlights of the year.

• The company’s ME-Trackweigh® systems now offer SQL cloud-based database management solutions for both performance and diagnostic monitoring. They also offer full HTML web-based user interface solutions.

• In the train loading control space, Meridian continued improvements to its long-standing mass loading control system with the release of a new ‘hybrid’ loading technology.

• Meridian’s ‘bolt on’ transducers have now achieved IP68 certification and ATEX and IECEx approvals for use in hazardous environment conditions. Other improvements to the transducer include the introduction of 5mm thick cast stainless steel casings for greater mechanical protection.

• Meridian continued to expand globally and focused on the North American market where it sees great potential for its products. Meridian recently exhibited at the Railway Interchange Exhibition in Indianapolis and also at Trako in Poland, where there was considerable interest in its ‘bolt-on’ weighing technology. Earlier in the year Meridian supplied and commissioned its first three ME-Trackweigh-2D systems for the US market.

the ‘fully redundant’ (FR) rating, the ME-Trackweigh system is supplied with duplicate weighing controllers and a total of four weighing points on the rail. Using redundancy principles comparable to those used in the aviation industry, the 2D-FR design duplicates every critical device, including weighing controllers, to create a product that would continue to function as a highly accurate weigher despite any single component failure.

“With the never-ending push to increase train loads in the Pilbara, it has never been more important to verify that ore cars are not overloaded, since the consequences of overloaded wagons travelling on the rail network can be catastrophic,” explained Pruiti. “Train derailments or even bridge collapses could occur, cutting production for extended periods. The 2D-FR was designed for mission critical applications, where clients cannot afford failure of their weighing systems i.e. a complete and accurate train weight report must be in hand before the train can be permitted to depart the loading site.”

The 2D-FR systems supplied earlier this year by Meridian set new benchmarks on accuracy capabilities, with individual wagons being weighed to a repeatability of less than 0.2% and total train weight errors to less than 0.1%.

To achieve these accuracies over the long term, particular focus was also given to providing a solid track slab foundation for the rail weighing systems. In the Pilbara where trains are loaded at mine sites virtually non-stop 24/7, the only way to install a track slab suitable for precision in-motion weighing was utilising precast slabs. Using this approach, the Meridian 2D-FR systems were able to be installed, complete with 30 metres of track slab, during customers’ normal scheduled maintenance shutdown of only 108 hours.

ME-Trackweigh-2D-FR

Hybrid TLMCS

The ME-Trackweigh-2D-FR design philosophy means that the system will continue to function, without loss of accuracy, should any component fail during the weighing process. To achieve

The development of Meridian's Train Loading Mass Control System (TLMCS) has continued with the introduction of the hybrid and volumetric loading modes. The hybrid loading mode

Meridian’s weighing and loading solution supplied to the Wedron Silica unit of Fairmount Santrol in the US.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

COVER STORY

Overhead and close-up view of the new ME-Trackweigh-2D-FR.

combines the benefits of both: mass loading control (wagons loaded based on a mass target) and volumetric feedback (wagon loaded based on a volumetric target).

Meridian identified that since a product material changes density, different loading modes are required. Meridian’s new hybrid loading control system determines both volumetric and mass loading information concurrently. The loading chute can therefore be closed on either volumetric or mass based criteria. Mass criteria helps load a wagon to the correct total weight, whereas volumetric criteria help balance the load between the front and rear of the wagons more effectively. The combined functionality of mass and volume has the advantage of providing the benefits of both methods, and compensating for their limitations.

“The Hybrid TLMCS helps our client load their trains to the correct target weights and thus avoid costly over or underloading of their train,” said Pruiti.

Cast stainless steel transducer performance Meridian released the version 10, cast stainless steel transducer over a year ago. The new design incorporates a high-pressure Oring sealed cover plate, that along with new potting technology, can withstand harsh environments in the mining and rail industries.

The transducers have achieved IP68, ATEX and IECEx certifications.

The version 10 transducers have been deployed across the iron ore and coal fields of Australia. The transducers have proven themselves over large temperature differentials (-40degC to +80degC rail temperatures) and across continents.

Cloud based SQL database management As part of an on-going commitment to customer support, Meridian has developed a sophisticated database management system.

Due to the vast quantities of weight, performance and diagnostic data generated by an ME-Trackweigh system, a new approach has been developed to efficiently manage this data.

The development of an SQL database management system started at the weighbridges themselves, with the standardisation of the raw data output produced by each of Meridian’s systems.

The technical data management streaming or TDMS file is now

generated by ME-Trackweigh systems with every critical data element from the weighbridge being logged and reported on a train by train basis.

TDMS files can now be transferred (with client approval) via secure file transfer protocol into Meridian’s SQL cloud database.

Once the TDMS file is ingested into the database, a variety of pre-emptive services are then offered to users including near real time critical incident alerts and automated system reporting on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule.

International markets As this article went to print, Meridian was participating in two international rail-focused conventions: Railway Interchange 2017 at Indianapolis in the US and TRAKO 2017 at Gdansk in Poland.

The rail convention in Indiana gave Meridian a good opportunity to reinforce local partnerships it had already made. Pruiti said “As Meridian has sold units into the USA over the last year, it was important to reinforce our presence in this market. Great feedback from our clients in the USA, and interest in our weighing technology from the global rail industry, gives us great confidence to expand our horizons.”

US customer Fairmount Santrol, which provides sand-related products to the US energy sector, commented on its experience. The company’s Kevin Traun, of its Wedron Silica unit, said “The units are performing at or above promised accuracies.

They are not fully utilized in our processes to date, but will be in the near future. Currently after each string of cars passes over a scale, an XML report is sent to an FTP site and imported into a database that will soon be tied into our load out systems to provide near real time feedback to our loaders on accuracy of existing load out measurement systems. The support from Meridian during installation was above average. We are happy with the quality of materials/components provided by Meridian. The physical installation process was smooth and timing was as initially planned.”

Contact: Dr Anthony Pruiti, email - Anthony.Pruiti@meridianengineers.com.au; www.meridianengineers.com.au

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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TERMINAL EXPANSION

All images show the expanded gabbro terminal in Qatar which opened in December 2016. Images courtesy Aurecon.

Massive expansion of Qatar’s gabbro terminal Aurecon has project managed and engineered an expansion of a major gabbro terminal in Qatar from 16 to 30 million tonnes per annum. The project involved sophisticated dust minimisation measures against a background of hot and windy conditions.

C

onstruction is booming in Qatar as the State drives an ambitious infrastructure programme for hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022 and works towards its National Vision 2030. Aurecon played a lead role in the expansion of a bulk materials handling terminal in Mesaieed to support Qatar’s major infrastructure development programmes.

The vast majority of primary construction materials in the country are supplied by Qatar Primary Materials Company (QPMC), through its Port of Umm Sa’id (Mesaieed) Terminal. In response to the country’s aspirations, QPMC sought to increase the throughput of gabbro at the Terminal’s Berths 2 and 3 from 16 to 30 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) and increase the overall terminal capacity from 22 to 36Mtpa. Gabbro or stone aggregates are the primary construction materials for concrete and asphalt.

“One of our primary goals is to maintain strategic reserves of primary building materials to ensure we can supply materials at any time the need arises,” said engineer Eisa Al-Hammadi, chief executive officer of QPMC. “We hold rich reserves that can address the current market requirements when it comes to primary materials such as gabbro. We are committed to providing complete solutions for the transport, storage and delivery of key primary materials to support the burgeoning construction industry in Qatar.”

To bring this bold idea to life, Aurecon was appointed as Owner’s Project Manager and Engineer to implement the Bulk Materials Handling System (BMHS) project. This involved the provision of capacity modelling, design, delivery, and asset management services to develop solutions for the terminal. The infrastructure was delivered through an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by a consortium comprising FLSmidth and Six Construct.

Unlocking the supply chain “Back in 2013, we had just assisted with the expansion of the Port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. So, in our first review of this project, we knew that a more detailed understanding of the impact on the supply chain would be required. We recommended advanced simulation (capacity) modelling to ensure the new design optimised cost against required terminal capacity” explained Glenn Hallahan, Aurecon’s project director.

With the help of simulation models, the project team highlighted five key bottlenecks in the gabbro supply chain from quarry to construction site. It demonstrated to QPMC that, while the proposed bulk material handling system could physically manage over 30 MPTA, this throughput could not be achieved 46

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

without cooperation from upstream and downstream stakeholders like Qatar Government authorities involved in planning and approving projects, gabbro source quarries and export port operators, shipping companies, consignees, logistics suppliers and owners of major Qatari projects.

Hence Aurecon assisted QPMC to take an active role in managing the gabbro supply chain by allowing stakeholders to understand the opportunities available to them by the new facilities and increased terminal capacity.

By mapping supply chain optimisation with terminal facilities, Aurecon assisted QPMC to change its business model from a logistics focussed port operator to a holistic supply chain solutions provider.

Innovation by design To serve the expected 600 ships visiting the terminal annually (up from 400), efficiency improvements in material handling were also required. Aurecon managed the BMHS project to facilitate installation of the world-class infrastructure, which included the following: • Inloading Ship unloading times have been reduced from 60 hours to 30 hours through the following measures: • Optimised use of existing ship unloading cranes to reduce unloading times by 13% by supply ports and shipping companies using preferred stowage patterns • Installation of a 4-lane conveyor system to transport bulk aggregate materials from Berths 2 and 3 unloading cranes

TERMINAL EXPANSION

to stackers at the onshore stockyard at a nominal unloading rate of 3,500 tonnes per hour • Outloading While the out-loading system remains truck-based, throughput is designed to match the inloading rate at 4,000 trucks per day through the following measures: • 12 weighbridges processing up to 300 trucks per hour.

• A new stockyard designated as transition storage. The primary function of this stockyard is to facilitate the efficient unloading of a vessel’s cargo. It is to operate like a container terminal, where consignees must collect their cargo within 15 days.

• To maximise land-use, each of the six stackers in the stockyard can create a stockpile up to 22m high and 60m wide. The effective storage capacity of the stockyard is 3.4 million tonnes using cargo assembly methodology.

An operations management system is now installed to optimise the new terminal infrastructure from anchorage to front gate. Its features include: • Modular design with reports designed to match the processes for each commodity.

• Technical and commercial data in one central repository for better decision-making.

• Providing terminal operators with tangible benefits through the generation of unloading sequences and stacker automation.

• Providing an accurate 3-D model of the stockyard e.g. pile shape and material distribution within the stockpile.

The emission challenge Controlling dust emissions was identified early by Aurecon as a significant challenge. Qatar’s environment is naturally dusty and dust storms are common. In addition, the project was being set up using water to control dust. Aurecon considered that the combination of high levels of ambient dust and extreme temperatures mean that the use of precious desalinated water is not the optimal way to manage dust emissions in Qatar.

