112
| WORLD FERTILIZER |
NOVEMBER 2016
Portable bagging units are standard made in 10, 20 or
40 ft containers with capacities of 20 – 80 tph. There are
approximately 10 different types of small bagging lines
available for 20 – 50 kg bags. For the big bag lines, EMT has
12 different machine types.
As is generally required in the fertilizer industry, the
company also supplies transport equipment, such as
elevators, belt conveyors and chain conveyors. The
company’s newest developments are coating systems to
add micronutrients or inhibitors to the fertilizer.
The conveyor systems and elevators offered are
movable, either by wheels (incline conveyor) or in the top,
to fill the boxes. Truck/train discharge units and pits are
also supplied.
Fertilizer screening forms part of the machine package,
covering lump and dust removal from fertilizers. For
warehouse filling, the EMT engineers make 3D drawings to
present to the customer.
Optiblend
EMT has developed different software packages, for
example Optiblend, to make cost-effective calculations
for fertilizer blending. Optiblend is an optimisation
programme designed to help customers make the correct
formulations with the lowest costs. A complete product
analysis is calculated, including the NPK value and all
required micronutrients.
The programme is available at farmers’ level, analysing
crops, organic fertilizers, soil quality, manure and mineral
fertilizer. From this, a field hectare or acre calculation can
be made based on the farmer’s information, ensuring that
the correct quantities of fertilizer are applied. When using
the Optiblend programme in combination with the blender
system, the correct quantity of fertilizer can be spread
onto the field, which reduces costs and environmental
pressure.
Global installations
A major project was recently installed for ATA in Ethiopia,
which consisted of four production factories for blending
and bagging. ATA promotes the agricultural industry and
works with local cooperatives and agricultural distribution
centres. In these factories, EMT installed a Weighcont
blender line, bagging lines and box fill conveyors, including
lump breakers. Following the installation, ATA could fill
bags at a rate of 50 tph and blend with a capacity of
100 tph.
A similar project has been installed in Rwanda and
other African countries, and Agron, in South Africa, has
recently installed one Weighcont blender, one Shamrock
blender and a few bagging lines for small and big bags, as
well as warehouse filling equipment. In 2015, EMT installed
a warehouse box filling system and Weighcont blender line
at Ekompany in the Netherlands. The company's control
system automatically fills the raw material at the factory,
where the customer processes slow release coatings for
the fertilizer granules.
Case study: Thailand
In September 2015, Yara Thailand signed a contract with
EMT for the supply of machines for 25 – 50 kg filling bags,
fertilizer coating and a transport system of portable
conveyors to fill the bagging line directly from river barges.
The project was designed and developed to meet
technology, health and safety regulations.
Before the machines were installed by EMT, the bagging
process was conducted manually, which required a large
workforce. Additionally, the accuracy of the weighing
process needed to improve in order to reach Yara’s
required standards and quality.
EMT constructed, delivered and installed the machine
line in 2016. 16 x 40 ft high cube containers were shipped
from the EMT factory in the Netherlands to Thailand. EMT
has its own design engineers so the machines were
modularly built and bolted together in the existing
warehouse of the customer. This meant no civil works to
the building or concrete floor structure were required.
Eight fully-closed stainless steel conveyors were
supplied. These conveyors were mounted on wheels and
are used to transport the fertilizer over the quay from the
barge to the bagging lines. Two stainless steel harbour
intake hoppers were also supplied. When the fertilizer
enters the warehouse, three screens with lump breakers
Figure 1.
A high-speed twin big bag filling system installed
in a Koch factory, France, with a capacity 140 tph for 500
to 1200 kg big bags.
Figure 2.
View of the Yara Thailand product intake
machines with three elevators and three bagging hoppers
with six bagging lines.
