Sugar transfer during a silo cleaning operation. The case of Cristal Union.
Recently, as part of a sugar silo cleaning operation, the cooperative sugar group CRISTAL UNION trusted us to ensure the transfer of sugar and the filling of its bulk trucks.
A simple need: to evacuate the sugar and then fill the trucks located outside the buildings.
With a daily capacity of 1,700 tonnes of sugar, the Bazancourt site, located in the Grand Est region (France), is one of the largest French sites of the Cristal Union group. It was for this site that we were asked to provide handling solutions for a silo cleaning operation. As a result of a significant accumulation of crystal sugar deposits on the walls of the silo, several tonnes of sugar had to be evacuated. This operation consisted of getting back the sugar from the bottom of the silo, transferring it to the outside and loading it into trucks in a particularly cramped environment.
Cristal Union’s expectations concerned the simplicity of the proposed solution, compliance with internal safety rules and respect for delivery deadlines. Indeed, the sugar group wanted to be in possession of the equipment quickly in order to begin the cleaning operations planned over several months.
The configuration of the site is the main constraint.
At the sugar factory site, the silo is emptied via a circular conveyor belt that connects several drop-off points. The customer needed to receive the sugar from the conveyor belt in order to fill the trucks located 18 meters away.
The customer had 2 constraints related to the configuration of the buildings. The first was the height of the circular belt. The equipment installed to receive the sugar could not exceed a height of 800mm. The second constraint was the dimensions of the exit door, which was 2 metres by 2 metres and located 5 metres away.
In this type of situation, we know that it is not always easy for the customer to find a simple and effective solution. This is why we regularly visit the site, as was the case here, to draw up the implementation plans and to validate the proposed solution with the customer.
Mobile belt conveyor rental as a response to customer needs.
To meet the customer’s needs, a 6Mx600mm and a 12Mx600mm conveyor belt, each with a round hopper and end chute, were delivered.
The mobile belt conveyors offer the advantage of simplifying conveying operations. They were mobile and could be quickly positioned to adapt to the constraints of the site, without having to make any changes on the site. The 6M belt conveyor was tasked with conveying sugar out of the buildings. The angle of inclination offered by the 12m belt conveyor made it easy to fill the trucks.
Offering to rent the equipment was a second response to the customer’s needs. With 2 stocks located less than 3 hours away, we were able to deliver to the customer within the desired period. Very popular with our customers, rental allows us to meet your temporary needs.
We conduct interviews to ensure your satisfaction.
When the operations are completed, we conduct interviews with our customers to ensure that they are satisfied and that the operations went as planned. These interviews also allow us to identify improvements, as was the case with our client Cristal Union. In particular, the customer recommended that we propose to cover the belt to improve the safety of the operations area. This is a recommendation that we are going to study and, why not, integrate it into the options that we propose in the future.
