Vibra Screw to Supply Equipment for Chinese
Coal Liquefaction Plant to Meet Surging Energy Demand
Performance and accuracy under demanding
conditions key
to operational success
TOTOWA, NJ -- Vibra Screw, Inc., a leader in
solids processing and solids handling solutions, has been awarded
a mid-six-figure contract with the People’s Republic
of China to supply Bin Activators and Heavy
Duty Feeders for
a coal conversion plant in Inner Mongolia, it was announced
by Gene Wahl, Vibra Screw President.
The owner of the plant is Shenhua Coal, Co., Beijing; it was
designed by Axens International, Princeton, NJ, and plant procurement
was handled by Sinopec Engineering, Beijing. The actual purchase
of the Vibra Screw equipment was handled by Govoni Sim Bianca
Impianti, SpA, Italy, who are supplying most of the equipment
for the plant.
The coal plant is the first of a planned total of five facilities
that will help to meet the rapidly increasing demand for energy
concurrent with the 14% growth rate in the Chinese economy.
According to Mr. Wahl, the equipment will be used to take
coal out of silos and transport it so that it can be mixed
with a catalyst in order to produce a more thermally efficient
material that will be used to generate electricity.
“The process involves pre-wetting pulverized coal with
a catalyst before it is mixed with more liquid catalyst in
large mix tanks,” he explained. “The coal, which
has a high bulk density, bridges in storage and will not flow
unaided. Once flow has been accomplished, the coal must then
be accurately metered and weighed against the end products
to ensure efficiency of the process. Since pulverized coal
is very difficult to meter, the accuracy of the feed system
is critical to the entire operation, which will run at literally
thousands of tons a day.”
Controlled vibration in the Vibra Screw Bin
Activators will
keep the coal moving without interruption from the storage
silos into Vibra Screw Heavy
Duty Feeders which will deliver
the coal accurately into impact weighers. Accuracy of the Heavv
Duty Feeders will also be achieved by controlled vibration,
which densifies material, assures uniform filling and emptying,
and controls the tendency of the coal to fluidize.
The Vibra Screw equipment to be used includes Bin
Activators and HD-2
Heavy Duty Feeders made of extra thick abrasion resistant
steel. Three of the feeders are 16” in diameter, and
one is 14”.
“Two factors of vital importance to the success of the
operation are uniform flow of coal into the process, and accuracy
of the feed system,” Mr. Wahl continued. “The performance
of Vibra Screw Bin Activators and Heavy Duty Feeders, which
have already been proven in similar applications in a coal
conversion plant in the U.S., will help to keep conversion
rates high as 95%, providing an efficient and cost-effective
way of generating electricity.”
With a staff of experienced and talented engineers and technicians,
Vibra Screw manufactures high quality equipment to store, discharge,
meter, convey, size and blend solid materials.
The company’s comprehensive product range includes bulk
bag unloaders and fillers, volumetric
feeders, bin activators,
vibrating feeder/conveyors, loss-in-weight
feeders, storage
pile activators, live
bottom bins, live bins, continuous
blenders,
screeners, controls, and turnkey systems.
For more information, contact Vibra Screw, Inc. by phone at
973-256-7410, by fax at 973-256-7567, by e-mail at info@vibrascrew.com,
or visit the company’s web site at www.vibrascrew.com.