However, with Berths 2 and 3 throughput almost doubling, dust mitigation was seen as critical to project success, both from environmental as well as operation and maintenance perspectives.

The system of conveyors transporting the gabbro from ship to stockyard removes 2,000 to 2,500 truck movements daily, without any increase to the number of berths or unloading cranes. Not only does this reduces dust and vehicular emissions, it also improves road safety and traffic congestion in the area.

The design team identified that every 0.1% of dust content in the aggregate cargo equates to 30,000t of additional dust in the air or 1,200 trucks. With minimum cargo dust contents at 3%, control of dust emissions became critical to the project. In short, all dust in-loaded from a ship must be collected through the system and delivered to the stockpiles for truck out-loading to leave the terminal.

Key dust control measures implemented include the following: • Orientation of the stockyard rows with the prevailing wind direction to minimise dust emissions off the stockpiles • Installation of 20m high screens to reduce wind perpendicular to the stockpiles

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TERMINAL EXPANSION

• Stockyard planning with finer grades of gabbro stored in centre of the yard with less dusty material exposed to the prevailing winds • Fully enclosing 75% of the 22km of conveyors • Pulse type dust collectors at all transfers with dust collections fed back on to the conveyors • Real time dust monitoring system measuring ambient and dust emissions • Luffing stacker boom to reduce dust emissions during stacking At the inauguration ceremony on 8 December 2016, dignitaries were impressed with the lack of dust emissions when stacking the materials, especially the finer grades (0-5mm).

“We are very proud of our dust mitigation measures, which reduced dust emissions by 78%, ensuring environmental approvals were achieved on time and setting the national benchmark for Qatar. Our expertise in this field has measurably improved air quality for port workers and residents of nearby Mesaieed Industrial City,” said David Zammit, Aurecon’s engineering and construction manager for the project.

Safety matters At its peak, there were about 3,000 workers on site each day. The expansion was constructed within an operating terminal, so extra care was required to ensure that construction activities did not affect safety or disrupt the steady supply of gabbro to Qatar over the project time-frame of three years. Stringent steps were taken to ensure the safety of all personnel at the terminal and ensure negligible impact on port throughput.

While FLSmidth-Six Construct JV 48

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

was responsible for safety on site, Aurecon says its safety leadership set and ensured an uncompromising standard of safety for the site. This was achieved through a common set of safety tools and reporting used by all parties, allowing smooth coordination of safety efforts.

In addition, project audits based on core rules or ‘safety essentials’ were a regular activity conducted by Aurecon on high risk tasks such as housekeeping, lighting for night works, scaffolding, working at heights, traffic management, and heat stress.

Safety statistics at handover were as follows: • Total manhours: 8,193,974 • Loss-Time-Incident (LTI) free: 5,817,312 • LTI Frequency Rate*: 0.02 • All Injury Frequency Rate*: 0.93 * based on 200,000hrs

TERMINAL EXPANSION

Achievements unlocked With most port developments in the Middle East region related to oil, gas, and cargo containers, QPMC’s Gabbro Terminal is a unique port in the Middle East for dry bulk commodities.

Aurecon says that since its official inauguration in December 2016, the terminal is operating smoothly and as planned. QPMC has achieved the

required increased terminal throughput and improvements in air quality and road safety around the terminal exceed expectations.

“We had a team of 14 people working locally in Qatar, but we were supported brilliantly by over 100 of our colleagues from all over the world, including Australia and South Africa,” says Aurecon’s Glenn Hallahan.

“A key contributor to our success was our commitment to QPMC’s success. By providing them a range of possible options to achieve their goals, we built a relationship based on mutual trust and respect. We are proud to play a key role in the development of QPMC and ultimately Qatar, while having a positive impact on the safety culture and the environment at the same time.”

Advertorial

Shipping industry’s major players combine to support Australian National Maritime Museum’s major new

Container exhibition T

he major players in Australia’s shipping and transport industry have joined together to support the development of an exciting new exhibition exploring the history and impact of containerization and the way the humble container has revolutionized the way we live.

Opening in late October, Container will be a free, outdoor interactive exhibition housed entirely within six 20foot shipping containers. It will explore the fascinating history, contemporary

impact and future outlook for this most ordinary of objects. These will include shipping, ports, cargo, the role of shipping in our daily lives, the origins of everyday objects and even container architecture.

The exhibition has been embraced by the shipping industry with a large number of its key organisations coming on board to provide essential support to tell this important story.

Major sponsor is NSW Ports who has played a key role in the

development of the exhibition. Sponsors are ACFS Port Logistics, Maritime Container Services, DP World Australia and Smit Lamnalco. Supporters are Transport for NSW, Shipping Australia and TT Club. The Containers are supplied by Royal Wolf and Precinct Partner is Property NSW. Peter Dexter AM, Chairman of the Australian National Maritime Museum said, “The Australian National Maritime Museum has a mandate to share significant stories, both ancient and contemporary, from Australia’s maritime history and that of the shipping industry, and in particular the container, is one that we are excited to be telling in this innovative way. The response from the industry has been exceptional and we are thrilled to have so many major businesses come together to make this exhibition happen. Our sincere thanks goes to all our supporters and in particular NSW Ports who have been instrumental in this project.”

Container opens at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour on 26 October and is FREE. It will run until late 2018 before touring locations across NSW and potentially nationally. For further information visit www.anmm.gov.au/container Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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CONTAINERISED BULK

South Australian ports player ventures into Queensland South Australian bulk and container firm Flinders Logistics has ventured interstate, acquiring North Queensland supply chain management company Townsville Bulk Storage and Handling (TBSH). ABHR editor Charles Macdonald looks at the deal and Flinders’ development over the years, including its key contracts with, at various times, IMX Resources, Hillgrove Resources, Oz Minerals and CU River.

A

s of July 1, 2017, Flinders Logistics took a 100% shareholding in TBSH, a supply-chain management, stevedoring, transport, customs, quarantine and warehousing business established in 2009.

Flinders Logistics parent company Flinders Port Holdings owns and operates seven ports in South Australia, comprising Port Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Port Pirie, Thevenard, Port Giles, Wallaroo and Klein Point.

Flinders Port Holdings boss Vincent Tremaine said the TBSH acquisition was “a strong and positive step for Flinders Logistics”.

“Not only have we expanded geographically, but we have also expanded our skill base and can now offer fully integrated end-to-end supply chain solutions,” he said.

“We are now not solely a South Australian-based company.

This is a gateway to offer Flinders Logistics integrated logistics solutions across the country, and this is our first step towards that goal.”

Tremaine said TBSH would benefit from Flinders’ wealth of knowledge, covering bulk, general and container stevedoring, rail intermodal services and dust management and suppression.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

“We are excited to welcome the Townsville Bulk Storage and Handling team on board the Flinders Port Holdings Group, and look forward to working together to continue to offer world-class supply chain management solutions in North ern Queensland.”

Flinders a product of SA port privatisation Flinders Ports was formed in 2001 when the Flinders Ports consortium successfully acquired seven ports that were privatised by the South Australian Government.

In addition to the port infrastructure, Flinders Ports acquired a 99-year land lease and port operating licence for the Port of Adelaide and six regional ports.

Flinders Logistics came into being in 2006 when Flinders Ports’ management saw the need for a bulk logistics supplier with capabilities around dust management.

Flinders Logistics was one of the first to use containers to move a bulk product from pit-to-port. In the years since its formation it had handled iron ore, copper concentrates, soda ash, mineral sands, coal and other concentrates.

CONTAINERISED BULK

Early years of tippling for Flinders

Photos show the tippling of a container into the hold of a ship, the core activity for Flinders Logistics and the activity that is propelling its growth.

It has refined its dust management capabilities, using fine mist sprays while making allowances for weather conditions and vessel hatch configurations.

Since launching with 191 workers in 2001, Flinders Ports has grown quickly to over 590 staff today and a ranking of 59 in an index of South Australia’s top 100 companies.

Townsville Bulk Storage and Handling (TBSH) history TBSH was first established in 2009 by Dewayne Cannon and Peta Connelly as a local storage facility for bagged fertiliser at the Port of Townsville.

In intervening years, the business has grown to include stevedoring, transport, customs, quarantine and warehousing. Prior to its acquisition

by Flinders, TBSH was established as the largest privately-owned stevedoring company in North Queensland.

At the Port of Townsville, TBSH handles the loading and unloading of: copper, lead and zinc concentrate, fertilizer, cement, bulka bags, stock feed, containers, vehicles, heavy equipment, and specialised project cargo.

TBSH uses what it calls “the region’s first” Liebherr Mobile Shore Crane, located at Berth 10 at the Port of Townsville. “With a lifting capability of 104 tonnes per lift, the crane provides greater flexibility and efficiency in the stevedoring of a broad range of cargo,” said TBSH. TSBSH also uses Rotainer container tipplers at Townsville, devices that were pioneered by Flinders at Port Adelaide.

It’s fair to say that Flinders Logistics was in the vanguard of container tippling in Australia at Port Adelaide for customer IMX Resources, starting in late 2010.

Back then, IMX – a junior iron ore producer, with a magnetite product − operated out of the outer harbour berth, where sub-contracting port operator DP World provided the boots on the ground, with Flinders taking the role of logistics provider.

IMX was operating at a time of boom iron ore prices, with the commodity fetching, for periods, US$180/tonne, compared to the US$60/tonne level prevailing today. Against that background, IMX wanted to get into production quickly.

Andrew Pellizzari, general manager of Flinders Logistics, told ABHR at the time that the system Flinders developed for IMX was targeted towards maximising capacity. From start to finish, it cost IMX $20m to enter production, a fraction of the cost of a shiploader/conveyor combination.

In practice, ore carrying containers travelled from IMX’s Cairn Hill mine site, just south of Coober Pedy, using an unlidded design to maximise trains’ magnetite payload. Pellizzari said the rail system rather than port machinery was the main constraint on the system.

“The supply chain was reviewed for the weakest link, that is the lowest safe working limit on machinery and rail regulations. The weakest link initially was the machinery used at the port.

“By changing the functional specifications of the equipment at the port we were able to increase the product capacity in each container and improve the Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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CONTAINERISED BULK

Flinders invested in new equipment at its inner harbour, at Berth 29, specifically to handle containerised copper concentrate, a fine black powder. This facility augmented its use of common-user areas at berths 18, 19 and 20 of the inner harbour for soda ash imports, and a common-user area at the outer harbour used for iron ore exports.

Pellizzari was enthusiastic about Flinders’ opportunity to capture a slice of the concentrate market when he spoke to ABHR in 2012. “I can put my hand on my heart and say this process covers off the majority of the OH&S and environmental issues faced with traditional port handling,” he said.

