Canning Conveyor supplies two belt reeling stations for the EMAL project.

3rd January 2012

Canning Conveyor, bulk materials handling plant & equipment specialist has recently supplied two conveyor belt reeling stations to SENET in South Africa for their client Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) for a project near Abu Dhabi City.

Important strategic initiative:
EMAL is a state-of-the-art aluminium smelter complex contributing to the diversification and industrialization of the UAE economy by supplying the world with high quality metal, for the benefit of present and future generations. An important strategic initiative for Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the UAE, EMAL is a key component of Abu Dhabi’s diversification and industrialisation policy.

The aluminium complex is being built in two phases on a 6 square km site in the Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone in Al Taweelah, half way between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Production capacity:
 Phase one of the smelter commenced operations on 2 December 2009 and will have a production capacity of 750,000 tonnes of primary aluminium per annum with a product mix of sow, standard ingot, tee ingot, extrusion billet and sheet ingot. First phase costs were approximately 5.7 billion $US comprising of 756 reduction cells arranged in two potlines, an on-site 2,000 MW power plant, an anode manufacturing plant and multi-product cast house.

Phase Two when complete, will increase total production on the site to a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum, making EMAL the world’s most productive and highest efficient single-site aluminium smelter complex.

Bespoke machinery:
In supplying the two conveyor belt reelers for use with conveying systems installed at EMAL, Canning Conveyor designed, manufactured (with corrosion protection) and fully assembled the two bespoke machines, including  in-house testing prior to delivery to site.

Incorporated into a spider frame the 3.1 metre diameter Canning model C1800 powered belt reeling machine is designed to handle up to a maximum of 1800mm belt width, approximately 20mm thickness of type ST1000 transverse reinforced steel cord belting. The reeler is capable of pulling up to 1500 metres of steel cord belt from the conveyor, pulling the belt along the conveyor rollers and is suitable for reeling up to 400mm lengths.

The C1800 is driven by a 30Kw electric drive, braked geared motor via chain drive and is suitable for a power supply of 415v, 3 phases, 50Hz and is fully guarded to current H&S standards.

The second machine a non-powered reeler was manufactured was specifically designed by Canning Conveyor for this application and incorporated a 100W hand wheel and an applied and released side mounted disc brake which was sourced in Canada.
Both machines were manufactured to a very high customer specification and quality and were supplied with a 30kW control panel to IP65, wall mounted enclosure, MCCB, including overloads and push buttons.

The specification covered areas as paint finish, protection, instrumentation and control, electrical, local push button stations, electrical installations, site conditions and plan site operations and procedures.

The full design and manufacture took approximately 14 weeks and comprised of a full recommended spares package for the equipment, including full operating and servicing manuals.

The equipment installed by SENET is now fully operational. Bruce Watts- (Engineering Director) of SENET, commented, “The Canning Conveyor equipment was part of a complete alumina and coke handling import conveying system supplied by SENET. The belt reelers were used extensively during the installation stage of the project (phase one) and will be used again during phase two. Once this has been completed the equipment will be kept on site by the client to be utilised for conveyor belt replacement.”