Plant operators want to eliminate dust and spills on belts and transfers as well as minimise maintenance requirements of the conveyor system. Further, the ability of plants to efficiently cope with the challenges of moist and sticky materials related to quarrying is also desired.

Materials handling equipment specialist BLT WORLD’s contact-free Airscrape conveyor belt skirting system – developed by Scrapetec – has been designed to deliver on these requirements.

The “highly-efficient system” prevents dust formation, reduces material spill, enables thorough belt-cleaning and minimises the risk of explosion at critical sections along the conveyor route and transfer points. BLT WORLD adds that an important advantage is that the system – unlike conventional systems – is also proven to work perfectly well with moist and sticky materials.

“Airscrape is a highly effective side seal that lies over the conveyor belt, without contact, and creates negative pressure on the belt, owing to its specially-designed lamella structure. Because this system hovers freely above the conveyor belt, skirt friction and belt damage are eliminated and service life of every component of the conveyor is extended.”

Airscrape has solved the problems of moist and sticky conditions in many industries, the company stresses. An example of this system’s success can be seen at a processing plant which specialises in processing slag and ashes from waste incineration plants into usable raw materials.

“Prior to the installation of Airscrape at the plant, the team had to spend hours each day cleaning the belt periphery and all transfer points, from unplanned material spills,” explains BLT WORLD MD Ken Mouritzen.

“The operations manager had previously tried various methods to cope with annoying material spills in the plant’s moist and sticky environment, without success. Airscrape’s six-week trial operation period showed that, although cleaning at critical points is necessary once a week, the majority of time previously spent cleaning is now available for productive work at the plant.”

Mouritzen notes that the plant’s solutions for processing slag and ash from waste incineration plants into usable raw materials involves recovering all metal components from what remains after incineration using a special absorption, desorption and regeneration (ADR) process. Marketable mineral recycling fractions are then produced from residual ash, which can be used as aggregates in the non-structural concrete products industry.

“The fact that it is possible, through (ADR) technology, to process ash with a high moisture content directly from incineration, is a real advantage for metal recovery, but more of a curse for further processing of the remaining minerals into mineral aggregates. Nevertheless, this process is important, because on average, ash contains about 80% stone, glass and ceramic contents.”

He adds that the Airscrape system – which was installed over four months ago – has exceeded customer expectations. “This system works efficiently, even with difficult materials and significantly reduces material spills on belts and transfers.”

BLT WORLD specialists provide an assessment and solutions service to customers in diverse sectors, for planning and implementing projects. It also offers technical advisory and support services to enhance the performance of every system.