According to Pellizzari, Flinders’ solution for concentrate exporters, which uses a harbour crane with a tippler attachment to unload lidded containers into the ship’s hold, is a streamlined process, solves the problem of dust emissions and could save miners money, too.

Pellizzari explained that the system Flinders has acquired considerable expertise in dust control. Its approaches include the use of multi-layered misting bars, can prevent product loss. and, more recently, 5 kilogram misting fans that can be installed anywhere on the ship’s hold.

“We use covered containers. So for a 300,000tpa task, if you lose 0.5% of the product getting from the mine to the ship, let’s say it is a 1,500t efficiencies of the supply chain. The main rail line axle loading is figure, that could be potentially $4m dollars saved per annum! now the governing factor of the supply chain.”

“With our system, no-one is touching any product. There are IMX moved about 20,000t per day through the terminal. no transfer points. It just stays in a container. No people handle it The rotary tippler attached to the harbour crane, which lifted or need to wash down belts.” containers into the bulk carrier’s hold, was a crucial link in An orthodox concentrate exporting system has myriad transthe system. fer points, each with the opportunity for slowdowns, dust emis“DP World went to tender for this unit to the two suppliers sions or even blockages and stoppages. we had identified,” Pellizzari said.

“In the traditional process, a train will come in and bottom “As soon as they selected their supplier, we went out and dump material into a hopper. Then it will go onto a conveyor, bought a unit from the other supplier. So we had two units on which trips-out into a shed and you front-end-loader it or push it the go from two preferred suppliers. That was very much a risk into a floor hopper. Then it goes on a conveyor, goes through a reduction strategy, as no unit was available on the market and the few transfers into, finally, a shiploader. suppliers had to design the unit to our functional specifications.”

“Look at common user facilities. If multiple products are Reducing dust was a priority, too, for IMX when it embarked loaded across a single belt, you have to wash it down and let it on its industry first in December 2010 of using a container tippler dry between products. You lose product because you are washto load ships with unlidded containers. But according to Pellizing it away and at transfer points in the system. You then have zari in late 2011, one million tonnes of throughput and a year to treat that water. We don’t have to do that. We just pick up the later, any worries over dust were misplaced. next box.”

“We have gone through 12 months of dust monitoring.

Pellizzari said another boon for concentrate exporters using The results of the sampling showed that the operation had lidded containers is the ability to blend product. not exceeded any dust guidelines and it was recommended “Each container is tagged or has a unique identification numto cease monitoring.” ber; we have systems that track each container in the yard, so In subsequent years when iron prices fell, IMX Resources we know exactly where it is in the yard, how long it has been was left financially exposed as a high cost producer, eventually sitting there and what product is inside. When it comes to loadfalling into administration in June 2014. However, the Cairn Hill ing, we can sequence containers in the order of which product operation has, more recently, been revived with a fine-tuned, are discharged. Overall, we have a very simple process to blend lower cost version of the Port Adelaide tippler solution aiding products and/or sequence multiple products on one vessel.” economics for new owner CU River.

Hillgrove commissioned 450 specially designed containers Going back to 2012, Flinders quickly followed up its initial from SCF Containers. The company described its export plans in success with IMX with two more mineral concentrate contracts. a release to the Australian Stock Exchange.

Hillgrove Resources was nearing completion of development “The company will transport copper concentrate from the at its Kanmantoo mine, located in the Adelaide hills. The commine to the port in custom made containers, which will be pany’s plant was whirring away, ramping up to production of stored at the port for several weeks awaiting sufficient volume, 80,000tpa of concentrate. First exports through Port Adelaide and then subsequently loaded by emptying the containers into took place in early 2012. bulk ships. The company has taken the view that this is the most Oz Minerals was ramping up activity at its Prominent Hill environmentally appropriate and economic option. 450 haulage mine site, located 650kms north west of Adelaide. While open and storage containers have been manufactured and are en route cut mining began in early 2009, the $150m Ankata underground to Port Adelaide, due for arrival in late November.” development commenced production in the first quarter of 2012.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

CONTAINERISED BULK

According to Pellizzari, dust emissions are not a concern when using Flinders’ containerised system to load concentrate.

“Copper concentrate is completely sealed in the container until it is in the hold of the vessel where the lid is lifted on and off during discharge.

“We have a misting system to keep down the dust. It is such a fine mist that basically, unless it collects dust, the water just evaporates. We use it around the hatch [of the ship’s hold] and the water is metered to determine what moisture could potentially be added.”

The Oz Minerals system In its issues from 2012, ABHR detailed elements of the Oz Minerals system. There follows a recap of some of the more pertinent elements.

Flinders developed a transport and storage solution, using containers, called the Enclosed Bulk System. Under the system, copper concentrates are loaded into OZ Minerals’ containers at Prominent Hill. These containers, featuring secure, locking top lids, are then moved by road to a rail head and transported by train to the Berth 29 facility.

The basis of the Enclosed Bulk System is that containers are used to store and transport the copper concentrates, cutting down on handling of the product along the supply chain.

The method also cuts the number of transfer points where copper concentrates could be disturbed and escape into the environment. OZ Minerals’ containers also feature gravity locks to ensure a fail-safe locking mechanism and robust security, safeguarding against accidental spills of copper concentrates on land transport and during storage.

At the port, Flinders Logistics uses a crane with a rotating container tippler to unload bulk from containers inside a ship’s hold.

To combat fugitive dust the company developed its DF Misting dust suppression system. Under the DF Misting system used at the copper concentrate tippler operation, bars are lowered into the ship’s hold and positioned there at different levels. The bars generate layers of fine mist of differing depths.

Combining the bars with various sizes of nozzles, Flinders Logistics can generate droplets to match the particle size of concentrates and take account of prevailing weather conditions. This results in an extremely fine mist dispersing across the ship’s hold to form a natural barrier which contains the dust particles inside the vessel.

DF Misting deploys high-pressure, purified water, which will not calcify and clog the delicate nozzles in the sprayer system.

The water droplets in the hold eventually evaporate returning to the water cycle.

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(Left to right) Andrew Pellizzari, Flinders Logistics; Peta Connelly, TBSH; Dewayne Cannon, TBSH; and Vincent Tremaine, Flinders Port Holdings.

(03) 9457 8244 Call to speak to your local representative 53 Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017 www.kockumsbulk.com.au

CONTAINERISED BULK

Flinders Logistics’ Andrew Pellizzari (left) and Daniel Sloan at Berth 29 of Port Adelaide’s Inner Harbour. Andrew holds the award for Bulk Handling Facility of the Year (Resources and Infrastructure) that Flinders Logistics and OZ Minerals won in November 2014 at the Australian Bulk Handling Awards.

Flinders worked with OZ to develop a pit-to-port supply chain for the miner’s Prominent Hill copper-gold mine, 650kms northwest of Adelaide.

Copper concentrate, in the form of a fine black powder, is loaded into containers at Prominent Hill. These are moved by road to a rail head and then by train to Flinders’ Berth 29 at Port Adelaide’s Inner Harbour. There, the bespoke 20-foot containers are tippled into ships.

Intermodal Solutions supplied customised containers for the operation.

Designed to interface with the rotating container tippler, OZ Minerals’ bespoke twenty-foot containers are shallower and heavier than regular containers, standing 2.2m high and weighing 3.45 tonnes unladen; heavier than standard twenty-foot containers because they contain an additional smooth internal lining to facilitate unloading of copper concentrates during container tippling.

To complete the process, OZ Minerals and Flinders Logistics liaised with OZ Minerals’ other transport stakeholders – Giacci and Genesee & Wyoming – to ensure the new containers could be successfully integrated into the road and rail stages of the supply chain.

Ahead of the first consignment of copper concentrates from OZ Minerals, a new rail spur linking the Berth 29 Bulk Handling Facility to the Australian rail network was constructed.

On top of this, Flinders Logistics also initiated a number of safety and environmental upgrades at the Berth 29 bulk handling facility, including: • the purchase of a new, additional Terex Gottwald Mobile Harbour Crane, two new Terberg Terminal Tractors and two new Kalmar Reach Stackers • the development of a fully automated container guidance system to eliminate manual handling of containers on the wharf • a stormwater management system to reduce pollution risks from stormwater for Port Adelaide’s Port River through Berth 29 From its inception, says Flinders, the DF Misting system has been constantly refined and improved. It now features four different types of nozzles with bespoke filters and a water-wise innovation that has reduced the amount of water used to generate the fine mist spray.

Flinders worked with OZ Minerals on DF Misting fan technology. In windy conditions, though the system with multi-layered bars was still effective, it was hard to use. On project cargo ships or vessels with very large hatches, it was not always possible to fit the DF Misting bars around the entire hatch and provide complete coverage. On these non-standard vessels and in windy conditions, small amounts of copper concentrate would accumulate on the edge of the cargo hatch.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

Several solutions to mitigate this dust problem were trialled, and the DF Misting fan technology was selected.

The DF Misting fans use water pressure rather than electricity to generate a fine mist across the ship’s hold. The lightweight fans weigh five kilograms each and can be installed anywhere on the ship’s hold, so access limitations on project cargo vessels are avoided. Lightweight and flexible, the fans are safer, easier and faster to install than the DF Misting system’s multi-layer bars, Flinders says. Higher water pressure on the fans also makes them more efficient than the bars.

Between four to six fans provide complete coverage of the vessel hatch; twenty bars from the DF Misting multi-layer droplet system would be needed to achieve the same result.

In addition to the fan technology, Flinders Logistics made a number of in-house improvements for OZ Minerals and other resources sector clients at Berth 29.

These initiatives included a noise reduction system for both Flinders Logistics’ mobile harbour cranes. The noise control system fits across the air-inlet fan of each crane, and has cut noise levels around the cranes by almost 60%.

Improved logistics lead to re-birth of Cairn Hill Streamlined, lower cost logistics have allowed Flinders and CU River Mining to re-start the mothballed Cairn Hill iron ore mine in South Australia.

When global iron-ore prices plunged in 2014, Termite Resources, a subsidiary of IMX Resources and owner of Cairn Hill Mine in northern South Australia, went bust and jobs were lost.

The entire supply chain from remote South Australia to the steel mill in China had become uneconomical and the plant and equipment that had connected mine to market was mothballed.

But the buyer, who had supplied the Cairn Hill iron-ore to a Chinese steel mill, saw that there was an opportunity, even though the market had hit rock bottom. By buying the mine in the down cycle, and vertically integrating part of the supply chain, the newly formed CU River Mining identified cost savings that could reactivate the operation and re-cast its economics.

At the same time Flinders Adelaide Container Terminal had taken the strategic decision to roll out a major program of investment.

The terminal placed orders for two new ship-to-shore post-panamax cranes, so it would be well-placed when markets rebounded.

