Signpost to Even Better Qualitiy and Performance

Profound laboratory analyses regarding the fracture behaviour of the native rocks as well as the technology applied resp. planned and an extensive data base resulting from decades of experience in this sector will assist users and clients alike in optimising their own processes.

As a traditional manufacturer and supplier of crushing and screening technology, SBM Mineral Processing possesses vast process technology expertise which is well-used for enhancing the company’s product lines as well as designing tailor-made comprehensive solutions. Thorough knowledge of the specific rock properties is nevertheless the most important precondition for the perfect layout and efficient operation of mineral processing plants. This applies across the industry to the production of raw materials, the processing of natural rocks and also to recycling applications with their often quite inhomogeneous primary materials. Apart from selecting the adequate crushing methods for the individual processing stages and integrating them into economically optimised processes, fine-tuning of the deployed components is the decisive factor regarding plant performance, product quality, and avoiding operating costs caused by more than-usual wear & tear or unnecessary high energy consumption.

SBM has always been assuring the required high practical orientation by paying particular attention to sampling and evaluating various primary materials and the production results obtained. In the in-house rock laboratory, specialists have not only been validating the efficiency of new or enhanced machines in accordance with relevant methods and often especially developed procedures already since 1986, but they also provide the basis for task-specific solutions offered by the SBM system designers. In the meantime, several thousands of these material inspections of the most diverse natural and industrial primary materials from all over the world have been documented and integrated into the SBM in-house software programme ILUAS as a data base.

To expand its service offer, SBM is now pooling these services formerly mostly carried out during projects under the label ‘SBM Technical Centre’ and makes them accessible to a broad range of interested parties via the SBM sales department and the international network of distributors. The focus is again on the evaluation of suitable processes, the validation of existing plants regarding profitability and/or sustainability, and especially the optimisation of productivity resp. marketability of the processed final products.

 

Specific equipment

The main focus of the laboratory analyses in the SBM Technical Centre is on the mechanical rock properties and the optimisation of the applied crushing processes resp. the upstream or downstream classification steps. Apart from typical devices such as drying oven, pycnometer, or screening machines (45 µm – 90 mm), the team of Technical Centre manager Michael Krapf is equipped with especially developed laboratory crushers for all common crushing processes to soundly examine the fracture behaviour of the rocks. This equipment comprises jaw crushers, horizontal and vertical impact crushers, roll crushers, and hammer mills. Due to sophisticated and extensive basic research, the unique machines developed by highly specialised experts reproducibly replicate the processes taking place in the large machines: The crucial circumferential speed of the extremely heavy rotors of impact crushers is for example simulated by means of high controlled speeds of the small laboratory crusher (more than 5000 rpm). The in-depth analysis of the crushing trials with the material from the customers – down to assessing the collected dust discharge –comprises both screening analyses of feed materials and laboratory crusher discharge and a crushability/abrasiveness test and allows a well-founded forecast both of the crushing results (grain-size distribution curve, particle shape, etc.) and the wear behaviour of the machinery under real-use conditions.

Sound data base

Clients of and persons interested in SBM know ILUAS as the abbreviation for ‘Intelligente Labor- und Auswerte-Software’ (intelligent laboratory and evaluation software) has been mentioned in the clear flowsheets of the complex mineral processing lines coming from Oberweis and Liezen for a long time. The SBM in-house software constantly refined since 2006 combines both the rock-specific properties of various natural and industrial primary materials and information regarding their respective processing, including test protocols as well as validated real-use results. For this reason, ILUAS is an essential first tool to choose new or assess existing processing procedures; additionally, test results or real-use observations can be profoundly assessed by ILUAS via a representative comparative basis.

The functions of ILUAS are constantly refined: Almost all test protocols including the corresponding reference data of the SBM Technical Centre are edited via the software. Today, the overall performance of highly complex processing plants can also be displayed via ILUAS. Changing individual parameters or components therefore shows the tolerance for optimisations already in an early planning phase.

Closely linked to practical experience

Michael Krapf, head of the new SBM Technical Centre, is also design manager for individual machines, which clearly shows how closely linked theory and practice are in the new service concept. “We do not want to provide our customers with yet more paper, we want to answer their vital questions; ‘How can I increase my overall production?’ – ‘How can I optimise the composition of my final product regarding customer demands?’ – Which possibilities do I have to make my existing production more profitable?” mentions Krapf but a few questions.

Close contact with the (possible) customers is especially important: “If required, we come directly to the plants with the Technical Centre laboratory bus, we assess the existing equipment and carry out tests with our mobile technology. In addition to the usual protocols, we also provide non-binding solution suggestions in the form of clear and precise dossiers,” summarises Krapf the service offer of the new SBM Technical Centre.