MechChem Africa September-October 2022

MechChem SEP-OCT 2022 AFRICA

This month: Packaged wastewater plants: ideal for Africa

Predictive maintenance: route-based vibration checks

Export success and localisation initiatives

Local LV motor assembly line established

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CONTENTS Maintenance solutions and asset management 6 ABB SWICOM: Smart switchgear with predictive capabilities MechChemAfrica talks to Danie Maré of ABB about SWICOM with ABBAbility™️, the company’s connected switchgear solution that offers rapid protection and ongoing condition monitoring. 8 Maintenance key to efficient HVAC 10 Predictive maintenance: route-based vibration checks Water, wastewater and pumping solutions 12 WEC packaged wastewater plants: ideal forAfrica’s varied needs Gunter Rencken and Rudolf de Koning ofWEC Projects talk about distributedwastewater treatment using packaged plants. 14 Purification products and on-site service for guaranteed cost reductions 17 IPR rebrands at Electra MiningAfrica 2022 Minerals processing and materials handling 18 Export success and localisation initiatives MechChemAfrica talks to Rikus Immink and Peter Mbada about the company’s export success into Africa and localisation initiatives in SouthAfrica. 20 SGGs: SEW-EURODRIVE’s modular girth gear offering 23 Drive solutions for the sugar industry 24 Level measurement for extreme conditions 26 Enduron ® HPGR – the principal choice for iron ore Heating ventilation and air conditioning 28 Heat recovery, energy efficiency and decarbonisation goals ErikRoelsofDanfoss talksabout the roleof heat recoveryand reuseasakeyopportunity for improving the energy efficiency of HVAC systems. 29 BBE Cooling system for Venetia’s underground project PowerGen, PetroChem and sustainable energy management 30 Customised dry-type transformer solutions for improved safety and lower costs David Claassen of Trafo Power Solutions talks about the cost, reliability and safety advantages of using dry-type/cast-resin transformers. 32 Carbon emissions management essential for our future 34 Energy action plan a strong message to industry and investors 35 Cummins’ power ecosystem for IPPs ZestWEGCEO, EduardoWerninghaus, presents the company’s new local assembly line forWEG IE3 premium and IE4 super premium efficiency electric motors. 37 Integrated accreditation for fabricators and manufacturers Innovative engineering 42 Sasol Solar Challenge: Driving innovation and shaping the future More than a decade after its debut, the Sasol Solar Challenge for young engineers continues to be a test of PV technology and electric vehicle innovation. Regulars 2 Peter’s comment:Time for organic transformation? 4 On the cover: Green hydrogen potential for Namibia: the best in the world Rajend Govender of Thyssenkrupp Uhde presents the case for Green Hydrogen in Namibia. 40 Products and industry news 44 Back page:ABB solutions for Northern lights CSS project Local manufacturing and food processing 36 ZestWEG establishes LV motor assembly line

Published bimonthly by Crown Publications (Pty) Ltd Cnr Theunis and Sovereign Streets Bedford Gardens 2007 PO Box 140, Bedfordview, 2008 Tel: +27 11 622 4770 e-mail: mechchemafrica@crown.co.za www.mechchemafricamagazine.co.za Editor: Peter Middleton Design: Katlego Montsho Publisher: Karen Grant Deputy publisher: Wilhelm du Plessis Circulation: Brenda Grossmann The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the publisher or the editors. e-mail: peterm@crown.co.za Advertising: Elmarie Stonell e-mail: elmaries@crown.co.za

Transparency You Can See Average circulation Apr to Jun 2022: 9 176 Printed by: Tandym Print, Cape Town

Front cover: thyssenkruppUhde South Africa Contact: Daniel Martinho Tel: +27 11 208 1530 daniel.martinho@thyssenkrupp.com www.uhde.co.za

September-October 2022 • MechChem Africa ¦ 1

Time for organic transformation in SA's power industry?