CONTAINERISED BULK

In April 2015, CU River purchased the open-pit iron-ore mine at Cairn Hill from the liquidator of the mine’s former owner, IMX. Flinders worked closely with CU River and other stakeholders to reactivate a viable pit-to-port supply chain. This 800 kilometre-plus journey from pit-to-ship is a crucial element of the entire export supply chain. It’s a supply chain which runs from remote South Australia to the Port of Jingtang in China and onto the local steel mill end-user.

With no deep-water export facility for iron-ore in regional South Australia, CU River and Flinders had to carefully plan and identify cost efficiencies to make this supply chain to Port Adelaide sustainable.

Supply chain analysis found that rail remained the most cost effective option for the land-based leg of the journey from Cairn Hill to Port Adelaide. The project could re-use and reactivate existing plant and equipment including the custom-built, open-top containers which Termite / IMX Resources had used to transport and then store the iron-ore at Outer Harbor.

The first shipment from the reactivated mine was loaded out of Flinders onto sea transport in mid-August 2016.

The return of iron-ore cargo has enabled Flinders to hire 18 new employees in operational roles and CU River to engage corporate staff in Adelaide and an operational team in Cairn Hill.

Both CU River and Flinders have focussed on economies of scale to drive efficiencies along the supply chain. Flinders has conducted dredging at Outer Harbor Berth 7 to enable vessels which have a maximum draft of 14 metres to berth. These works on the facility’s channel and berth depths have been vital in allowing CU River to bring in larger ships and benefit from economies of scale for the export of their ore.

On the landside, Flinders has also invested in creating a twohectare area of new hard stand for the project’s containers, located behind berth 8. The new hard stand has easy access to the cargo’s export wharf at berth 7 and supports productivity during ship loading operations.

The bulk iron-ore, which is stored in containers at the terminal prior to loading, is transferred into the ship using Flinders’ new $24 million ship-to-shore post panamax cranes and a rotating container tippler. The container tippler turns the container by 180 degrees, tipping the iron-ore into the ship’s hold.

To suppress dust for this operation, FACT has taken technology used by one of its subsidiaries and applied new bars, nozzles and pressure gauges so that it is optimised for CU River’s iron-ore product.

Although the new ship-to-shore container cranes were purchased and commissioned as part of the terminal’s long-term investment strategy, they have changed how the terminal handles the iron-ore loading operation.

Previously the terminal only had one post-panamax crane, but now with the arrival of the Liebherr container cranes, the facility has three post-panamax cranes, which can simultaneously accommodate CU River’s iron-ore loading operation and other box ship operations at the terminal.

According to Flinders, these new post-Panamax cranes have been driving up productivity and efficiency at the terminal, with ship loading times around 25 per cent faster than before the new cranes were deployed.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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CONTAINERISED BULK

Opening of a landmark facility at Townsville Port

The new facility at Port of Townsville.

A key moment for miners and bulk commodity players in Queensland was the opening in 2015 of a “state-ofthe-art” $15m bulk handling facility at the Townsville Port. The facility was backed by Northern Stevedoring Services (NSS) and the Port of Townsville Limited (POTL).

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he facility has a floorspace of about 8,500sq m and the capacity to store between 50,000 and 70,000 tonnes of material, depending on the density of product such as zinc and copper concentrates, zinc­ferrite, coal and iron ore.

The shed has side tipper and end tipper capability. Dust control was a priority in the facility’s design. The bulk shed uses negative pressure, while a 48-filter filtration system scrubs the air of particles down to a size of 0.5 microns, or 2000 times smaller than 1mm.

The filters are blasted with air every minute to shake product loose, which is collected and returned to stockpiles. Truck entry and exit doors are opened and closed by sensors which track the progress of trucks, ensuring doors are closed at times when material has been tipped.

A high-pressure truck wash system sprays about 1200 litres of recycled water a minute to clean vehicles before they exit.

NSS general manager Juliette Sperber said that she was incredibly proud of the new bulk handling facility which she says sets environmental benchmarks in the industry.

“This new facility represents a total asset investment of approximately $18 million by NSS and required around two years in the planning phase and 15 months to construct,” she said.

“It is state-of-the-art in terms of its environmental management technology and represents a huge step forward for our industry in this region.

“During the design phase of the project, we took into account the proximity of the local community to the port and our target was to construct a facility that set new benchmarks in terms of dust control.”

POTL chairman Pat Brady congratulated NSS on the commissioning of the facility and said it supported the Townsville port’s vision for future growth in capacity.

“This bulk handling facility provides extra capacity for smaller mines in our region to get their products to market in a timely and cost efficient way, without having to build their own storage facility,” he said.

David Donohue, chairman of the Port Stakeholder Working Group (PSWG) said that the group was impressed by NSS’ efforts to continuously improve performance in the area of dust emissions.

“The PSWG commends NSS on the commissioning of its new state-of-the-art facility. Innovations such as the “rapid doors”,

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negative air pressure, advanced dust filtration and recycling vehicle wash-down facilities helps to demonstrate the commitment

by Port users to further reduce the potential for dust emissions from the area,” he said.

“Other steps to reduce the facility’s environmental footprint such as solar power, rainwater harvesting and recycling and “smart” power control are testament to the work NSS and other port users are doing to enhance environmental standards for our community.”

NSS and Townsville port’s fact sheet summarised some details of the facility, as follows: • The facility contains two stack release points fitted with filtration units to remove contaminants such as dust from the air prior to release to the atmosphere.

• Negative pressure in the warehouse is used to prevent dust releases as doors are opened to allow trucks to enter.

• NSS has installed high wind-rated Rapid Doors on truck entry and exit which work in unison with the negative pressure and dust filtration systems to ensure ultimate control of dust emissions from the facility.

• The National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) recently completed compliance testing and confirmed the stack emissions consistently ranged between 1.21 mg/m³ - 2 mg/m³ over the last two sampling periods, well below the allowable threshold of 50 mg/m³.

• Two truck wash bays have been built and are designed to wash the external surfaces of trailers (including the wheels) of prime movers prior to exiting the facility; this ensures no dust is tracked out onto public roads. The wash bays also use wash water that has been treated and recycled via an integrated treatment / recycling plant.

• The facility is self-monitoring which means that any detected faults, such as air-system pressure decline, are notified via electronic SMS to operational personnel.

• The facility provides real time monitoring and data collection to ensure compliance requirements are achieved.

NSS is owned 50:50 by Qube Ports & Bulk and Xstrata Copper.

PNEUMATIC CONVEYING

US plant cuts maintenance with switch to pneumatic deflection elbows At The Plastics Group of America, pneumatic conveying of reinforced Polifil polypropylene compounds caused 90 degree sweep elbows to fail monthly, a problem the company solved by installing Smart Elbow deflection elbows from HammerTek, a Flexicon company.

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d Joanis, maintenance director at the Rhode Island company, says the company’s proprietary resins, reinforced with up to 40% glass fibre and minerals such as calcium carbonate and talc, were wearing away the elbows, whose 90 degree angles created impact points for the pellets traveling through the lines.

“The impact of the abrasive resins hitting the inside walls of the elbows at high speed not only created fines, but heated the elbows, causing pellet surfaces to melt and form angel hair

and streamers, creating quality issues downstream in our compounds,” he explains.

It was costing the company one hour of downtime to replace each of the six elbows, along with labour costs. The price of buying 72 or more elbows a year, moreover, ran well into the tens of thousands of dollars.

To avert these problems, the company replaced six 90 degree sweep elbows with the deflection elbows — two per line.

Smart Elbow deflection elbows preclude abrasive resins from impacting the elbow wall, preventing fines, angel hair, streamers and elbow wear.

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A Burnley® Baffle installation consists of a set of modules that fill the open inlet face of a hopper. Each module contains a set of blades that pivot to allow the material to flow into the hopper. The dust generated from the material falling into the hopper cannot escape because the hopper is only open where the material is entering.

An 80% to 85% reduction in the size of dust collector and fan is achievable with the use of Burnley® Baffles.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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PNEUMATIC CONVEYING

The vortex chamber of the HammerTek deflection elbow protrudes partially beyond the 90-degree flow path, causing a sphere of material-in-air to rotate in the same direction as the air stream that powers it, gently deflecting incoming material around the bend without impacting the elbow wall.

Conventional sweep elbows can blow out as a wear point develops from abrasive materials impacting the elbow wall.

Plastic pellets skidding against the outside radius of conventional sweep elbows create friction and heat that can melt pellet surfaces, forming streamers and angel hair.

Deflection elbows cushion pellets around bends The Smart Elbow design incorporates a spherical vortex chamber that extends partially beyond the 90 degree flow path, causing a ball of pellets to rotate in the same direction as the air stream, gently deflecting incoming pellets around the bend.

In addition to preventing pellets from impacting the elbow wall, the vortex chamber causes the material to exit the elbow evenly and return rapidly to a laminar, steady-state flow within the conveying line. The airstream sweeps the vortex chamber clean after the material feed is shut off.

“None of the deflection elbows has needed replacing after being installed in May 2013 eliminating the cost of replacements, labour and downtime,” says Joanis, adding, “The gentle deflection action also reduces the formation of fines, dust and angel hair, improving the quality of our compounds and finished products.

“Maintaining structurally sound elbows also minimises potential injury due to blowouts and material spills.”

Installing deflection elbows The Smart Elbow replacements are cast of ductile iron and measure 46 x 46 cm x 7.6 cm in diameter. The elbows cost more than the sweep versions they replace, Joanis acknowledges, but yield a rapid return on investment due to long life and reliable performance.

The Plastics Group conveys about 1,497 kg per hour of reinforced resin through two of the lines during 58

The Plastics Group replaced conventional sweep elbows with HammerTek deflection elbows, none of which has needed replacing. By preventing material impact with the elbow wall, the company has prevented elbow wear, the generation of fines and the frictional heat that previously caused the formation of angel hair and streamers.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

PNEUMATIC CONVEYING

Abrasive reinforced polypropylene resins caused wear and failure of traditional long-sweep pneumatic elbows. Impact of material against the elbow wall also created fines and frictional heat that partially melted the resin.

compounding operations, and 544 to 680 kg per hour through the third line. These resins and others (including reprocessed materials) used in the company’s Polifil compounds end up in a range of consumer and industrial products.

The compounder began operations in 1973 in a small plant.

It now processes materials in a 23,225 sq m facility, and plans to add another material conveying line that will also be equipped with Smart Elbow deflection elbows.

Contact: sales@hammertek.com.au

The Plastics Group conveys approximately 1,497 kg per hour of reinforced resins through two pneumatic lines, and between 544 to 680 kg per hour through a third line.

