Belt Press Re-commissioning

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Belt presses are often operating poorly for a number of reasons. The main areas are mechanical problems, process problems, adjustments, and last but not least, personnel attitudes and procedures.

The mechanical problems which can cause poor performance in a belt press are usually only minor, and are easily rectified. In some cases, the problem is not with the press itself, but in ancillary systems which may or may not have been initially selected and installed correctly. The selection of the belt itself can be a problem if the operating conditions have changed, or, as commonly happens, the filter belt has been selected on the basis of price rather than process considerations.

The tuning and setting of the press is related to the process, and can be compared to the tuning of a musical instrument. Properly tuned, an instrument will produce lovely music, but out of tune and played badly, you have noise. Sometimes, over the years, either the material being dewatered changes, or successive operators make adjustments which cause the press to operate poorly.

If the process has changed, it may be necessary to change the polymer flocculant, the filter belt, and the press settings, including belt speed, throughput, and pressure settings.

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Re-commissioning Services

Step 1 - Mechanical Equipment Rectification

We usually recommend a two-step process in providing re-commissioning services. In the first step, we identify mechanical problems and/or missing equipment and recommend the rectification work required. As this process of rectification can sometimes take time, it is usually beneficial to do the tuning and training after the mechanical work is complete.

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Step 2 - Tuning and Training

In the second step, assuming that mechanical problems have been eliminated, we address the process considerations and retune the press system. Allied to, and a critical part of the retuning, is training of the operators. If the operators assist in the retuning process, they learn the decision-making that goes into the adjustment process, and can then do further tuning on their own
in the future.

Sometimes, the problems of the belt press result from process steps upstream of the belt press. During the tuning process we can identify if this is occurring and make suggestions to improve the situation.

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