AUMUND Steel Plate Conveyor improves handling of Red-Hot Pellets at Grange Resources, Australia

How can 500 tph of hardened iron ore pellets at 750°C be conveyed freely and continuously from the shaft furnace to the cooler? This was the question Grange Resources (Tasmania) Pty Ltd. was mulling at its pellet works in Port Latta. The solution was provided by AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH supplying an AUMUND Pan Conveyor type KZB-H..

The AUMUND Steel Plate Conveyor type KZB-H designed for hot material
up to 1,000°C, at a length of 92 m and a plate width of 1,000 mm, will replace the existing belt conveyor at Grange, which previously had to have its belts changed approximately every 40 days, increasing production costs due to
the frequent stoppages, on top of the expense of the new belts and the
labour to change them.

One of the big challenges for AUMUND Fördertechnik was the difference in dimensions of the new Steel Plate Conveyor and the previous belt conveyor. It is important that the process stages are connected by optimised technical solutions because any shut-down of this conveyor would immediately stop the operation of the whole plant. The engineers of the AUMUND Metallurgy Division explained the design and process solution in a day-long evaluation meeting. This approach gave the AUMUND specialists an advantage over the competition. Another decisive factor in winning the order was accompanying the customer on visits to two reference plants.

Commissioning of the AUMUND Steel Plate Conveyor in Port Latta in north-west Tasmania is planned for April or May this year.