NEW PRODUCTS

Technology monitors motors and drives Bearings specialist, Schaeffler, is introducing to Australia and New Zealand condition monitoring and predictive maintenance technologies that use advanced digital services to look into the future of motors and drives.

S

Schaeffler says its Drive Train 4.0 digital chaeffler says its Drive Train 4.0 – part of a broader services are easily accessible and increase suite of digitally integrated products – expands consystem availability. ventional condition monitoring approaches by linking diverse digital information sources into a single platform.

“Schaeffler’s Drive Train 4.0 links existing technology with new digital services to take a big step further into the digitalised production and machine monitoring of the future,” says Mark Ciechanowicz, industrial services manager, Schaeffler Australia.

Drive Train 4.0’s latest innovations include two newly-developed micro services which focus on optimum machine capacity, longer machine operating times, databased predictive maintenance, and reduced overall operating costs, says Ciechanowicz.

The new micro services include the calculation of rolling bearings’ nominal remaining useful life during operation based on real load spectra, and automated rolling bearing diagnostics with the FAG SmartCheck vibration Drive Train 4.0 is part of the Schaeffler Smart EcoSystem, analysis system. which is attuned to the digital revolution and the linking of comBoth services connect to the Schaeffler cloud, where the ponents and systems that increase the efficiency of machines corresponding big data and software solutions are implementand equipment. ed. Software installations on the end devices of customers are not required; an internet browser and a network connection Contact: Mark.Ciechanowicz@schaeffler.com are sufficient.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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CASE STUDY

Brittle pasta moved without breakage or dust Brittle pasta is handled gently and automatically with box tippers and tubular cable conveyors at a US food plant.

Three tubular cable conveyor circuits and two automated box tippers move brittle pasta to three sanitary packaging lines at high rates without product breakage or dust.

Open-Chute Box tipper empties a Gaylord into the large hopper from which pasta moves on a vibratory tray feeder into the smaller hopper and inlet adapter of the Flexi-Disc tubular cable conveyor.

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o move brittle pasta from Gaylord containers to three packaging lines at high rates without product breakage or dust, Quality Pasta Company of Pennsylvania installed two OpenChute Box Tippers and three Flexi-Disc Tubular Cable Conveyor (TCC) circuits, in which low friction polymer discs attached to a stainless steel cable gently slide the pasta through smooth stainless steel tubing.

“The TCCs transport pasta with a breakage rate of less than 1%,” says Todd Kish, operations manager. “Consumers are knowledgeable about product quality and do not want to see breakage in the pasta they buy,” adding, “many competitors load pasta into hoppers with plastic shovels for discharge to conveying lines, which is labour intensive and increases breakage.”

Since the TCC is an enclosed system, it also prevents the release of dust and other particulates into the sanitary packaging area.

How pasta moves from bulk boxes to retail packages Pasta arrives in Gaylord containers – double or triple-wall corrugated bulk boxes – that weigh 363 to 590 kg. After quality assurance inspection and weighing of the containers, the material is stored until ready for packaging. Kish says the company schedules as much packaging of individual pasta types as possible each day to reduce product changeover and downtime.

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Overall view (and overleaf) of third, tubular cable conveyor line shows the hopper and intake at the tensioning wheel end (left), the conveyor’s horizontal and vertical ‘S’ shape, and discharge at the drive wheel end (right) into the cup packaging line.

CASE STUDY

The two Open-Chute box tippers from Flexicon automatically raise and tilt the Gaylords, which discharge pasta into 227 litre hoppers. Pasta discharges from the hoppers onto vibratory tray feeders that control the rate at which material flows into the inlet adapter of each Flexi-Disc conveyor, also from Flexicon.

A proximity level switch connected to an indicator light in the PLC control panel alerts operators to low material levels in the large hopper.

One box tipper additionally serves the cup pasta line. “The cup pasta is fragile and we only package 907 kg of the product per day,” says Kish. Using two tippers for three lines also leaves more floor space for operation, he adds.

“The system supplies ample product to our cartoning lines without much maintenance or difficulty,” Kish says.

Each 102 mm diameter TCC circuit runs in an “S” shape starting horizontally, rising 2.4 m vertically, and continuing 0.6 m horizontally, ending at a drive wheel discharge housing from which material flows through a metal detector and into a packaging machine hopper. The vertical leg includes two 0.9 m transparent sections for operators to visually monitor performance of the system.

The cable-disc assembly’s direction of travel is reversed at the discharge end of the circuit by the drive wheel, and at the intake end of the circuit by a tensioning wheel that keeps the cable taut throughout the system.

Because the tubular cable conveyors fully evacuate material, cleaning and product changeover can be accomplished in 15 to 20 minutes, says Kish. During changeovers, workers clean the TCC lines with antibacterial swabs and flexible sponges.

A clear section of vertical tubing permits visual monitoring of system performance and product quality during transport.

Tubular cable conveyor curves to vertical and discharges at the drive wheel end into the cup packaging line.

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CASE STUDY

Quality Pasta products include high protein macaroni and cheese, shells and cheese, and microwaveable macaroni and cheese.

Portable “cheeser” line includes a 156 litre hopper and 4.6 m long Flexicon screw conveyor for packet packaging of cheese powder.

Portable flexible screw conveyor transports cheese powder Quality Pasta also employs a portable, castor-mounted 4.6 mlong, 114 mm-diameter flexible screw conveyor from Flexicon with a 156 litre capacity hopper to transport powdered cheese for packet packaging and inclusion in some product boxes. The hopper includes a tray support for manually emptying bags and

is designed for poorly flowing materials. Between the conveyor discharge and packaging machine, material passes through a metal detector.

The inner screw of the conveyor is the only moving part contacting the powdered cheese, and is driven above the point at which it exits the conveyor, preventing material contact with bearings or seals. The spiral is specially designed to move nonfree-flowing materials such as cheese powder.

Portability is important for the “cheeser” line sanitary conveyor, Kish explains, because it is removed from the cheese room for regular cleaning of the inner spiral, as well as for kosher cleaning.

The company sells seven branded pasta products, in noodle, shell and macaroni form. Offerings include high protein macaroni and cheese, and shells and cheese lines, and a microwaveable macaroni and cheese cup. Kish says 95 percent of products are sold to retailers and the balance to institutional users.

Contact: sales@flexicon.com.au

DRY ORE PROCESSING

Minerals processing maestro tunes up waterless technologies Veteran minerals technologist Chris Kelsey, inventor of the Kelsey Jig, is advancing a super-fine crusher and dry magnetic separator which hint at a future of waterless ore processing.

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elsey has been working on fine crushing since 1997. In 2014 he finally hit on the right combination of technologies with the Super-Fine Crusher which crushes minerals from 10mm down to 10 microns, eliminating the need for re-processing. A patent for the technology has been granted in Australia.

Armed with the ability to crush magnetite ore to such a small size, Kelsey and his company IMP Technologies (IMPTEC) began work on a dry magnetic separator to go with it. This work resulted in development of the Cyclomag, which uses rare earth magnets to pull magnetic material out of an airflow, while tailings are 62

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

separated and collected at the other end of the machine.

In contrast to traditional beneficiation processes which use large volumes of water, the Cyclomag is waterless. Kelsey makes some bold performance claims based on results from a modest demonstration unit handling up to 400kgs per hour. He says it can deliver ore with an increased iron (Fe) content of up to 70% after a single pass.

The pairing of the Super-Fine crusher and the Cyclomag might one day usher in a new era of waterless processing, a real boon to mining areas in South Australia, Western Australia and Chile’s Atacama

Desert where water is in scarce supply.

Kelsey points to encouragement from mining companies like Magnetite Mines which see great potential in the technology. A key question, however, is who will fund a larger scale demonstration facility.

“The (South Australian) state government said ‘we’ll give you $10 million to develop it’ but it’s sort of died,” explained Kelsey. “It’ll probably be done by industry itself. It’ll be a large demonstration plant probably over at Arrium Whyalla works. That will show how simple the process is − the combination of the Cyclomag and Super-Fine crusher − compared to what they are doing today.

DRY ORE PROCESSING

Feed to the IMPTEC crusher (run of mine ore).

Crushed product from the IMPTEC Super Fine Crusher - open circuit.

Magnetite product from the PLANAR Magnetic Separator.

Tailings from the PLANAR Magnetic Separator.

The IMPTEC SFC 130 Super Fine Crusher.

“The Cyclomag scales up extremely well − the tiny demonstration one will handle up to 400 kilograms per hour. We’ll probably get to 100 tonnes an hour no problem.

“We’ve got to scale up the crusher, that’s a little more difficult. We have a plan to be able to make that system produce 150 tonnes per hour.”

A research team from the University of South Australia is studying IMPTEC’s technologies and their potential use for other ores.

Professor Bill Skinner from the university’s Future Industries Institute said the efficiency ratings of the Cyclomag and Super-Fine Crusher working together ranged from 80 – 90 per cent from ore to product.

“The grades are high enough that they can go straight to steel production because of the combination of the crushing and dry separation,” he said. “They are as good, if not better than what is currently being produced out of magnetite projects.”

Professor Skinner said the process was most beneficial when used on hard materials such as zircon, black sand and quartz.

“It could also be used for your sulphide ores, for example copper and gold, where the combination of compression and shear could result in much better liberation at a coarser grind size.”

Conventional methods include breaking down large rocks to a few centimetres in diameter, crushing them further to feed a ball mill, Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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DRY ORE PROCESSING

The IMPTEC SFC 130 Super Fine Crusher.

"They can’t get down to the fine size dry like we can, theirs is much coarser and they lose a lot of the product" and grinding the minerals with the help of media and water until the material becomes a slurry.

The Super-Fine Crusher shortens the process by removing the need for water and media. Its 10 micron product eliminates the need for reprocessing.

The Cyclomag utilises the benefits of the Super Fine Crusher to liberate and separate magnetic iron ores during beneficiation.

This results in a power reduction of about 20-40 per cent and limits water use to dust suppression and slurry transport.

Magnetite Mines general manager Gavin England said IMPTEC’s machines had the potential to disrupt the commercial beneficiation business.

“We live in the driest state of the driest continent in the world and good water is limited,” he said. “With magnetite processing and beneficiation you need a lot of water so any way to dry separate and dry crush the material is a real bonus.

“If we can do the same thing as the demonstration site at a commercial level it will change the way magnetite is processed, especially if it’s done in a single pass. I don’t know another technology that does this.”

Former chairman at Havilah Resources and Maptek founder Bob Johnson said dry ore processing was a massive benefit.

“Water is a precious resource and expensive to manage when you think of the pipelines, bore fields and infrastructure you need,” he said. “Crushing ore to such a small size and doing it without ball mills and water is a breakthrough for the industry.”

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The IMPTEC planar magnetic separator.

