New greenfield plants pick high-end crusher

“These two plants have both aimed to be one hundred percent modern, top of the line facilities. A lot of research went into the equipment choices and they decided that the Strike-Bar Crusher was the best pick for dealing with the raw materials in both locations, although they do differ a bit in composition,” says Henrik Peter Sørensen, Sales Manager, FLSmidth.

Versatility at the forefront

Not all raw materials are alike, and the composition and lump size can vary considerably from site to site. Global Product Line Manager, Peter Jeppesen, explains that the Strike-Bar Crusher was designed using many learnings from the well-established FLSmidth EV™ Crusher and, from its inception, was built to be versatile.  

Fast installation

The innovative design also facilitates quick initial set-up of the crusher. At the Xuan Thanh cement plant in Vietnam, for example, installation procedures were performed in record time. This is due to the carefully designed housing, which consists of four pre-assembled and easily manageable sections. that are quick and easy to arrange on-site. At the El Beida cement plant in Algeria, set-up was similarly efficient, so production was able to get up to speed quickly.

Similarly, the equipment can be commissioned quickly and efficiently, taking only a few days.

Designed for durability

“Because there’s nothing as hard on machinery as crushing raw materials, we knew it had to be able to take a beating,” says Henrik Sørensen, Global Chief Engineer, Crushers and Feeders. That’s why durability and maintenance were the chief aims when the new crusher was innovated.

Over 50 years of experience in working with crushing technologies was put into developing durable features. One of the most notable is the strike bars that have a long wear life, explains Henrik Sørensen: “By interchanging between the four different positions, the strike bars are actually useful for 50 percent of their original weight. Replacing wear items less often saves time and money. So does replacing them faster, so we also enabled the replacement of parts to be quick and easy, cutting potential operational downtime significantly.”

Saving time is saving money, and the designers also aimed to make the Strike-Bar Crusher fast to adjust. For example, to achieve the desired size of crushed material in traditional crushers, it can take several hours to set the gaps between rotor and breaker plates correctly. But, due to its adjustable hydraulic cylinders, the new crusher can be aligned in only a few minutes. This greatly reduces the time lost due to stoppage.

Raising capacity

Capacity potential on the Strike-Bar Crusher is also hefty, making it especially suitable for serving “mega plants” like the one in Xuan Thanh, which aspires to process 12,500 tonnes-per-day, making it the largest cement producer in South East Asia. The Strike-Bar Crusher has a throughput capacity of up to 2,600 tonnes-per-hour, and the crusher can handle larger lump sizes – over two metres and four tonnes (1:40 size reduction).

Low Total Cost of Ownership

The Strike-Bar Crusher was crafted specifically for the cement production process with the goal of creating a piece of equipment that has a low total cost of ownership. What does that mean? Low total cost of ownership is a combination of durability, ease of maintenance, and reduced loss of production due to stoppage. Because the crusher is based on our proven technology, and boasts features that reduce the effect of wear in harsh operating environments, it is fully enabled to help operations achieve their true potential economically.

In cement production, consistent and reliable feed to the raw mill is naturally vital to achieve production targets.