Peter Middleton

I write this between periods of Stage 6 loadshed ding, which began again before dawn on Sunday 18 September. In a briefing on that Sundaymorning, Eskom announced this was likely to continue well into the working week. Andre de Ruyter said Eskom was doing “our level best to avoid a total system collapse, which is why we have load-shedding”, adding that stage six loadshedding will remain in place until sufficient generating units are returned to service and the emergency reserve levels are replenished. To minimise loadshedding, he said, Eskom had been forced to run on diesel and dam reserves – via its open cycle gas turbines and its pumped hydro storage dams. In the past five months of this year, the power utility has spent R7.7-billion on diesel and a further R5-billion is being used to buy more. The combined cost of theAnkerlig andGourikwa peaking plants in the Western Cape, built back in 2007, was R3.5-billion, which highlights just how expensive it is to run these plants for extended periods. Several reasons were given for ‘generation capacity constraint’: a ‘breakdown’ of one of the Kusile Units; the ‘tripping’ of a unit at Kriel; an on going ‘mechanical’ issue on Unit 2 at the Koeberg Nuclear Power station; and outages on five other coal-fired units across the country, including three at Kendal. Jan Oberholzer, Eskom’s chief operating officer, said the entity had sufficiently experienced and competent executive and operational teams, but the risks of using an ‘ageing coal fleet’ remained too high. Yet Eskom is launching a crowdsourcing platform to source ‘urgently required’ skills to ad dress its ‘immense’ operational challenges? Following a meeting of the Eskom board with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, an approach has been made to independent power producers (IPPs) to procure 1 000 MW on an ur gent basis and De Ruyter has “a very high degree of confidence” that this and more can be procured. Meanwhile, on Thursday September 15, Eskom put in a request to Nersa for an ‘average power tar iff increase’ of just over 32%, starting from April 1, 2023. The reasons? Higher diesel and fuel oil prices, depreciation of its generation assets and greater procurement from independent power producers. Clearly, Eskom believes that loadshedding will be required for a long time to come. In its recent presentation to the Joint Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises and Mineral Resources, Eskom confirms this. Its ‘planned risk

level’ indicates that South Africans will experience Stage 1 or Stage 2 load-shedding for 27 weeks between now and September 2023. But the ‘likely risk scenario’ for its anticipated power system performance over the coming year suggests that 326 days of load-shedding would be required in the next 12 months. That could amount to over 46 of the next 52 weeks. The need for householders, businesses and industries to start ‘doing it for themselves’ could not be clearer. Working from home now requires, at a minimum, a UPS-type battery based backup power solution to keep computers andWiFi routers running during loadshedding. Home use hybrid renewable energy solu tions make more sense than ever, given the global drive to decarbonise by 2050 and the increasing costs of gas, petrol and diesel fuel to power generators. Small PV systems with a 5 to 7 kW inverter and 5 kWh of battery back-up can be seamlessly integrated into a distribu tion board to bridge any period of loadshed ding. Typical instal lat ion costs are between R100 000 to R150 000 – less than the cost of an relatively average second hand car. A system with a PV array of just 5.2 kWp can generate, on average, 24 kWh of free electric ity or 720 units per month. This will save about R2 000/month, nearly R25 000/year on the electricity bi l l , giving a payback period on a R150 000 system of six years. In addition, this amount of money – and a lot more if tariffs con tinue to increase – will be spent anyway if relying solely on an electricity supply from the utility. From an IPP perspective, larger distributed coal-fired, wind, solar-thermal, PV solar, biogas plants, along with many other generation tech nologies, are fast becoming much more attractive propositions, from an investor and a take-off per spective. Transforming towards a large number of distributed solutions must surely lower the overall risks to the nation than continuing to rely on a hundred or so large, ageing and/or unreliable generation units. Also, new legislation now frees IPP investors to enter this market more easily. South Af r i can c i t i zens , bus i nes ses and pr i vate industr ies need to take ownership of their own power needs and invest in their own cleaner, greener and much more reliable energy future. Ultimately, wouldn’t it be bet ter for Eskom to supply only our backup needs instead of continuing to disappoint in the sole provider role.

