Feed Material Challenges On The Kumera Steam Dryer

Abstract:

Kumera Steam Dryer has been the predominant drying equipment for non-ferrous metal concentrates for new dryer projects of last decade. There has been a continuous need to accommodate to a wide variety of material characteristics such as moisture, grain/granulate size, abrasion wear, corrosion, ignition, mineralogy etc.Feeding of wet and sticky materials to the dryers is the first issue to be clarified. A specially designed Kumera Feeder was recently proven to be adequate to the materials of such nature. Some processes, like direct to blister copper, require very fine and homogenous feed material. In such cases the Kumera Steam Dryers can be integrated with a multi-layer screen to the rotating drum, which not only controls the particle size to the smelting furnace as needed by the process but also makes an easy set-up of the connected equipment in a limited plant area. This applies also for fractioning of materials either having a wide particle size distribution or being prone to pelletizing in the dryer.Abrasive wear of the pipe elements has been found in some dryers due to the free flow of dried concentrates and foreign objects. Chemical corrosion on the pipe elements by wet concentrates and other wet feed materials, like precipitates which has high halide content, can be a critical factor affecting the maintenance costs of the steam dryer.There are also other challenges, such as the risk of ignition when the dryers deal with thermally sensitive materials, like the hydro-metallurgical residues in which the elemental sulfur content is possibly high.These factors together with many others have been taken into consideration from the beginning of the engineering, allowing Kumera Steam Dryer a long lasting, cost-efficient and safe operation.

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