Worldwide, various companies have attempted to develop dry processing technologies. “A few have tried but they’ve all fallen over so far,” said Kelsey. “One tried in Brazil, I’m not sure how they are going. Generally, they can’t get down to the fine size dry like we can, theirs is much coarser and they lose a lot of the product when they do that.”

TAILINGS DISPOSAL

FLSmidth foresees end of tailings dams with new system FLSmidth is collaborating with gold miner Goldcorp in a bid to eliminate conventional slurry tailings dams.

The Colossal filter is the largest capacity filter in the industry. It is capable of discharging 20,000 tons of filter cake per day and can recover 600 m3 of process water per hour. That is the equivalent of six Olympic sized pools each day.

F

LSmidth says it will be working with Goldcorp to develop EcoTails, a new system to improve tailings and waste rock disposal while economically processing mine waste and increasing water recovery and reuse by as much as 90–95%.

Together with the world’s third largest gold miner, Goldcorp, FLSmidth is co-developing a system for co-mingling dewatered tailings with waste rock in a continuous process.

Designed specifically for large scale mining applications, FLSmidth expects the system to be safer environmentally for managing tailings and waste rock storage with the potential to eliminate conventional slurry tailings dams completely.

Combined with FLSmidth’s co-developed filter press dewatering technology, co-mingling is the missing piece of the puzzle to keep costs low for dry stacked tailings.

“As water resources become increasingly scarce and mining dams grow globally, so do the risks,” said Todd Wisdom, director of tailings systems, FLSmidth.

“We believe that the target for the industry is to completely eliminate tailings dams, and to recirculate maximum water back to the process. Highly dewatered tailings is the sustainable route for tailings disposal, and our work with Goldcorp will help EcoTails develop into both a technologically viable and

economically feasible solution for large scale mining.”

The solution is being studied for full scale testing at Peñasquito, Goldcorp’s largest mine, with an average daily throughput of 130,000 tons/day. Comingled waste disposal has previously only been used at small scale mines using dozers, trucks, high cost liquid-solid separation processes, and significant manpower, making the solution too costly for large-tonnage operations.

“By using materials conveyance as the energy source for the mixing, Goldcorp and FLSmidth are testing a low energy, low cost co-mingling solution, with the waste blended in transit using specially designed material handling technologies,” explained Wisdom. “This method will make the solution economically competitive with traditional tailings disposal methods for large mines.

“The method of co-mingling tailings with mine waste in a continuous process produces a new type of waste called GeoWaste. The filtered tailings cost is minimized by using fast filtering technology and waste rock to provide additional strength to the blended material.

“The risk of acid rock leaching from the waste rock is minimized by filter cake filling the voids of the waste rock matrix, greatly reducing oxygen f lux. Once the system completes testing it will be offered commercially by FLSmidth.”

Headquartered in Copenhagen and with offices in more than 50 countries, FLSmidth delivers engineering, equipment and service solutions. It has 12,000 employees.

Contact: Todd Wisdom, email - todd.wisdom@flsmidth.com

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LIFTING & HOISTING

Controlled ball mill lifts with strand jacking Girder-mounted strand jacks being used to lift a huge ball mill from a transporter at Sino Iron.

One of the world’s safest and most accurate methods of heavy lifting, strand jacking, is being further advanced for use in Australia and New Zealand with computerised synchronisation of lifts involving multiple hydraulic cylinders handling loads of hundreds and thousands of tons.

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nerpac HSL Series strand jacks – in individual capacities from 34-1405 tons – are being matched with a sophisticated SCC Smart Cylinder Control System software program that synchronizes the motion of the strand jacks and adjusts the motion to the loads per lifting point.

Enerpac Australasia heavy lifting technology manager, Mr Warren Baltineshter, says the SCC program enhances the value of a proven heavy lifting technology that has demonstrated considerable worth on major Australasian bulk handling, construction, and infrastructure projects, where it has provided synchronous control of heavy lifting capacity within an economical and compact footprint.

The Enerpac strand jacking system – which has been used in Australia to lift 12 mining ball mills weighing up to 1,400 tons each, for example – is suitable for precision heavy lift projects such as bridge lifting, mining, oil and gas plant and rigs, silo maintenance and materials handling plant.

Each HSL system is supplied with the SCC hardware and software package as standard. The SCC system not only monitors progress, it controls the operation within safe working limits specific to the particular job and client demands.

“For example, the system governs maximum permissible load and synchronous position at each lifting position and between them, which are key parameters that the SCC uses to precisely manage the lifting operation,” says Mr Baltineshter.

Mr Baltineshter says strand jacking offers compact high capacity lifting capabilities that are easy to deploy, compared with mobile and crawler cranes. The technology offers a high lifting height, with true vertical lift and no drift.

HSL jack.

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LIFTING & HOISTING

“Strand jacks are recognised today as one of the most sophisticated, safe and precise heavy lifting systems, used to lift and lower loads where the use of conventional cranes is neither economical nor practical. SCC control advances the technology even further in this regard.

“The global Enerpac organisation continually improves the reliability, durability, safety and control of its strand jacks, making them an industry standard for heavy lifting in Australasia and worldwide.”

How strand lifting operates A strand jack can be considered to be a type of linear winch. In a strand jack, a bundle of steel strands passes through a main hydraulic cylinder, which acts as the lifting or lowering jack. The strands in the HSL are either 15.7mm or 18mm diameter each, with multiple strands supporting the load.

Above and below the main hydraulic cylinder are mini jacks with anchor systems of wedges that grip the strand bundle when the load is being lifted or lowered.

Lifting and lowering a load is achieved by hydraulically controlling the main jack and both mini jacks alternately, feeding the strands through the cylinders in steps equivalent to the cylinders’ strokes (which range from 25 to 58cm).

The wedges close automatically to lock the suspended load in place if the hydraulic system loses pressure, further ensuring safety.

Strand jacks are an integral member of a broader Enerpac family of heavy lifting technologies (including synchronous and crane-suspended types), all of which are engineered to increase the safety, precision and cost-efficiency of heavy lifts.

Contact: info@enerpac.com.au

Internal workings of a strand jack.

CRUSHING & GRINDING

Brazilian quarry gives thumbs up to new Metso crusher An early user of Metso’s new MX crusher has pointed to productivity gains of 20%, dust down by up to 10%, and wear liner life up by 30%.

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ocated 140km North West of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, Minermix quarry was amongst the first sites in the world to install one of Metso’s new MX cone crushers with innovative multi-action crushing technology.

The installation was part of a multi-site pre-launch field trial of Metso’s latest crusher design. Since commissioning the new machine in January 2016, Minermix says that the MX has significantly improved plant performance.

Minermix is the newest of three quarries owned and operated

by Extrabase Mineração, the quarry material arm of Brazil’s large civil construction company Grupo Base.

Located in the small city of Capivari in the state of São Paulo, the facility has delivered a nominal production rate of 200,000 tonnes per month for the past seven years. The quarry’s process includes primary, secondary and tertiary crushing. With a single stockpile – unlike the company’s other quarries, which have two stockpiles each – the Minermix Capivari facility needed to boost its production.

At the same time, Minermix wanted to reduce the presence of rock dust (fines) in its production of sand from gravel. The company’s manufactured sand is primarily used by

concrete plants where the excessive presence of fines poses a significant problem.

Minermix also wanted to ensure the best possible product tolerances, but was constantly challenged with the need to adjust its equipment to maintain production quality. In the company’s opinion, the operation could have been more productive and required fewer equipment adjustments by its operational staff.

Achieving a 20% increase in productivity Minermix’s crushing plant is fed with basalt from a site located around one kilometre from the processing facility. The plant’s primary crushing stage employs a Metso Nordberg C125 jaw crusher, followed by secondary crushing via a Nordberg HP400 cone crusher.

Material requiring further processing is crushed in two parallel tertiary crushing stages. Up until January 2016, this job was performed by two 400 horsepower Metso HP4 cone crushers that were installed when the quarry was originally commissioned in 2010. The company replaced one of these crushers with a new 400 horsepower MX4 multi-action cone crusher which now works alongside the remaining, original HP4.

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LIFTING & HOISTING

Side-by-side comparison between the new MX4 and a traditional crusher at the Minermix Quarry in Brazil.

Crusher’s operator interface provides machine control and monitoring.

Minermix’s supervisor - José Nilson says that the MX4 was installed and commissioned with support from Metso which included operator training. He said that since its start-up, the new machine has delivered a 20% increase in productivity.

José believes that further gains are possible by fine tuning the machine’s operation. In his opinion, overall productivity may improve by as much as 30%.

The supervisor mainly credits these improvements to the fact that the crusher can be adjusted while operating at full load without the need to shut down, as well as its ability to utilise maximum power.

“The equipment reaches 95% and, when it gets to peak production, the equipment itself makes the adjustments to balance production,” Nilson says. The new crusher has also reduced rock dust production by 5-10%. “It may not seem like much, but this reduction has a notable bearing and impact on daily production,” he explains.

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Delivering more uptime The MX cone crusher’s operation is based on patented multi-action technology, a new way to automatically optimise crusher operation.

The machine can simultaneously adjust its setting with a rotating bowl above its cavity and a hydraulic piston inside the machine’s fixed shaft. Dynamic setting adjustments can be made when the crusher is operating under full load conditions without the need to stop production. Both rotating bowl and piston adjustments are automated, so no human intervention is required.

The combination of the crusher’s optimised crushing motion with multi-action technology results in extended wear part life, leading to longer intervals between maintenance and higher production rates.

“The MX4 works throughout the day, automatically adjusting its opening/setting or power to our specifications,” José Nilson adds.

Nilson notes that the MX4’s automation has improved overall operation. “The operator turns on the equipment with a single touch of the crusher’s automation panel, which also allows the machine’s operation to be monitored throughout the day and gives us a final report when the equipment is turned off,” he states.

On a weekly basis, the MX4 crusher is calibrated by initiating an automated procedure that takes around five minutes.

Calibration determines the degree of wear in wear parts and adjusts machine settings accordingly. This assessment also enables the correction of any parameters that are not aligned with what has been pre-established by Minermix.

Wear part replacement is performed after around 1,200 hours of operation, which is more than one-third better than before.

The company says that the MX’s wear liner life is at least 30% higher than traditional cone crushers.

Contact: Shaun Fanning, Metso Australia, email - shaun.fanning@metso.com

NEW PRODUCT

Flexicon’s IBC Discharger raises and positions rigid Intermediate Bulk Containers without the use of a forklift, makes a dust-tight connection to a surge hopper available with outlets to charge a flexible screw conveyor (shown), tubular cable conveyor or pneumatic conveying system.

IBC discharger for low headroom areas Flexicon says its new Bulk-Out low profile discharger positions Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) weighing up to 1450 kg in the frame using an electric hoist and trolley, discharges bulk solid materials into a surge hopper and conveys the material to a downstream process dust-free.

