Asia’s largest bucket wheel excavator

Opencast mining and underground solutions provider, Tenova Takraf, has completed the supply and installation of a complete bucket wheel excavatorsystem for the Zhahanaoer coal mine in Inner Mongolia, China. The system, which features Asia’s largest combination of bucket wheel excavator, conveyor and spreader, was inaugurated with a celebration held onsite in late November 2014, attended by representatives of the client, CPI Mongdong Energy Group. The inauguration followed successful performance testing, which confirmed the high efficiency and reliability of the entire system and exceeded the expectations of all parties.

The system consists of a large-scale bucket wheel excavator SRs 2000 (rated capacity 6600 m3/h) with loading unit, a 7750 m long conveyor system, consisting of five flights, as well as a compact spreader with tripper car on rails. The bucket wheel excavator reaches 30 m digging height and, although it has a service weight of about 3300 t, it has a ground pressure much lower than that of a D11 dozer. In order to properly handle peak capacities, the conveyor system, as well as the spreade,r have a design capacity of 7900 m³/h. Those conveyors running along the excavator bench and along the waste dump are shiftable.

The project commenced in September 2009 with the bucket wheel excavator, spreader and conveyor system awarded in three stages from 2009 to 2011. The complete turnkey project covered design, supply, transport, onsite installation, commissioning and testing.

The project site is located approximately 700 km from Beijing in remote northern China, where the extreme climatic conditions see winter temperatures of down to -40 °C and summer temperatures of up to +40 °C. Despite this and other highly challenging conditions, the project teams achieved a smooth erection and commissioning process, completing the project on schedule in early November 2014.

The project is regarded as an important milestone in the development of China’s mining industry, typified by a trend towards larger-scale mines and mining equipment. It also provides a good example of successful German-Chinese-cooperation. For Tenova Takraf, the project continues its success with the supply of bucket wheel excavator to China, following the delivery of two systems to Yuanbaoshan in the 1990s.

Written by Tenova Takraf. Edited by Jonathan Rowland.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/mining/29012015/tenova-takraf-commissions-largest-bucket-wheel-excavator-in-asia-coal1813/