Page 79 - HUB-4 Issue 98

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Western Bio-Energy clean woodchip
with an ElectroMax Overband Magnet
Bunting Magnetics has supplied a powerful
ElectroMax Overband Magnet to Western Bio-
Energy to remove problematic ferrous metal
from woodchip. The air-cooled electromagnetic
Overband Magnet is removing a wide range of
small and larger sized tramp metal.
After an on-site review, Bunting Magnetics supplied a model
EMAX140 Electromagnetic Overband Magnet. The Overband
Magnet sites inline over the head pulley of a 1.2-metre-wide
conveyor handling an average of 22 tonnes per hour of wood
chip.
In operation, the wood chip is conveyed into the magnetic
field of the Overband Magnet, where any magnetically
susceptible metal is attracted by the strong magnetic field and
lifted out of the wood chip and onto a self-cleaning belt
before being automatically transferred and deposited into a
waste collection area. The inline position of the Overband
Magnet has the self-cleaning belt running in the same
direction as the conveyor, but at a higher speed. As the wood
chip flows over the conveyor’s head pulley, the burden breaks
enabling easier capture of smaller magnetics such as nails
and screws.
The ElectroMax Overband Magnet is fitted with a lightweight
and robust armoured belt to extend belt life. The armouring
on the rubber belt is comprised of high-density polyethylene
(HDPE) slats. Each slat is 100mm wide and 10mm thick, with
a length to suit the model of Overband Magnet. The slats are
fastened to the belt using special 304 stainless steel elevator
bucket bolts and Nyloc nuts.
Once separated from the conveyed wood chip, ferrous metal
falls into a waste collection area which contains a wide range
of small and large tramp metal including wire, large bolts,
flanges, and tools.
Figure 1 - ElectroMax Overband Magnet in situ on site
Bunting Magnetics is one of the world’s leading designers and
manufacturers of magnetic separators, eddy current
separators, metal detectors and electrostatic separators, with
globally located manufacturing facilities.
Western Bio-Energy Ltd operates a sustainably resourced
15.8MWh Biomass Power Plant exporting electricity to the
grid and is based in Margam, South Wales, UK. Established in
2007, the company generates power using different sources of
wood. This includes brash chip (e.g. foliage), whole tree chip
(complete with the canopy), RCF chip (e.g. pallets and clean
recycling wood), and virgin wood chip from just the tree log.
The nature of the material and process of supply means that
all sources of wood are potentially contaminated with a
varying degree of ferrous metal contamination. Such metal
can damage shredders, conveyors and other process plant, as
well as present a fire safety issue.
Figure 3 - Separated tramp ferrous metal
“The high-level separation performance of the EMAX
Overband Magnet has eliminating concerns about tramp
metal contamination at West Bio-Energy,” explained Ben
Clemett, Bunting’s Area Sales Manager.
Stand C9
Figure 2 - EMAX140 Overband Magnet over the 1.2-metre-
wide conveyor
www.hub-4.com May/June - Issue 98
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