Comment

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2 ¦ MechChem Africa • September-October 2022

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Green hydrogen potential for Namibia: the best in the world The CEO of ThyssenKrupp Uhde SSA, Rajend Govender, speaks at the Namibian Green Hydrogen Conference hosted by: The Economic Association of Namibia (EAP); Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB); and the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

consumption–andwithina smaller footprint,” Govender adds. The global GH2 demand as published by IRENA is currently 150-million t/a with a forecasted 800-mi l l ion t/a by 2050. The ThyssenKrupp Steel Mill in Duisburg Germany, plans to introduce green hydro gen into blast furnaces to produce green steel. The annual demand for GH2 per blast furnace starts at approx. 20 000 t/a and is expected to increase to 720 000 t/a by 2050. ThyssenKrupp and companies across Europe are looking at the likes of Namibia for this GH2, simply due to landing costs and the ability to meet sustainable production rates. The transport of GH2 to Europe poses a huge challenge. Gaseous hydrogen occupies large volumes and must therefore be com pressed. Containment at thesehighpressures requires the use of special materials and ves sels to limit hydrogen induced cracking, which renders this unfeasible. While hydrogen can be transported as a liquid and converted to gas at the point of storage or use, this requires the energy intensive liquefaction process, which itself is not economically feasible. Focus then shifts tohydrogen carriers, including LiquidOrganic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) development, which remains in its infancy. GreenAmmonia is considered as themost feasible medium to carry hydrogen across large distances. The technology and logistics infrastructure iswidelyavailableandhasbeen in operation for decades, licensed by the likes of ThyssenKrupp. The benefit for the conversion of GH2 to GNH3 is immediate for theAfrican continent. Green ammonia is used for the production of fertiliser products such as urea and am monium nitrate, thereby helping to decar bonise the food value chain. Recent global conflicts and the disruption of the fertiliser supplyworldwide is highlighting the need for self-sufficiency. This can be addressed by regionally dis tributedproductionof green ammonia across Africa using currently-available modular green ammonia production plants. Ammonia is also attracting attention as a sustainable alternative fuel. Specialised internal combustion engines are currently being developed. A recent survey of shipping

CEO of ThyssenKrupp Uhde SSA, Rajend Govender, speaking at the Namibian Green Hydrogen Conference.

“A s a regional subsidiary of Thys senKrupp AG, internationally recognised for engineering, procurement, construction and service, ThyssenKrupp Uhde has been servicing the Sub-Saharan African region since 1959,” begins Rajend Govender, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Uhde SSA. “Our historic primary focus included refinery, petrochemical, specialty and fine chemicals technologies within each of these sectors. As a proudly environmentally conscious company, however, our focus has grown. And we are now the proud owner of a large portfolio of chemical process tech nologies, including those for the production of greenhydrogen, green ammonia and green methanol,” he continues. Members of the public, communities and, most importantly, youngpeopleare calling for a greener andmore sustainable planet, which is increasing pressure tophase out fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emitting industries. “We are also facedwith thedilemmaof highunem ployment, a lackof industrialisationandmany other socio-economic issues, so a deliberate approach to this transition will be essential,” he points out. He says that the take up of

en by three factors: •

Governmentsworldwideprioritisingnet zero emissions. The plummeting cost of renewable power,which is improving theattractive ness of hydrogen production. Ongoing innovation reducing the cost of electrolysers. Namibia’s favourable solar and wind re sources, coupledwith vast open spaces, offer the long-term potential to produce green hydrogen at prices significantly lower than anywhere else in the world. In general, an energy mix of two thirds wind and one third solar improves project feasibility. Furthermore, continental cooperation through the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance and Namibia’s stable political environment, publicandprivatesector support enhances its position as a potential leader in global green hydrogen production. A r e c e n t s t u d y p e r f o r me d b y ThyssenKruppUhdeestimates the total land ing cost of GH2 exported from Namibia into Europe to be as low as US$2.9/kg based on a production cost of $1.5/kg. This is 10% lower than the closest competitor, Saudi Arabia. The production of hydrogen via elec trolysis is well proven. ThyssenKrupp Uhde has been producing hydrogen for more than 50 years via its Chlor-Alkali electrolysis technology, which has been adapted to electrolyse water to produce green GH2 and has a technology readiness level (TRL) 9. This means the technology is considered to be ‘flight proven’ – “and our • •

hydrogen technologies, although well known, has been slow, but this is rap idly changing, driv

7 th Generation electrolyser will offer improved GH2 production performance at further reduced power

The ThyssenKrupp Nucera large scale 20 MW alkaline water electrolysis module.

