Productivity increase at Purfleet

Situated right next to the River Thames, Hanson’s Purfleet Works manufactures and supplies GGBS (Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag) to the South East of England, the South Coast and East Anglia. It can produce 1 million tonnes of GGBS per year. The facilities at Purfleet include two closed circuit ball mills and a vertical roller mill that require a consistency of raw material feed. As part of an on-going investment programme at Purfleet, Hanson commissioned Fairport Engineering to undertake the first phase of a small but vital project to improve the raw material intake facilities.

With the final intention of replacing the storage bunker shown in the background of the photograph above, the new feed hopper and ramp shown in the foreground is the first part of this project. Our next phase, the bunker is likely to be removed and replaced with a second feed hopper and ramp.

The new system includes a reinforced concrete access ramp that will allow front end loaders to deposit raw material into a 30t (nominal) capacity Hardox lined hopper before being metered, at up to 200t/h, by a vibrating feeder, onto an exiting conveyor belt feeding the GGBS plant. The entire installation was completed in some 6 weeks from start on site to commissioning without any undue interference with operation of the existing facilities.