Q: Please briefly explain your role, involvement and experience with regards to bulk materials handling
Nikheel Mistry, Bradley Pulverizer Company (NM): Over the past 5 years I have designed, developed, optimised, and commissioned various processes involved in flash drying, milling, ultra-fine grinding and air classification of bulk materials.
Eddie McGee, Ajax Equipment Ltd (EM): I’m MD of AJAX and we design and manufacture bespoke solids handling and processing equipment for all kinds of industries including waste and biomass sectors.
Garry O'Malley, Teesworks (GOM): I have been involved in bulk shipping and handling in a variety of roles within the ports and shipping industry for over 50 years. I have managed both multi product terminals (including dry bulks) and I have also managed pure bulk handling terminals.
Mike Bradley, The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology (MB): As professor of bulk and particulate technologies I run a specialist team providing consultancy, research and education services to industry.
Paul Sheerin, Enviva (PS): I am Disport Operations Director at Enviva, ensuring the quality and transportability of the company’s wood pellets from its production facilities to the customer. I closely work with Enviva’s industrial partners along the supply chain and have been with the company for six years. Prior to joining Enviva, I worked in supply chains for raw materials and automotive components for 30 years, predominantly blue-chip producers and multi-stage production companies.
Phil Jenkinson, N+P Group B.V. (PJ): I have worked exclusively in the power industry throughout my career, starting with large coal fired power plant and then transitioning through biomass conversion and energy from waste plant delivery. I continue to work with major coal, biomass and waste firing power plants alongside my current role working to upgrade non-recyclable residual waste to advanced engineered fuels to directly replace fossil fuels in existing industries. Bulk materials handling is a key aspect of the operation of these sites and differs significantly depending upon the nature of material being handled. This has a major deterministic impact on the design of the plant from fuel reception, feeding, combustion systems and waste product handling.
Richard Ellis, Schenck Process UK Ltd (RE): I’m the joint Managing Director of Schenck Process UK limited where I also lead the research and development of pneumatic conveying products and solutions for the global market. Over the last 30 years I’ve worked in sales, application engineering, project engineering and operations as well as R&D; often in an international environment.
Q: What is the top challenge facing your industry at present?
NM: Over the last couple of years there has been a push to reduce energy usage and push for net zero in all industries with material handling industry being no different. Lower energy usage results in lower running costs for operators. On top of this lower energy usage reduces the carbon footprint of products produced. For low value mineral products these are key factors to consider going forward.
EM: Trying to deal with awkward flow materials and often ones where quality control aspects are missing can give rise to unexpected handling experiences.
GOM: The top challenges facing the industry at present are many. These include Political uncertainty due to the ongoing war in Europe, high energy costs and increasing environmental pressures to reduce emissions and the costs related to this.
MB: As always, lack of skills and expertise amongst those who design, produce, procure, use, and manage bulk solids handling systems. It is a very specialist area of knowledge which comes into almost all manufacturing industries yet is not taught in the formal education of most engineers. As a result, many systems and equipment items are designed or purchased wrongly in relation to the materials they handle and the duties they are intended for, leading to poor performance and disappointment with the systems.
PS: Solid supply chains and sustainably sourced feedstock are key areas of focus for the industry as global demand for biomass is on the rise. The industry keeps growing, which comes with challenges around both areas.
PJ: Our industry is currently undergoing a transition to more environmentally friendly, sustainable and low carbon fuels which differ significantly from fossil fuel counterparts. The get the most from these varied materials their processing and upgrading is a key step in the value chain, both demanding specific materials handling system capabilities and resulting in a change in the way in which materials are handled during end use.
RE: Supply chain delays and rising costs are the main challenge facing the industry, closely followed by the availability of skilled people.
Q: How would you say your industry has evolved over the past two years?
NM: Over the last 2 years the industry there has been a movement to optimise existing processes. Products that were previously a waste product are being found to have more value once dried and milled into powder. This is particularly prevalent in the food industry. Also, with a finite amount of natural resources the industry today is pushing to recycle and reuse as much as possible.
EM: The industry is mature but recent developments in process have brought new materials and conditions to the fore which may draw on experience but also demand an innovative and pragmatic approach to working with these.
GOM: The industry is evolving as new concepts are developed with more energy efficient handling equipment to mitigate increasing energy costs. In addition further improvements to reduce if not eliminate dust emissions during the handling process.
MB: Retirement of many long-experienced engineers has left a gaping hole in expertise base with young and inexperienced people trying to tackle this important technology and not doing a very good job.
PS: The biomass industry has traditionally served the energy sector, providing a renewable, dispatchable alternative to coal and gas to provide power and especially heat. Amid increased urgency to tackle climate change and rising pressure to find solutions in particular for hard-to-abate industries, we are seeing a shift to the use of biomass in new applications, e.g., for the production of sustainable aviation fuel or green steel.
PJ: The industry is shifting all the time, the greatest recent push being the energy crisis of 2022/23. This has seen an ever-greater focus on obtaining best value from available resources whilst improving domestic energy security and minimising climate impact.
RE: In the last few years, the industry has started to look at opportunities to increase sustainability and environmental protection, in addition to starting to consider how digital solutions can reduce power consumption and increase plant reliability. There has also been a shift to more virtual meetings to avoid what in the past was very often international travel, which has advantages and disadvantages.
Q: What developments are going on in your industry that may have an impact on the development of future approaches to bulk materials handling?
NM: Air classification and milling are being found as lucrative markets for the optimisation of existing processes. In the future, these technologies could be widely used for various technologies.
