- Material Flow Control. Bulk material handling systems for solid sulphur suffer breakage and dust issues because the transfer points or receiving hoppers have not been designed to consolidate the material flow and limit drop heights. The result is material loss, spillage, emissions, flow restrictions, blockages and equipment damage.
- Sulphur Characteristics. When sulphur is formed from molten to solid form (slate, flake, pastille, wet prill, granular), the solid form adopts a friable characteristic. Many factors can affect the degree of friability. When handling a friable flammable material like sulphur, special design considerations are required.
- Dust Suppression or Control. Knowing the difference between suppression and control is commonly overlooked.?Suppression involves wetting the dust particles to make them heavier and returning the material back to the main material stream. Control involves removing dust particles from the main material stream. In many cases, the particles can and should be returned into the main material stream as this avoids the associated burdens of collecting sulphur dust and the subsequent waste stream.
- Molten Sulphur Storage. Many facilities suffer from sulphur storage tank corrosion and internal tank fires leading to catastrophic incidents. Normal operating emissions are also usually uncontrolled. Emissions can be H2S, SO2 and S particulates.?Proper material selection, heating systems and gas scrubbing systems are critical in avoiding operational and environmental problems.
- Waste Stream Management. Often an afterthought, adequate remelting systems are not part of the plan when designing a sulphur handling facility. There is going to be spillage and contamination of sulphur at your facility. The magnitude varies from location to location. Without a dedicated system to recycle sulphur, companies spend good money on landfills. Recycling sulphur is cost-effective and environmentally sound.
- Solid Sulphur Storage. Storage design is often assumed from industrial bulk material handling experience that involves other types of common materials. Frequently the characteristics of solidified sulphur are not considered. The solid sulphur outer surface cools when formed and an insulated shell encapsulates the core. Heat is retained inside the solid form. When the material is delivered to a silo or flat storage that heat is gradually released into the stockpile. This leads to material caking and increased friability or ageing of the bulk material.
- Poor Equipment Selection. Equipment or technology should be selected that has a proven track record with sulphur handling. The equipment should be suitable for handling friable material. Equipment with sufficient sealing against sulphur dust ingress should be used. Handling the solid sulphur as gently as reasonably possible should be considered.
- Transfer Points. A transfer point is when the bulk material transitions from one piece of equipment to another within an overall handling system. When handling solid sulphur the number of transfer points should be the absolute minimum in order to reduce breakage and dust generation.?
- ?Bulk Loading/Unloading.?When loading a bulk truck or rail wagon the bulk material is often allowed to free-fall from the loading chute down to the container. This fall allows air to enter the material flow and when the material hits the bottom of the container a tremendous amount of displaced air is forced upward carrying all the small dust particles with it. Furthermore, the sulphur suffers breakage from the fall and more dust will be airborne as the material carries through the receiving handling systems.
- Inadequate Maintenance. Maintenance on the material handling system is often neglected for a variety of reasons ranging from poor maintenance access to overall mismanagement of the facility. As a result, Items such as conveyor belt scrapers, ploughs, dust suppression spray nozzles, bearings, instruments etc., are not inspected, adjusted, cleaned or replaced as often as required.?