4 ¦ MechChem Africa • September-October 2022

⎪ Cover story ⎪

sector stakeholders published by Lloyd’s List identified ammonia as one of the top three fuels with potential by 2050 and that am monia usage to fuel ships will grow to 7% by 2030. Bunkering of NH3 fuel at its ports will holdNamibia in good stead in this endeavour. As well as a clean energy carrier to store or deliver energy for power generation or mobility, GH2 can be used to create a suite of products including green ammonia, green methanol, synthetic fuels and synthetic natural gas. When green hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide, green methanol can be pro duced, which can be added to conventional liquid fuels for cleaner emissions during com bustionor used to fuel 100%methanol-based drive systems. Leading shipping companies are also investigating the use of methanol to fuel con ventional combustion engines andmethanol powered fuel cells. The great advantage of methanol is that existing infrastructure for liquid fuels can be used, either directly or fol lowing easy and inexpensive modifications. Synthetic natural gas (SNG) is produced by combining green hydrogen with carbon dioxide in a process called Methanation. Applications of SNG include heating, mobility and energy conversion. Hydrogen can also be used to produce sustainable aviation fuels such as green kerosene via the Fischer-Tropsch process. In addition, new propulsion technologies, such as hydrogen direct combustion in turbines, are currently in development. Significant challenges remain, how ever, with respect to the scale-up of GH2 production. • High product ion cost : Current ly the production cost of green hy drogen varies between US$3/kg to $6/kg, while that of grey hydrogen is between $1 and $1.5/kg. The single largest cost component for competi tive green hydrogen production is the price of renewable energy (RE), with RE electricity pricing of less than $20/MWparamount foreconomical pro duction. Since Namibia is endowed with favourable solar and wind resources, however, the price of renewable energy is expected to plummet with the scaled implementation of renewable power projects. Electrolyser investment cost: The up front investment into electrolyser tech nology is deemedexorbitant, specifically in thecontext of unsecureddemand. This is forecast to reduce significantly with continued innovation and the deploy ment of the technology at scale. The Chinese government is evaluating the installationof some100GWof electroly •

Thyssenkrupp green hydrogen (GH2) hydrolysers can be used to manufacture green ammonia, which is considered the most feasible medium to carry hydrogen across large distances.

TK Uhde is the owner of a large portfolio of chemical process technologies, including those for the production of green hydrogen, green ammonia and green methanol.

ser capacity by 2030. With only 1GWin operation currently and10GWplanned, this translates into a massive expansion of electrolyser production – implying substantial unit cost reduction. Unsecure demand: With the green hydrogen industry in its infancy and green chemical value chains yet to be established, potential consumers of green hydrogen are reluctant to commit tooff-take agreements. Development of the hydrogeneconomywill require large investment commitments frombothpro ducers and consumers. In the absence of off-take agreements, investments remain risky for wide-scale production. To address this, supportive legislative framework and policies are crucial. Namibia is championing the develop ment of such frameworks and policies. Environmental concerns: The quan tity of the water needed to produce hydrogen is a challenge, especially for countries with water scarcity. In this respect, Namibia remains a super power, withaccess toa largeuntappedcoastline for desalination. Desalination plants, however, release brine which poses a threat to marine life. Environmentally responsiblemeans of brinedisposal such as injectionwells have to be considered, which introduce additional costs and complexities. Local manufacturing: Project scale and timing in the Namibia region may not

be conducive to the establishment of key technology components such as electrolysers. The local manufacturing of more general items, however, such as tanks and structures can still provide significant manufacturing development and job creation. The manufacture of repeatable components will also drive capital cost down and allow for future optimisation of maintenance costs. Significant funding is available for GH2 pro duction projects. What remains lacking in Africa is the seed funding required to take po tential opportunities into bankable projects. The fundingmechanismfor feasibility studies and facilitationof the regulatoryenvironment are key to rapid project development. In conclusion, Govender says: “We be lieve that the global energy system stands at the crossroads of a new era. This is largely due to rapidly declining renewable energy costs, advances in production solutions and economies of scale. This will potentially make hydrogen the medium of choice for transporting cheap clean energy across the globe, generating a green hydrogen export market estimated to be worth $300-billion by 2050, and creating more than 400 000 jobs globally. “If Namibia takes its place at the global green hydrogen table now, it will propel its economy, drive industrialisation and eco nomic development, stimulate employment and create a regional green hydrogen hub,” says Rajend Govender. q

