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Case Study - Ravensdown Fertilizer
Awatoto, No 2 Den Belt 0761M, Applied Conveyor
History:
Back in 1999 when Applied Conveyor first set up to supply quality Apex Fenner belt we were fortunate enough that the engineers and maintenance people saw some merit in using a quality product, however, it is difficult to justify a 20-30% price difference on a "saleman's pitch". Pricing was only part of the picture, the aim was to reduce belt maintenance costs, plan maintenance, reduce downtime and increase plant availability.
Situation:
The fertilizer industry, and particularly manufacturing/granulation, is very hard on equipment. The product is hot, sticky, abrasive and dusty - all of these could occur in the same day. Applied Conveyor set about doing a conveyor audit, logging belt lengths, widths, ply ratings, idler styles, drum diameters, drum laggings, splice details, belt speeds and tonnes per hr. Then all belt change outs were recorded and monitored to gauge life. Some belts were changed from 3ply 4x1.5 to 3ply 5x1.5 and 4ply 6x2. Whilst the design checks said 3ply was strong enough, 4ply gave extra rubber cover thickness which extended belt life. The No2 Den belt is probably one of toughest applications in the plant. This belt handles hot product straight out of the Den, there is a combination of heat (90oC) and sticky product which causes carry back which drops on the floor, builds up on rollers and tracks the belt off. We installed an Apex Quarrymaster II belt, 3ply initially, then 4ply as volume and plant availability increased. The best life was 15months, the worst was 11 months from the Apex Fenner belt. We would add that belt quality helped extend the operating life. Ravensdown also had a maintenance plan to take advantage of the extra quality that continually improved manufacturing conditions, uniformity of product, improved transfer points and reduced spillage.
During this time to check progress a Korean 4ply 5x2 N grade belt was tried which lasted 5 months, then a Skellerup Quarrier belt was tried which lasted 6 months. At this point the cost effectiveness of Apex Fenner Quarrymaster II became obvious. This has lead to the development of a belt specifically for the fertilizer industry, FERTMASTER PN 500/3 4X2 SPECIAL COVERS.
| Belt | Supplier | Length | Price per/m | Life Mths | Effective Price per/m | Belt Cost for 12 Mths | Splice Cost for 12 Mths | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4P PN150 5x2 | Korean/Taiwanese | 79.8 | 80.00 | 5 | 192.00 | 15321.60 | 800.00 | 16121.60 |
| 4P PN150 5x2 | Skellerup/ Viking Quarrier | 79.8 | 81.60 | 6 | 163.2 | 13023.36 | 800.00 | 13823.36 |
| QMII PN630/46X2 | APEXFENNER | 79.8 | 105.00 | 12 | 105.00 | 8379.00 | 400.00 | 8779.00 |
| FERTMASTER PN500/3 4x2 | APEXFENNER | 79.8 | 105.97 | 21 | 60.40 | 4819.90 | 400.00 | 5219.92 |
The benefits of Apex Fenner QUALITY and a belt designed to suit the application.