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ifting arms fitted with four eye hooks connect to the mobile IBC frame, which is equipped with four inverted cradle cups that mate with corresponding posts on the discharger frame for precise positioning of the IBC outlet.

When lowered into position, the tapered outlet of the IBC’s butterfly discharge valve mates with a gasketed receiving ring on the lid of a surge hopper, allowing opening of the valve and discharging of material with no dusting.

The surge hopper is available with an integral flexible screw conveyor, tubular cable conveyor or pneumatic conveying system also produced by the company.

The purpose-built stainless steel IBC hopper frame measures 914 mm square by 965 mm high and includes two swivel and two rigid castors with brakes. Quick-release clamps secure the hinged hopper lid during transport and discharge of material.

A port on the lid of the surge hopper is vented to a BagVac dust collector that puts the sealed system under negative pressure, preventing displaced air and dust from entering the plant atmosphere.

The portable IBC is fitted with eye bolts for connection to the lifting cradle, and inverted cradle cups that centre the tapered outlet cone of a butterfly valve within the gasketed receiving ring of the surge hopper.

All material contact surfaces of the system are of stainless steel with the exception of the flexible screw conveyor’s polymer outer tube.

The company also manufactures bulk bag dischargers, pneumatic conveyors, flexible screw conveyors, tubular cable conveyors, bulk bag conditioners, bulk bag fillers, bag dump stations, drum/box/container tippers, weigh batching and blending systems, and engineered plant-wide bulk handling systems with automated controls.

Contact: sales@flexicon.com.au

The stainless steel surge hopper with gasketed receiving ring is vented to a Bag-Vac dust collection system that puts the sealed system under vacuum, preventing the escape of displaced air and dust.

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EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Bulk solids PhD focuses on dust suppression systems

Jon Roberts is studying the design and effectiveness of dust suppression systems.

Jon Roberts, who has a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) from the University of Wollongong, spoke to ABHR recently about bulk solids education in general and dust control more specifically.

(Australian Bulk Handling Review – ABHR) What attracted you to the field of bulk solids?

(Jon Roberts – JR) I was most attracted by the practical nature of the field; a lot of the concepts are relatively simple but provide significant challenges that need to be tackled. The diversity of the field also particularly attracts me, having a job where I can be exposed to a range of industries and varying challenges within each really appeals to me.

(ABHR) What has surprised you or challenged you about the science of bulk solids handling?

(JR) The most challenging thing I have found is the variability that is always present when dealing with bulk materials and figuring out the best way to deal with or account for these variations. In my research, I am dealing with dust control and key aspects such as particle size and concentration can be constantly

Dust Control Feature To be published in ABHR’s November/December edition.

Technologies. Equipment, Case Studies.

Nozzles, sprays, fogging, misting systems, veneering chemicals, fans, ducting, collectors, stockpiles

Do you have a story?

Forward product, technology and application news to ABHR editor Charles Macdonald at email charles.macdonald@mohimedia.com or call him on 02 9994 8086.

Deadline is 10th November 2017.

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

changing. The effect of these variations (along with changes in many other variables) all need to be understood and balanced to ensure an effective system.

(ABHR) Any ideas on where you would like your career to go in future?

(JR) I am hoping to finish my PhD next year (2018), at which stage I will be looking to find a job in the industry, preferably in either design or consultation, where I can be exposed to a range of industries and applications.

(ABHR) How can industry/universities attract more students into bulk solids?

(JR) I think having the courses available within universities, especially in a practical manner, is the best way to attract more students to the field. I know here at University of Wollongong we have some great subjects on bulk solids handling which are very well received by students, mainly due to the good balance between practical and theoretical content. This attracts many students to complete their final year theses and even go on to undertake post-graduate research in the field as I did.

(ABHR) What is the subject of your PhD and can you please tell me something about the field of dust suppression that you have found interesting?

(JR) My research is looking at the design and effectiveness of dust suppression systems. I am mainly focusing on water-only dust suppression systems and the factors that contribute to their effectiveness.

There are two main objectives of my research: the first is the development of a method of quantifying the efficiency of dust capture for individual dust suppression sprays and the factors contributing to this efficiency; the second is to develop the use of numerical modelling for the design of dust suppression systems across all applications.

I find nozzle design used for dust suppression very interesting. There are many different types of nozzle (air atomising, water only atomising, hollow cone, full cone, etc.) and the selection of the correct nozzle for a specific application is the first step in the design of a successful system.

ENGINEERED PLASTICS

Using engineering plastics to handle concrete With Australia and New Zealand together consuming more than 25 million tons of pre-mixed concrete a year, users are continually looking for ways to save energy, time, product wastage and machinery wear when handling this versatile and valuable, but sticky and abrasive material.

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iven that every cubic metre of concrete weighs roughly 2.5 tons, there is a large amount of potential product hang-up and wear to contend with in trucks, chutes, hoppers and construction infrastructure. All this costs time, energy and money when you want to maintain a smooth flow of product essential to construction and industrial infrastructure projects,” says Mr Pat Flood, NSW manager of the national and international engineered plastics specialist Cut To Size Plastics.

One solution to the sustainability issues raised by concrete handling is provided by the use of tough engineering grade plastics, including Wearex UHMWPE for wear prevention and flow jobs and high-density polyethylene, HDPE, which is often used as geotextile protective liners that promote flow while stopping waste dropping to the ground from mixers.

Both plastics are finding applications in both static and mobile plant, including as liners in trucks, bins and chutes where wear and energy consumption are issues preventing smooth flow, and where companies wish to eliminate OH&S hazards involved in clearing dense and heavy potential blockages.

“Often a combination of Wearex and HDPE provides the best combination of wear-resistance and cost-efficiency,” says Mr Flood.

HDPE materials have excellent impact strength and can be easily formed and machined to tray and bin liner applications using conventional equipment. Frequently used as geotextile and protective liners, HDPE is available in a range of sheet sizes.

Wearex, meanwhile, as a member of the UHMWPE family, has the highest abrasion resistance of any thermoplastic polymer. When used as a wear liner, UHMWPE will not cake or stick to metal. It also offers good noise abatement in material handling applications.

“It is the highest quality polyethylene (PE) available, engineered for tough jobs and a wide range of applications such as handling concrete,” said Mr Flood.

“UHMWPE high-density polyethylene resin has a molecular weight range of 3 to 6 million, compared to 300,000 to 500,000 for high molecular weight (HMW) resins. That difference is what ensures that this material is strong enough to withstand abrasion and impact better than lower level products.”

Installation expertise Cut To Size says it can machine liners to size and shape for individual user needs. Fasteners are the best way to secure UHMW to metal. The UHMW must be allowed to expand or float. Large flat head fasteners must be used. Fastener shaft holes in UHMW must be over-sized to allow for sheet expansion and contraction.

“We also take into account the fact that changes in moisture and particle size affect the product’s flowability. These materials stick to the hopper walls and will negatively affect productivity. Operating costs are increased and the manual methods employed of dislodging hold-ups increase OHS risks.

Traditional steel surfaces also become rough and corroded over time, compounding the problems and increasing the loss in productivity.”

Cut To Size says it works closely with individual clients utilising a team of technically qualified staff to offer a full material selection and installation service.

“Cut To Size has broad experience – extending over multiple industries for decades – in engineering plastics to suit wear prevention applications, so we can complement product from globally recognised suppliers, with local expertise,” says Mr Flood.

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CRUSHING & GRINDING

Weir executive shares tips for crusher maintenance

In this article, Eric Jones, global service director of comminution aftermarket for Weir Minerals, offers some pointers on best crusher maintenance practice.

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rushers operate at high power, force and capacity in order to produce the required materials. This puts a great deal of strain on the crusher and its wear parts, which operators must be aware of when carrying out maintenance. Failure to do so may have a high impact, both in terms of financial cost and potential loss of production.

Performing regular maintenance on crushers is integral to the reliability, performance and output they achieve. Prevention is better than cure; by carrying out regular inspections operators will ensure their crusher runs for a longer period of time with minimal unscheduled downtime.

“The most important aspect is to have a maintenance plan in place and execute it. Following a maintenance plan and carrying out daily inspections can yield increased service life. This maintenance plan should adhere to the recommendations of the manufacturer,” states Eric Jones, global service director of comminution aftermarket for Weir Minerals.

The maintenance plan may differ slightly, depending upon the machine, but most follow an initial 40 hour schedule post commissioning, followed by regular 250 hour inspection/maintenance intervals throughout the annual cycle. Within these intervals, there are prescribed tasks an operator will need to carry out. These include: • Checking the air filter to ensure the crusher is vented properly and that unwanted contaminates are not entering the breather • Checking the strainer basket on a cone crusher ensuring that there are no signs of excessive wear or damage to internal components • Greasing bearings if required to ensure proper lubrication and cooling of those bearings.

The consequences of inadequate maintenance inspections If operators do not follow a maintenance plan and carry out daily inspections, it can have detrimental effects on the crusher.

When it comes to insufficient maintenance inspections, the most common problems Weir Minerals has witnessed are premature 72

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

bearing failures. For example, operators failing to notice that a breather has been knocked off, which fills the oil chamber with dust or debris; overlooking the grease line that has ruptured causing the bearing to no longer receive the required lubrication; or not checking the oil levels and having a bearing fail due to the lack of oil.

These are all common problems which can be avoided if a full maintenance plan is put in place and adhered to.

Extending the life of crusher wear parts Whilst wear replacement is a necessary feature of any crushing operation, there are steps operators can take to extend the service life of crusher wear parts.

Eric Jones advises: “Always ensure the wear parts are fastened into the machine properly. With jaw crushers, if you allow the jaw dies to move during operation they can cause damage to the frame of the jaw crusher. Similarly, loose liners in cone crushers may damage the head or bowl.”

It is also advisable that operators frequently look for holes, cracks, or flat spots, which could potentially damage the machine long term or be an indication of another issue.

Further to that, operators should track tonnages. As cone crusher liners wear, the operator threads the bowl inwards, bringing the bowl liner closer to the head which reduces the feed opening. The reduced feed opening may decrease crusher throughput at a cost; once that cost is greater than the price of the liner change the operator should consider changing the liners. At a glance, the liners may still have what an operator would perceive as usable wear left, but at a lost tonnage that doesn’t benefit the plant.

Detection of wear part damage If an operator observes significant wear-part damage during regular inspections, they should consult the crusher manufacturer to find out if immediate stoppage is warranted.

“Determining whether to stop production to change a wear part entirely depends upon the severity of the damage. For example, a damaged rotor tip in a VSI crusher may make it through the shift and not cause unwanted downtime. However, a broken jaw

CRUSHING & GRINDING

die with parent steel exposed may cause significant damage, and it is vital the operator stops the jaw crusher and change the die in order to protect the crusher frame,” says Eric Jones.