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September-October 2022 • MechChem Africa ¦ 5

ABB SWICOM: Smart switchgear with predictive capabilities MechChemAfrica talks to Danie Mar of ABB Electrification (EL) about SWICOM with ABBAbility™️, the company’s connected switchgear solutions that offer rapid protection and ongoing condition monitoring options for upstream and downstream electrical feeders and infrastructure such as transformers, electrical motors, industrial plant and municipal distribution networks.

“W e at ABBEL are involved with switchgear at two levels. We've got the medium-voltage (MV) equipment that ranges from above 1.0 kV to 36 kV as well as the low-voltage (LV) switch gear for industrial load and control centres, which includes the safety switchgear for elec trical systems below 1.0 kV, typically 525 V and 400 V systems used for supplying electri cal motors for industrial plants,” begins Danie Maré, sales manager for ABB Electrification (EL) in South Africa. “We also support utilities with the switch gear required for feeding electricity into suburban substations and then on into households or commercial buildings. This happens at two levels. On the MV side, we have primary switchgear (e.g. Unigear), which caters for higher fault levels. This is typically

over current or short circuit – but on a much bigger scale and with much more safety and smart technology incorporated into theunits.” As part of ABB Ability™, the holistic condition monitoring platform for electrical equipment, Maré says that ABB’s MV and LV switchgear is now available with SWICOM, a purpose built monitoring and diagnostic system for continuously tracking and moni toring the condition of the switchgear and that of upstream and downstream electrical infrastructure. “SWICOM is amonitoring and diagnostic module that provides mechanical and electrical health status of switchgear and the equipment connected to it. It acquires databy communicatingwith IEC61850-based protection relays, and via sensors such as temperature sensors, partial discharge sen sors as well as by inputs from current and voltage transformers or, more recently, cur rent and voltage sensors, to accumulate the data needed to compile accurate diagnostic reports,” notes Maré. “Temperatures and partial discharge data collected at critical points on primary switch gear are key indicators of switchgear health,” he continues. “By incorporating SWICOM into the switchgear control panel, safety and condition information can be uploaded into a cloud-based ABB-Ability platform for smart analysis, which will highlight any equipment condition-related risks so that rapid and appropriate decisions can be taken based on accurate real-time data,” he tells MechChem Africa. “If using SWICOM to protect the switch gear itself, for example, two main indicators of switchgear condition are partial discharge and temperature. By continuouslymonitoring, recording and analysing these two param eters, trend information can be accumulated and tracked. This enables the real condition of the switchgear to be assessed at any time and a potential failure or fault to be predictedwell in advance of a failure,” Maré explains. Partial discharge, he adds, gives an indica tion of deterioration of insulation in switch gear and its conductors, enablingplant owners to identify potential problems well before insulation breaks down completely. “Should insulation fail entirely, an internal arc fault is likely to occur, which could be catastrophic in terms of safety and equipment damage,” he

the switchgear that utilities use in their main substations to feed into the rings supplying the suburbs with power. In the industrial environment, primaryMV-switchgear will be used at themain substations to feed the plant environment,” says Maré. Moving into secondary switchgear (e.g. SafeRing), he says that the miniature sub stations we see on street corners will be equipped with secondary circuit breakers protecting the lines that feed into individual properties. Secondary switchgear would also be used to protect the downstream distribu tion lines in industrial plant and the feed lines fromstep-down transformers feeding electri cal load centres. “In principle, the role of switchgear is the same as that of a circuit breaker on a householddistributionboard (DB) board. The breaker trips in theevent of anyearth leakage,

UFES TM (ultra-fast earthing switch) consists of an electronic device and corresponding primary switching elements that, in the event of an arc fault, initiate a three-phase earth with an extremely short switching time to extinguished the danger immediately after it arises.