EM: A strong focus on operational reliability and flexibility means that clever design work based on understanding material being handled is becoming ever more important.
GOM: Developments in the industry that will have an impact are more automation, increased loading / discharging speeds and with easier access to carry out maintenance.
MB: Research into reducing energy consumption of handling systems, especially pneumatic conveyors which use as much energy as all the light cars on the road, and also the increasing use of waste and biomass materials as feedstocks. Many of these materials are especially difficult to engineer satisfactory handling systems for at affordable cost.
PS: The industrial use of biomass will likely move from the current model of large scale users to one that includes small and medium size users. This means that the supply chains will need to be set up to support these users which will require different materials handling solutions.
PJ: Presently there is a drive to improve the circularity of waste management systems and transition from current mass burn incineration of residual waste, which typically involves little or no upgrading of black bag rubbish. This process aims to improve handling qualities and allow emulation of existing bulk handling supply chains for coal and biomass.
RE: The main developments are looking at how to reduce the power consumption of pneumatic conveying, and how to build more process monitoring and instrumentation into the equipment in order to understand where improvements or optimisations can be made.
Q: What will you be presenting at the Bulk Handling for Net-Zero seminar and how will this benefit participants?
NM: Reducing emissions in the size reduction industry. This will show participants how existing processes can be optimised to help reduce emissions and cost per tonne of material.
EM: I'll be talking about the characteristics of materials which are relevant for flow and describe some case studies where the challenges have been met with screw technology.
GOM: I will be presenting on the current project I am working on which is the demolition, decontamination and land remediation of the former Redcar Steelworks and the redevelopment of the site around green energy including Carbon Capture & Storage. Adjacent to the site a new port facility is being built to meet the requirements of the offshore wind industry including manufacturing, marshalling and load out services for planned North Sea Wind Farms.
MB: As chair, I’ll be taking a look at the landscape and touch some of the latest developments.
PS: I will discuss the benefits of biomass, and the role of bioenergy in reaching our climate goals.
PJ: I will present on the missed opportunities inherent in our current waste management sector, especially energy from waste systems. This will show how residual wastes can be processed such that best value can be taken from their use in a circular economy and open massive opportunities to improve the sustainability, security and carbon intensity of our energy system. This inherently has a significant impact on bulk material handling application with both the waste management and end use sectors.
RE: I’ll present the work we are doing on how to minimise the power consumption of pneumatic conveying, which often has additional benefits in reducing particulate material damage and equipment wear, all of which reduces the burden on the environment of processing different materials.
Q: Which other speakers and presentations are you looking forward to hearing at the forthcoming seminar?
NM: Energy from waste – How to harness missed opportunities.
EM: All the speakers and presentations look interesting with a good mix of overviews and detailed topics, should make for a great event. Also, keen to take part in the interactive discussions to try and turn some of the challenges into opportunities for success.
GOM: Richard Ellis – Innovative approach to pneumatic conveying to reduce energy consumption.
Mike Bradley – Future thinking from the Bulk Materials Handling Committee.
MB: Paul Sheerin of Enviva talking about the evolution of biomass resource and demand.
PS: I am looking forward to getting an insight into each of the wide range of topics that are being discussed. Some of which are areas that I have not previously had exposure to. Related to my own industry I am particularly interested in the talks on “pneumatic conveying” and “reducing carbon footprint in bulk materials handling”.
RE: Phil Jenkins, Energy from Waste.
Allan Barton, Setting the sustainability scene.
Paul Sheerin, Utilising Biomass in operations.
Q: Why is it important for engineers and industry to come together at this event and share best practice?
NM: With changes of climate change being felt daily, it is important for industry to come together to assess options to improve efficiency of processes and reduce the emissions created from them. This is to ensure vital products are still made at reasonable cost without detrimental effects to the environment.
EM: Sustainability is not just a buzz word it’s a progressive activity to help deal with global challenges and ensure a sensible and long-term approach is taken in industry to be best serve society as whole.
GOM: It is important for engineers and industry to come together at events such as this in order to share their experiences and ideas on what the industry needs, what is currently available in the market and what designers / suppliers may have in the pipeline. It is also an opportunity for the industry to express their requirements and their problems to possibly find solutions for existing bulk handling equipment and also provide design engineers with the data they need to future concept designs.
MB: Because the continued widespread poor performance of solids handling equipment, especially that used for waste and renewable bulk solids, causes millions of pounds of losses in under-performance of plants, down-time and retrofit costs. Statistics show that most novel solids processing projects fail to meet the user’s expectations, and cost and time over-runs are staggeringly high.
PS: If we are serious about achieving our climate goals, we must collaborate and share best practices in optimizing sustainable supply chains, improving operations, and implementing new, clean technologies. Hearing about experiences in other industries and organisations is an extremely valuable tool to identify opportunities to further advance these efforts.
PJ: As industrial processes undergo the most significant transition seen since the industrial revolution it is imperative that all sections of industry work collaboratively to identify and act on opportunities that exist to minimise our environmental and carbon impacts. This is especially so as this transition will now take place in an energy and resource constrained world whilst the need for both continues to rise.
RE: I believe people have to come together and exchange information and ideas in order to create new ideas or solutions. Nobody can create everything on their own, and very often somebody has solved the same or similar problem already, so we can move quicker if we know how they did it.
The Bulk Handling for Net-Zero seminar will be taking place on 7 March 2023 at the Argyll Ruane Engineering Training Centre in Sheffield.
To book your place, please visit www.imeche.org/bulkhandling.