Corn Lignin Filter Cake Metering Bin
This is an example of a solution to fix a corn lignin filter cake metering bin that is suffering from chronic bridging.
Why the Current Storage and Feed Arrangement is Suffering from Chronic Plugging and Inconsistent Discharge
The existing storage and feed arrangement consists of a long pyramid hopper with shallow walls that is discharged by a long chain conveyor. Filter cake falls through breaker bars into the hoppers, from where it is sheared from the bin by the chain conveyor.
The chain conveyor has a tendency to pull material from a short portion of the rear of the bin while compacting material at the front of the bin. The compaction is particularly problematic as it is leading to high loads being transferred to conveyor causing the conveyor to trip. The stagnant material at the front of the bin is permitted to gain strength both as a result of compaction from the conveyor as well as compaction under gravity. The result is that the material at the front of the hopper is permitted to gain significant strength, making it at risk of bridging over the conveyor.
Kamengo’s Solution
The solution involves replacing the existing lower hopper with a new plane flow hopper that is constructed with sufficiently steel sloping walls and lined with a low friction liner. Below the new hopper is a long and wide Kamengo Feeder that will feed onto the existing chain conveyor.
The advantage of the Kamengo Feeder is that, unlike the chain conveyor, it meters material evenly from the hopper’s full discharge outlet. In combination with correct hopper geometry, the Kamengo Feeder will produce a first-in, first-out discharge in the storage hopper. Of critical importance, the full weight of the stored lignin sits on the Kamengo Feeder with no vertical load placed on the chain conveyor, which will reduce wear on the conveyor as well as power needed to drive the conveyor. Further, the Kamengo Feeder will do all the metering and as such the chain conveyor will simply be used as a conveyor. A second advantage of the Kamengo Feeder is that it discharges evenly across its full discharge length and as such over the full length of the chain conveyor infeed, avoiding problematic surge loading, which could place a strain on the conveyor and cause it to trip.
Learn More
To learn more about the physics of storage bin and feeder design as well as the root causes of bin plugging, please download our white paper entitled: The Design of Reliable Storage Bins and Feeders for the Biomass Industry.