6 ¦ MechChem Africa • September-October 2022

⎪ Maintenance and asset management ⎪

data analysis routines,” he points out. ‘Also, by monitoring the temperature of a specific feeder fromthe switchgear – feeding a motor, for example – a trend can be estab lished and tracked, so an overload on that motor can be identified early on,” he explains. Going back to the role of a circuit breaker, however, Maré reiterates the critical impor tance of monitoring the condition of the cir cuit breaker itself: “Anon-operational protec tive device is useless and very dangerous, but its faulty condition may not be obvious until it is far too late. This is the core advantage of ABB’s SWICOM. It tracks the number of operations that the specific circuit breaker performs, detect hotspots and can accurately predict how fit-for-purpose every breaker is at any point in its life. “A lot of our industrial andmining custom ers are now seeing the value of predictive maintenance solutions such as SWICOM. They understand the huge cost implications of downtime due to unforeseen failures and how the combination of best possible protec tion along with data analysis, trending and real-time condition monitoring can help to predict, andultimatelyminimise, massive and avoidable failure costs,” Maré concludes. q

— Measurement techniques Different sensing approaches

Partial Discharges can be detected and measured using several measurement approaches

Capacitive

Electrical Pulse

Inductive

The choice of the method depends often strongly on the environment, the type of installation tested, etc.

EM Radiation

TEV

Type of PD measurement systems: – Classical PD Lab system – Monitoring in the field – Temporary measurement in the field – Diagnostic tests

Partial Discharge

Light Emission

Optical

Ultrasound

Heat/Pressure

Heat Camera

Chemical Reactions

Ozone

Slide 9

April 26, 2021

PDCOM SWICOM – Switchgear Condition Monitoring

PD can be detected using a number of different sensor strategies, depending on the environment, the type of installation being tested, and a number of other factors.

says. “Temperature monitoring, on the other hand, gives an indication of the condition of the circuit breaker contacts as well as the loading. When healthy, the temperatures will be within limits but if the circuit breaker contacts are not mating properly, this tem perature will creep up and any sudden in crease in temperature outside of the trend limits indicates that urgent action is needed,” he says, adding that it's important to be able to predict potential failure beforehand so corrective action can be taken well before a failure occurs. While these are predictive tools, the protection relays are key devices in switch gear systems. They need to trip the power immediately should there be an overload, short circuit or earth leakage fault anywhere on the connected circuit. “ABB has got some very advanced technologies to minimise the impact of a hard-fault failure, most notably a product calledUFES:ABB’sultra-fastearthing switch,” Maré continues. UFES, he explains, is a safety switch that creates a bolted three phase short circuit to earth in the event of an arc fault. It senses the current and light levels of any internal arc fault to activate the switch. Once activated, UFES basically diverts the arc-fault energy down to earth – within four milliseconds – allowing the protection relay (ABB’s Relion Protection Relay, for example) to operate to isolate the fault. “Potentially, this can save the lives of peo ple working in front of the switchgear when the problem occurs, and it can significantly reduce equipment damage due to the time it takes to operate. Compared to a high-quality standard switch that can typically respond in 30 to 40 milliseconds, UFES offers seven to ten times faster response rates,” he adds. Turning attention back to SWICOM and communication, Maré says various network protocols and communication options at

several levels are possible. All the sensors communicate with the SWICOM module, which then sends the data to a cloud-based platformwhere the equipment condition can be tracked and assessed via live dashboards. Communication fromSWICOMto thecloud is done via a dedicated secure gateway keeping thedatasafeandsecure.Communicationfrom devices to SWICOM is done via MODBUS TCP/IP and IEC 61850 protocols while con nection between SWICOM and the display unit is through a CAN BUS connection. Data analyses and well as additional ABB Ability modules connected to other parts of the plant can also be combined to track and trace condition-based issues across the electrical network. “Overload, short-circuit and earth leakage faults can be identified and traced back to the zone in which they occurred, making it easy to isolate, identify and repair the problem. In addition, specific equipment, suchasmotors, tends tohave fault signatures, which can be flagged using expert

ABB Ability TM is a condition monitoring solution for switchgear that focuses on partial discharge (PD) monitoring of ABB’s Smart SWICOM switchgear solutions.

