Jenike & Johanson, Minerals Industry Experience

With the changing global business environment, companies are being forced to be more efficient. Whereas in the past it may have been acceptable to dispose of the last 5% or so of a blended cement mix, or have a process shut down because of arching or ratholing problems in storage silos, now it is demanded that the process or plant operate more efficiently. The efficiency of a solids handling process is directly related to the process designer/supplier having a thorough understanding of how solids flow.

Mineral products, many of which are listed below, are complex materials to understand. They can range from relatively coarse, free-flowing rocks to fine, cohesive clay. Thus, one needs to know how to quantify a solid with respect to the process requirements, e.g., analyzing whether or not two-phase solids/gas flow characteristics are important. In some cases, a fine material cannot be handled in a contact bed state, but must be fluidized to achieve a desired flow rate. How to achieve a high flow rate and a high bulk density could be another issue if one is attempting to maximize the packaging density in a bagging operation.

Important to this industry and many other industries are issues such as material strength, boundary friction, two-phase flow, plant layout, silo design, conveying means, venting, how/when a material is mixed and subsequently discharged, etc. If you are currently experiencing solids handling difficulties, Jenike & Johanson can help you eliminate them. Or, if you are developing a new process or plant, we can utilize our industry-leading technology to help you avoid process upsets due to solids flow problems. The result: contracting us to provide sound engineering solutions will improve your process efficiency.

Some of the mineral problems we have analyzed/solutions we have provided:

Minimized alumina segregation [220K QuickTime video] in low, wide storage silos
Improved the flow performance of direct reduced iron ore at high temperatures and under a gas blanket
Maximized the reclaim capacity of asbestos stockpile
Provided a novel silo design for high strength clay materials
Developed a unique air-assisted discharger for increasing the packaging rate while maintaining a high bulk density with kaolin clay
Provided reliable silo designs for handling natural and synthetic gypsum
Minimized dust and segregation in cement storage equipment.

Case Studies

Client confidentiality prevents us from discussing most of our projects. The following case studies were written with the consent of our clients.

Problem	Material	Solution
New silo must provide mass flow	Dolomite lime	Redesign of proposed silo
Fluidized handling	Fine limestone and detergent ingredient	Two examples of fluidized handling
Need for high rate and density	Kaolin clay	Air-assisted discharger designed
Need for self-unloading cargo ship to handle cohesive materials	Wet ores, cohesive coals, dusty alumina, caking potash, mine-run gypsum	New robust hold configuration and gate design

Some of the mineral equipment we have designed and supplied:

Mass flow bin with splitter for limestone
Solids Pump™ (sealing screw) and slide gate for roaster bin feed isolation
Mass flow hopper, screw feeder, and conveying screw for limestone
Mass flow belt feeder interface for diatomaceous earth
BINSERT® bin with mass flow screw feeder for limestone
Air-assisted discharger for kaolin clay

Some of the minerals we have handled:

Altered Tuff
Alumina
Amorphous Silica
Asbestos
- Long Fiber
- Rock
- Short Fiber
Bauxite
- Calcined
Borax
- Anhydrous
Clay
- Ball
- Bentonite
- Extruded
- Kaolin
  - Calcined
  - Meta
  - Talc
Diatomaceous Earth
Dolomite
- Burnt
- Quicklime
Flint
Foundry Sand
Granite
Gravel

Gypsum
- Calcinated
Lime
- Burnt
- Caustic
- Chalk Mix
- Pebble
Limestone
Magnesite, Calcinated
Melamine
Mica
Potash Salt
Pyrite
Quartz
- Monzonite
- Sand
Quartzite
Quicklime
Refractory Ore
Rock Salt
Sand mixed w/
- Clay
- Flyash
- Soda Ash
- Tar
- Water, Oil

Shale
- Burned
- Briquettes, Calcined
- Sumas
Silica
- Gel
- Sand
Silicon
- Crystals
- Dioxide
Soapstone
Soda Ash
Stone Dust
Tungsten Oxide/Carbon Powder Mix
Volcanic Ash
Wollastonite
Zeolite
Zircon

A partial listing of the mineral processing companies with which we have worked:

American Olean
Armstrong World Industries
Cabot
Camargo Correa Industrial, Brazil
CertainTeed
Degussa, Germany
Elk Roofing
Engelhard
FMC

Fuller Company
Great Lakes Carbon
Harbison Walker
Lafarge
Lafarge Canada
Lockheed
Minproc Technologies
Negev Phosphates, Israel

Norwegian Talc, Norway
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Canada
Rotem Fertilizer, Israel
Solvay Minerals
Tamko
Tenneco Minerals
U.S. Borax & Chemical
U.S. Gypsum
Vulcan Materials
Westvaco

"Since the project was completed over a year ago, we have not had any problems. The bins more than meet our expectations. Their designs have proven to be very effective in preventing the flow problems which have plagued our clay processing operation in the past."

- Angelo Ciccariello, Sr. Project Engineer at Harshaw/Filtrol

"Bridging and arching of kaolin clay are common problems. Georgia Kaolin has had its share of feeding problems, especially in controlling the rate of feed into calciner kilns. A novel design of storage bins and feeders from Jenike & Johanson solved our feeding problems. In addition, a comparison of the original system with this new one shows the new system is simpler and cheaper."

- S. E. Valji, Manager of Operations at Georgia Kaolin