Specialist contractor Bürkert Fluid Control Systems has developed an effective means of suppressing dust from coal processing and transportation.
The innovation has managed operational and occupational health and safety issues with dust and is a finalist in the 4th Annual Australian Mining Prospect Awards.
More than 9 Mtpa of feed coal is mined at the Mt Thorley Warkworth operation and delivered to the Coal Preparation Plant.
Due to the movement of considerable volumes of coal, dust suppression in these areas is critical, and is typically achieved by wetting coal with water.
This water is recycled and reused.
Bürkert installed the 2000 series angle seat valve, pneumatic actuated, with the closed coupled series 331 solenoid valve, which is suitable for occasional water laden pneumatics.
Mt Thorley Warkworth has been using the Bürkert valves on the coal feeder dust suppression system for two years now, with no failures from the production side.
The air and water lines of the dust suppression system are connected to PLCs
at Mt Thorley which is controlled via SCADA for complete automation of the dust suppression system.
The Bürkert valves were patched into existing site network topography, to minimise hardware costs.