September 2012 www.Agg-Net.com 21 Hydrocyclone Harmony is of the same quality no matter which supplier it comes from, but this is not the case. There are many polyurethane screen- media suppliers in the market and the products they offer are all different. Ensuring maximum efficiency from your sand washing plant By Ben Winter, design engineer, CDE Global W hen considering hydrocyclone-base d sand washing plants there are several factors which should be considered to ensure minimum plant wear. The benefits of replacing inefficient bucket-wheel systems with hydrocyclone washing plants have been well documented. However, these operational efficiencies can be further enhanced by considering a number of key factors that can help reduce operating costs. Vertical vs inclined cyclones Plants which include an inclined hydrocyclone configuration generate excess wear on one side of the cyclone resulting in increased costs for spare parts and unnecessary plant downtime. This can be avoided by employing a plant with a vertical hydrocyclone arrangement. Consideration should also be given to the extent of the rubber lining within the hydrocyclone, as this is key to ensuring maximum wear resistance. CDE’s experience of sand washing around the world has led to the conclusion that a cyclone lined with 10mm of rubber offers the best solution. Cyclone discharge and feedbox A large rubber-lined feed box positioned to ensure the cyclone underflow is disch arged across the full width of the dewatering screen will maximize the screening area and ensure high-efficiency dewatering of the sand. It is also helpful if this feed box can be opened in order to monitor the cyclone discharge on to the dewatering screen. If the feed box is too small it will result in excess wear in the feed box itself as well a s on the dewatering screen. This will occur because all of the discharge impacts on the centre of the screen rather than being spread across its full width. Also, discharging the cyclone underflow on to the centre of the screen means that the full screening area is not being utilized, which results in the sand product having a higher moisture content than should be the case. Dewatering screen While polyurethane screen media is generally accepted as the only sensible choice for sand washing plants, it is important to consider the type of polyurethane selected as well as the set-up of the screening panels. Often, it is assumed that all p olyurethane Consider, too, how the dewatering screen panels will be secured in place. When using panels that have to be b olted into position it is important to take into account the reduction in screening area that this ‰
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.