Partial discharge (PD) plays a key role in insulation failure. The physical signs that PD is occurring include, amongst others: the smell and presence of Ozone (O 3 ), a burnt wire smell; discoloured trails along insulation; and carbon tracks.

September-October 2022 • MechChem Africa ¦ 7

Maintenance key to efficient HVAC Lack of attention to maintenance on heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems on mobile mining equipment such as dump trucks, excavators, dozers and drill rigs can cost mines dearly. Booyco Engineering provides a range of support services, either long or short term, for these HVAC systems and is happy to negotiate appropriate arrangements with customers.

Left: Booyco Engineering has an unparalleled track record of supplying and maintaining highly efficient HVAC systems for customers in the railway, defence and mining sectors. Right: Booyco Engineering's HVAC systems are locally designed and manufactured, and are specifically designed for Africa’s rugged conditions.

L ack of attention to maintenance on HVAC systems on dump trucks, excavators, dozers and drill rigs can cost mines dearly. This is the viewof Brenton Spies, managing director of HVAC specialist Booyco Engineering, a company that has been a leader in its field for more than three decades. “The fact is that an HVAC system which is malfunctioning can re sult in a multi-million rand mining vehicle being taken out of service, resulting in hours of downtime and possibly hundreds of thousands of rands of lost production,” says Spies. “Modern health and safety laws in South Africa are very demanding and operators are entitled to stop work if ambient temperatures in the cab are too high or, for that matter, too low.”

Booyco Engineering has an unparalleled track record of supplying and maintaining highly efficient HVAC systems for customers in the railway, defence and mining sectors. Its clients over the years have included Transnet, General Electric, Alsthom, Bombardier and, in the mining sector, Seriti’s New Vaal opencast coal mine. Booyco has supplied maintenance services continuously to New Vaal for more than two decades. The company’s HVAC systems are locally designed and manufac tured and are specifically designed for Africa’s rugged conditions. The units are assembled in Booyco Engineering’s 3 000 m 2 Meadowdale premises inGermiston. “We outsourcemost of the fabrication but all design is undertaken by Booyco Engineering’s engineers and techni

8 ¦ MechChem Africa • July-August 2022

⎪ Maintenance and asset management ⎪

cians at our premises using the latest software and specialised tools,” says Spies. According to Spies, the standardHVAC systems used onmany off road mining vehicles are unable to cope with the constant vibration, extreme temperatures anddust encountered inmining environments. “Our customised units are more expensive than these products but they are durable and can function for 20 years, or even longer, if maintained correctly,” says Spies. “By contrast, the life of standard units can be very short – no more than two or three years. Buying them is false economy.” He points out thatmost ‘off-the-shelf’ HVAC systems are designed to cope with temperatures of around 35 °C. “This is fine if your ma chines are working in Europe but totally inadequate for mining areas, suchas theNorthernCape, where temperatures can soar into the40s,” he remarks. “This why our HVAC systems are designed for ambient temperatures of up to 45 °C.” He adds that Booyco Engineering has such confidence in its HVAC systems that it offers a five-yearwarranty to customers, whichhe says is ground-breaking. Booyco Engineering is currently engaged in a fresh push into the mining sector to expand its mining footprint –– and is stressing to potential customers the benefits of the planned maintenance it can offer, not just onBooycoHVAC systems but also those of othermanu facturers. The company offers free site assessments to ascertain the current condition of customers’ fleets and to propose the most cost effective solution to ensure HVACs operate at acceptable levels and meet availability standards. “As part of our push, we’ve been on many mines recently and what we’ve noticed is that very few of them are maintaining their HVAC

