Bulk handling in extreme conditions

Takraf specialises in supplying bulk handling systems which have to operate under some of the most severe weather conditions imaginable

 

 

Bulk materials handling systems not only comprise stackers, reclaimers, scraper reclaimers, tube or belt conveyors, and special facilities to pre­process the material, but also ship loaders and unloaders.

Takraf, based at Leipzig and Lauchhammer in Germany, supplies complete systems for bulk materials handling. The company also has branches in the USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, South Africa, Chile and India, as well as representative offices in Russia, Romania, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

It is a leading supplier of bulk materials handling systems. In addition, it plans, develops and designs complete systems to handle bulk materials and supplies the whole range of components for conveying, stacking, blending and reclaiming of bulk materials, for crushing and sizing of bulk materials, for bulk material preparation, and for loading into and unloading bulk materials from ships.

 

via an implemented stacking and reclaiming technology based on and controlled by a stockpile lignite quality model. The system consists of a belt conveyor with a crushing and screening station, a stacking conveyor with stacker and tripper car, a reclaiming conveyor with a portal type scraper conveyor system and an overland conveyor to the power plant. Furthermore, an overland conveyor­tripper car in a lignite surge hopper is provided, and transfer points are installed in corner towers. The stockpile can be separated into four to seven partial stockpiles and due to an anti­collision protection system, all three machines can simultaneously operate on the same stockpile. It is also possible to arrange a surge stockpile to stack extreme lignite qualities, as well as to relocate the stacker/reclaimer from the regular stockpile to the surge stockpile and vice versa.

 

It recently supplied the entire stockyard equipment for CVDR’s (Companhia Vale  do  Rio  Doce)  extension  of  the  Brucutu Mine  in  Brazil,  which  started  iron  ore  processing in 2006.  Takraf delivered one twin boom stacker with a nominal capacity of 6,800t/hr for stacking iron ore from the crushing facility in two blending piles, three single boom stackers with nominal capacities of 790t/hr, 2,440t/hr and 2,100t/hr, for stacking ore from the blending plant and forming piles of finished material. The project also comprised a drum reclaimer to reclaim material from the ore pile formed by the crushing plant at a nominal rate of 5,300t/hr.

 

 

The drum of the drum reclaimer was manufactured in one piece, which required a sophisticated transport system of the major components. A transfer car moves the drum reclaimer from one blending pile to the other. The two bucket wheel reclaimers recover the iron ore stacked from the processing plant. The machines have a bucket wheel diameter of 8.8m and a capacity of both 6,000t/hr. Takraf supplied 18 belt conveyors linking all the machines and handling the iron ore in the blending and product circuit. CVDR is now producing and processing 24m tonnes of iron ore per year at the mine.

In the Chilean mine Gaby, located about 1,200km north of Santiago and 220km east of Antofagasta, Takraf delivered a complete copper ore handling system to support heap­leach processing, comprising two stacking/reclaiming conveyor bridges and conveyors for Gaby’s Heap­Leach pad. The company has developed a new generation of stacking and reclaiming mobile bridges. These bridges are the driving force behind heap leach systems. Crawlers power the bridges along the leach­pad. The two conveyors transport the material for the bridges in and out of the heap leach pile. The stacking conveyor carries the fresh copper ore to the stacking conveyor bridge. The stacking conveyor bridge continuously extends the head ends of the leach piles via the discharging spreader conveyor. The bucket wheel reclaimer removes the leached out copper ore by shortening the leach tail end by continuous operation. The reclaiming bridge conveyor carries the material from the bucket wheel reclaimer to the reclaiming conveyor. Production is increased in having a smaller number of critical parts vital to the operation. Takraf's new generation mobile bridges increase the hours of continuous operations substantially.

All equipment at the Wanino terminal in Russia’s Khabarovsk region operates under extreme weather conditions. In wintertime from November until April, ice­breakers operate in the port and its access routes to free the waterways and quays from ice. The Wanino port is located within an earthquake area with magnitudes up to seven. The coal terminal has a stockpile capacity of four large stockpiles amounting to 1m tonnes, freight car defrosting halls, screening and crushing stations and belt conveyors. At the terminal 12m tonnes of hard coal will be handled annually. Vessels from 26,000dwt to 170,000dwt can be loaded. The coal supplied to the terminal by rail is unloaded by a wagon tippler. Unloading, however, can be difficult at freezing temperatures. That is why a defrosting tunnel equipped with modern infrared technology has been set up. After unloading, the coal is transferred to the stockpile where the stacker/reclaimer is installed. The reclaiming capacity of the equipment averages at 3,500t/hr. Furthermore, Takraf supplied 15 conveyors and two ship loaders. The system will be commissioned at the beginning of next year.

 

 

One of Takraf ’s projects similar to Wanino is the stockyard system for the coal terminal of the Ust­Luga sea­port in Russia’s Baltic Sea­region, 110km in the west of St Petersburg. The new Baltic Sea port Ust­Luga, with a planned annual handling capacity of 35m tonnes, will play a key role in Russia’s port infrastructure within the Baltic Sea region.
The first expansion stage of the Ust­Luga port comprised the construction of the port’s coal terminal. The terminal’s first section with an annual handling capacity of 1m tonnes, equipped with coal handling systems supplied by Takraf was commissioned in August 2003. The second expansion stage with an annual capacity of 3m tonnes, also using Takraf equipment, was completed in 2006. The coal terminal is scheduled to be operating at an annual handling capacity of 8m tonnes by the end of 2008. New ideas were developed together with the consulting company at the early planning phase to facilitate reliable coal handling. The coal was transported by railway about 4,000km across Russia.
Takraf was awarded a contract by Krutrade to supply one ship loader, four conveyor systems and one wagon tippler car and started assembling the complex in September 2003. A second contract was signed in December 2003 and comprised two stacker/ reclaimers, five conveyor systems, one wagon­traversing carriage, one tumbler de­dusting system and one crushing plant. The erection of all equipment was completed by January 2006 when the second part of the complex was commissioned. Recently, Takraf was awarded a further contract for the expansion of the coal terminal and will supply one ship loader with tripper car, seven conveyor systems for the wagon­tippler site and the sea­site, and diverse auxiliary equipment. The equipment is designed for a capacity of 3,500t/hr. Commissioning of the expanded complex is scheduled for May 2009.

 

 

(published in International Bulk Journal Issue 6, December 2007)