Common mistakes Failing to take care of damaged wear parts can increase wear on the entire machine which can lead to expensive failures.

A common misconception is that operators think they should wear jaw dies until they are completely flat or develop a hole or crack. By running these wear parts for a longer period of time, operators think they are extending the wear life, but in reality they may be causing unnecessary stress to the jaw frame.

Another common mistake Eric Jones has witnessed is that operators run cone crusher liners past their useful operational life.

“The lost tonnages can cost the operator money greatly exceeding the amount that a liner change would cost,” states Jones.

Safety the priority Cone crushers have evolved from the earlier models introduced in the 1920’s, with most manufacturers now designing cone crushers with advanced hydraulic systems to raise, lower and

adjust the machines safely with minimal effort. To clear a cone crusher, users simply depress a button, click the mouse or toggle a switch. This removes the risk of people manually clearing a stalled cone crusher by hand or using straps, chains and rolling stock to adjust their crusher.

“At Weir Minerals, safety is the priority and our latest designs reflect this. Our Trio TP cone crusher range is designed with self-protecting features to help achieve high levels of mechanical reliability under severe operating conditions whilst ensuring the safety of both the operator and equipment,” says Jones.

In addition, the latest Trio CTHT series jaw crusher includes a hydraulic toggle relief system. This innovative, builtin system protects the jaw crusher from overloads caused by uncrushable material.

The hydraulic toggle is designed to be a reliable and safe relief system, without unnecessary complexity for the operator.

Jones concludes: “If an operator doesn’t properly maintain their crusher, they may experience poor performance, and decreased service life of the machine. We suggest that operators seek expertise to create and execute a maintenance plan to increase the service life of their crusher.

AGRICULTURE

AgTech – does sensor adoption make ‘cents’?

Agricultural technology is rapidly developing and is set to change the face of farming, however the current uptake of ‘sensor technology’ among Australian farmers is limited, according to a report by agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank.

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rawing on insights from 1,000 farmers across Australia, the recently-released report, Does sensor adoption make cents?, says despite the potential of digital agriculture to improve decision-making and profitability of Australian farms, the use of sensor technology – a widely-available form of digital agriculture – remains modest. And of those that use the technology, only a limited proportion of farmers are using the data to support farm decision making to increase business profitability.

Questioning farmers across a wide range of regions, production sectors and operation sizes (during its regular quarterly survey of rural sentiment), Rabobank found less than a quarter (23 per cent) were using sensor technology – such as drones, moisture probes and irrigation monitors, as well as yield mapping and electronic identification (EID).

Report author, Rabobank agricultural analyst Wesley Lefroy said while he was not surprised by the relatively modest uptake of sensor technology on-farm, there were “clearly barriers to adoption that are holding back the farm sector from receiving the value promised by digital agriculture”.

“For many farmers, the value proposition (or return on investment) for many sensor technologies simply isn’t articulated clearly enough for farmers to determine they can generate a profit from it,” he said.

Mr Lefroy said the uptake appeared to be higher amongst larger farm businesses, with the survey finding large farms (with incomes above one million) to have the highest uptake of sensors at 57 per cent – compared with a 10 per cent uptake in farming businesses with incomes below $300,000.

The adoption rate did vary across commodity sectors however, with the highest rate of sensor adoption observed in the cotton industry (78 per cent) followed by the grains sector (48 per cent).

In contrast, adoption rates were very limited in beef (10 per cent), sheep (12 per cent) and dairy (20 per cent) – with these sectors generally having a higher proportion of small-scale producers.

“We also anticipate the significant cost, time and knowledge

which is needed to extract value from some livestock orientated technology is limiting uptake,” Mr Lefroy said.

Closing the gap Mr Lefroy said the survey found not only was farmer uptake of this type of digital technology limited, but less than 70 per cent of those using the technology were applying the sensor-generated data to support farm decision-making. “This clearly demonstrates the gap that exists between collecting the data and applying it to assist with farm management decision-making,” he said.

And even fewer farmers are converting the data into profit, he said, with the less than 40 per cent identifying an improvement in profitability from the use of sensor technology.

“Take yield mapping, for example,” Mr Lefroy said. “While most harvesters now have yield-mapping capabilities, it is often a difficult process for farmers to not only collect the data (given the volume of data) but to then process it and interpret the results, and put it into a usable form to support decision-making.”

In order to “close the gap” so farmers fully understand how to use the data and generate profit from it, there are two main issues that need addressing, he said.

“At the farmgate, there needs to be an increased emphasis on having adequate technological resources, and this goes beyond software and hardware management, as farmers also need to have the skills to analyse the data. But for farmers to make this investment, in both time and money, the value proposition of using this technology needs to improve,” he said.

“Tech companies have a big role to play in this, to ensure farmers can easily use the data to assist with decision-making, so ‘aftersales service’ is critical.”

Mr Lefroy said in the age where farmers are generating more and more data, the ownership of data and privacy issues were another concern, while many agricultural producers also lacked the technological infrastructure and connectivity required to fully utilise farm management technology offered by vendors.

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AD INDEX

Advertisers Index Advertiser Page

Advertiser Page

Advertiser Page

Allied Grain Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Enmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Meridian Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 (OFC)

Australian National Maritime Museum . . . . . . 49

Flexco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Metso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Australian Society for Bulk Solids Handling . . 35

Flexicon Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 (OBC)

Mideco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Belle Banne Conveyor Products . . . . . . . . . . . 7

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Schaeffler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Bintech Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Kilic Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

SEW Eurodrive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Dana Brevini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Kockums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 53

TS Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Engineering Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Laserbond Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

TUNRA Bulk Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 55

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ASK AN ENGINEER

Ask an engineer In a new, regular column, experts from specialist bulk materials engineering firm Jenike & Johanson will answer readers’ queries around problems at their sites. In this instance, Corin Holmes* fields a question that lies at the heart of bulk solids handling.

Question: We know controlled flow of bulk solids is important to our operation, but what makes it so different from the flow of liquid I’m familiar with?

Answer: Great question that goes to the root of many baked-in design faults I deal with every day.

The flow of liquids has been the subject of study for over two thousand years starting with the work of Archimedes and generating many of our engineering heroes along the way. Because it’s easy to study, most engineering courses focus solely on fluid flow despite the fact bulk solids flow is actually cited as the world’s biggest industrial activity.

At a high level the flow properties of a liquid are defined by a single value, its viscosity, that in most cases is a predictable function of temperature. So, if we know the liquid composition and temperature, we can get a viscosity value that enables us to predict its flow behaviour. All very familiar to engineers. And there is no need to measure the viscosity value, with equations and look-up tables for virtually all liquid across a range of practical temperatures.

The flow behaviour of bulk solids however depends on its internal strength and the shear applied. Strength of a bulk solid is determined by factors like friction, mechanical interlocking and cohesion. The physical properties of bulk solids that underpin these factors are a function of things such as moisture content, composition, surface texture, shape, particle size (and distribution), to name a few.

To complicate matters further these important properties can vary greatly from one shovel full to the next. As a result, the actual flow behaviour of a bulk solid at a single point in a process can vary with time hence it can’t be pinned down to a single parameter analogous to viscosity. Rather than a single point, a better way to visualise flow behaviour of bulk solids is as a region or probability cloud.

Another important point here is that because of this complexity you can’t rely on “library values” as we do with liquids.

You have to measure your actual materials because even subtle differences can have a huge impact on flow (think about the effects of increasing or decreasing the moisture content on the flow behaviour of beach sand as an example).

What we do with bulk material characterisation is determine the extreme design point in the probability cloud associated with your bulk solid. This can then be used to inform the design of the handling plant/system such that material always flows in a controlled and reliable manner.

But the flow behaviour of your bulk solids does not end with its inherent strength; it is also a function of the shear forces imparted hence there is a strong dependency on the geometry and surface (finish and chemistry) of the handling equipment. This is another significant point of distinction between liquids and bulk solids as these factors have little impact on the flow behaviour of liquids.

So, as we can see the flow behaviour of bulk solids is much more complicated than that of liquids. Therefore approaching a bulk solids handling design the same way we do to achieve controlled flow of liquids is unlikely to result in the desired outcome.

As it is not dealt with in most engineering courses, the flow behaviour of bulk solids is a blind spot for most engineers.

*Corin Holmes is the operations manager for Jenike & Johanson in Perth. He says he is passionate about applying the science of bulk solids handling to help people and organisations succeed.

The flow behaviour of bulk solids is deceptively complex and often treated with contempt during the design stage hence there are plenty of opportunities for improvement in almost every industry.

The good news is that the science to achieve controlled flow of bulk solids is established and expert support is available to those who recognise these important differences before it is too late.

Contact: tel 1300 BULKSOLIDS, email: cholmes@jenike.com

Do you have a question?

If so, send it to the editor at charles.macdonald@mohimedia.com

Contact: ???????????

Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2017

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CONVEY FLEXI-DISC™ Tubular Cable Conveyors gently slide fragile foods and non-foods through smooth stainless steel tubing routed horizontally, vertically or at any angle, over short or long distances, dust-free.

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CONDITION BLOCK-BUSTER® Bulk Bag Conditioners loosen bulk materials that have solidified during storage and shipment. Variable height turntable positions bag for hydraulic rams with contoured conditioning plates to press bag on all sides at all heights.

FILL SWING-DOWN®, REAR-POST and TWIN-CENTREPOST™ Bulk Bag Fillers can fill one bulk bag per week or 20 per hour at the lowest cost per bag. Numerous performance options.

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UNLOAD BULK-OUT® Bulk Bag Dischargers unload free- and non-free-flowing solids from bulk bags automatically.

Allows untying, discharging, retying and collapsing of bulk bags—all dust-free. Available with weigh batching controls.

CONVEY FLEXICON® Flexible Screw Conveyors transport free- and non-free-flowing bulk solid materials from large pellets to sub-micron powders, including products that pack, cake or smear, with no separation of blends, dust-free at low cost. No bearings contact material. Easy to clean quickly, thoroughly.

TIP

SUCCEED

TIP-TITE® Container Tippers dump bulk material from drums (shown), boxes or other containers into vessels up to 3 metres high.

Dust-tight (shown) or open chute models improve efficiency and safety of an age-old task.

The FLEXICON® Lifetime Performance Guarantee* assures you of a successful result, whether you purchase one piece of equipment or an engineered, automated plant-wide system.

From initial testing in large-scale laboratories, to single-source project management, to after-sale support by a worldwide network of factory experts, you can trust your process— and your reputation— to Flexicon.

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©2017 Flexicon Corporation. Flexicon Corporation has registrations and pending applications for the trademark FLEXICON throughout the world. *See complete Guarantee for details.