India flight conveyor represents TAKRAF milestone in materials handling
A 19 km overland conveyor system, designed and installed by the TAKRAF India office, for the greenfield Utkal Alumina Project includes the longest single flight conveyor system to be installed within Indian territory to date. Utkal Alumina is a 100% subsidiary of Aditya Birla Group company Hindalco. The project is in Tikri in the Rayagada district of Odisha and comprises a 1.5 Mt/y alumina refinery, the Baphlimali bauxite mines with reserves lasting for over 25 years, and a captive co-generation power plant of 90 MW.
The contract, from Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL), called for an overland conveyor system to transport 4.5 Mt/y of bauxite through challenging, undulating terrain from the the mines to the new alumina plant. In its final configuration, the system comprises two single flight conveyors of 14.5 km and 3.6 km in length, respectively. The 2,850 t/h conveyor system has a drop of 250 m and passes through some 45 crossings over its total span of travel from material loading to discharge.
The scope of the project covered design, engineering, procurement and fabrication, through to site erection, commissioning, performance guarantee testing and handover. All civil and structural work was included and an intermediate transfer point and unloading station, including silos and buildings, were supplied, complete with electrical and instrumentation systems. Performance guarantee testing was carried out over nearly one week, with the system consistently achieving its present capacity of 1,500 t/h.
The execution of the project drew on the global overland conveying expertise of TAKRAF Group, with the length of the required conveyor system and the challenging topography along the conveyor path calling for multiple, very tight compound horizontal and vertical curves.
Advanced material flowability testing and modelling were used in the design of the transfer chutes at the intermediate transfer point and the plant end junction house to minimize risks such as environmental pollution and spillage, accelerated belt wear and blockages.
In erecting the conveyor system, attention was placed on accommodating and minimising disturbance of the population of the various villages through which the conveyor system passes. TAKRAF India also placed particular focus on safety, strictly conforming both to TAKRAF’s global promise of zero harm and to the client’s safety protocols.
Gopal Kalyanakrishnan, Managing Director, TAKRAF India, commented: “This challenging project called for state-of-the-art design and engineering expertise, as well as focus on maintaining the highest standards of safety, fabrication and installation. The team must be congratulated on this considerable achievement, which represented another ‘first’ for TAKRAF.”
