Bulk Materials Handling and Storage
Bulk materials handling is an essential part of many industrial production facilities. It also represents an opportunity to improve productivity, minimise bulk materials losses during handling and transport and reduce environmental emissions through efficient design and engineering.
FEC has expertise in advising on bulk materials handling and storage solutions at mines, ports, industrial facilities and power generation facilities across the world. We can advise on the handling, processing, transportation and storage of a range of bulk materials including iron ore, iron ore concentrate and pellets, sinter, direct reduced iron, coking coals, steam coals, coke, ferro-alloys, fluxes, cement, copper concentrate, bauxite and other minerals.
The properties and behaviour of bulk materials varies significantly across production facilities and requires an in-depth understanding of these aspects in order to develop a solution that takes these into consideration in addition to the particular requirements of the production facility, port or loading/unloading terminal.
Our expertise in bulk materials handling includes storage and bulk handling facilities for transporting, stacking and blending of ore, coal and other bulk materials, homogenising facilities, pipeline transportation of slurries, pneumatic conveying, ship to shore/railway loading and unloading terminals, transhipment operations, road transport, general and special purpose cranes, automatic guided vehicles (AGV) and the use of special purpose vehicles for transporting molten metal/slag and heavy loads.
FEC can provide comprehensive concept development, specification and project management expertise for bulk materials handling for heavy industry covering:
- Belt and other specialist conveyor systems
- Bunkers, bins, silo and open bed bulk materials storage systems
- Crushing, grinding, beneficiation, blending and reclaiming
- Static and in-motion weighing
- Belt and vibratory feeders
- Rail, road and ship loading and unloading
- Aggregate and concrete products plant
- Off-highway loading and haulage equipment
- Mobile plant
- Batch and on-line sampling.
Our engineering and consultancy services for projects involving bulk materials handling include:
- Option studies to advice on the best configuration for material handling and transport ranging from high speed overland conveyor systems, bulk rail transport, road haulage trains and slurry pipeline systems
- Concept engineering and development of technical specifications
- Full tender management including development of enquiry documents, rendering, tender evaluation and recommendation of preferred suppliers
- Advice on electrical power systems and control and automation for materials handling systems
- Design reviews and technical audits
- Safety and risk assessment, including HAZOP studies
- Advice on minimising environmental impact of bulk materials handling, transport and storage systems
- Condition and maintenance reviews and optimisation for existing facilities
- Modernisation and upgrade solutions for existing bulk materials handling and storage systems.
The environmental impact of bulk material handling projects is of particular importance where financing is sought from financial institutions subscribing to Equator Principals where it must be demonstrated that the social and environmental impacts of a project are fully considered prior to the provision of project finance. With experience in providing consultancy services across heavy industrial facilities across a number of industries, FEC can provide support to project developers, investors and financial institutions to assess and minimise the potential environmental impact of bulk material handling and transport projects.