systems,” he observes. “For the most part, they do not have any consistent maintenance programmes in place and they entrust their maintenance work to technicians who have no real understanding of HVAC and who certainly don’t have any in-depth understanding of the refrigeration cycle. At best, they will assign the task to one of their mechanics or auto-electricians, who theymight send on a one or two-day refrigeration course.” He notes that – by contrast – Booyco Engineering’s technicians are the best in the business and have been thoroughly trained by the company in every aspect of HVAC maintenance. These technicians are deployed on, or close to, customer sites throughout South Africa. According to Spies, HVAC systems ideally need to be thoroughly checked for leaks and have their return and fresh air filters cleaned on amonthly basis. Every threemonths, chemical cleaning of the con densers shouldbe carriedout andwiring, fasteners, V-belt tension, gas leaks and refrigerant pressures thoroughly checked. Annual services will include a compressor oil level check and chemical cleaning of the evaporator coil. Spies says that Booyco Engineering can provide these services under a range of maintenance offerings, either long or short term, and is happy to negotiate appropriate arrangements with customers. “Our preference, however, is for ‘man on site’ contracts where our technicians are on the spot, maintaining systems according to a carefully planned maintenance programme and able to respond im mediately to any breakdowns,” he says. “We regard this as the most efficient and cost-effective option from the mine’s point of view and onewhich, over the longer term, will lower the total cost of ownership very significantly.” www.booyco.co.za

Regular machine maintenance key to operational efficiency

Operational efficiency is paramount for in dustry that is under ever-increasing pressure to increase production outputwhile reducing input costs. Fundamental to seamless and efficient operational processes is machine and equipment reliability. And here regular machine maintenance conducted by trained professionals plays a critical role. “There is no argument against the fact that well-maintained machines perform optimally and efficiently over longer periods, ensuring increased uptime and production and reduced operating costs,” says Marcus Visser, Strategy and Operations Lead at GreenTech Plastics Machinery. Established in 2016, GreenTech is a leading supplier of premiumEuropeanplastic injectionmoulding machinery, systems andancillaryproducts to Southern African industry. Visser also notes that even the best quality machines need regular maintenance to prevent unexpected breakdowns and to ensure sustainable performance levels. “The exorbitant costs brought about by the criti cal failure of unmaintained machines due to subsequent unplanned halts in production are further compounded by repair costs. Moreover, machines that are not regularly and properly serviced can also put the safety of personnel at risk.” “We therefore strongly

cost-savingadvantages.” SomeofGreenTech’s service offerings include machine audits, tie-bar stress units, thermographic imaging, machine levelling, oil checks and the lubrica tion of critical parts. Regularly maintained equipment is more energy efficient and delivers savings when it comes to spare parts, which can some times account for as much as half the total maintenance costs. Visser explains that, by switching from reactive to preventive maintenance and reducing the frequencyof failures, the need for spare parts is reduced too. In addition to streamlining spare parts management, a maintenance programme helps to keep an up-to-date record of all system repairs, maintenance, spare parts and services. “As part of preventive main tenance, all work performed on our injec tion moulding machine is recorded in the logbooks,” states Visser. “The resultant increased production and decreased operational costs of well maintained machines delivers lower total costs of ownership while helping to shrink customers’ carbon footprints. Taking into account all these advantages, the imple mentation of a maintenance programme makes soundbusiness sense,” he concludes. www.greentechmachinery.co.za

encourage our customers to have a solid maintenance programme in place,” contin ues Visser. By allowing GreenTech’s team of qualified specialists to carry out profes sionalmachine inspection at least once a year, customers stand to benefit from numerous

Customers stand to benefit from numerous cost saving and reliability advantages from GreenTech’s maintenance programmes.

September-October 2022 • MechChem Africa ¦ 9

Predictive maintenance: route-based vibration checks Test and measurement, communications, process control and equipment solutions specialist, Comtest, describes how best to implement a route-based predictive maintenance routine with the help of modern instruments, such as the Fluke 805 Vibration meter.

based equipment condition monitoring, such as vibration screening. Obviously, not all equipment is created equal, nor is the failureof aparticularmachine component, so it makes sense to give more attention tomachinery that, should it fail, will have the highest impact on overall produc tion. Many times, the most common culprit for equipment failure is caused by misalign ment, looseness, imbalance, bearingwear and electrical issues on motors. By implementing route-based vibration screenings and by pri oritising the right schedule based on an asset criticality list, much of the damage that com monmachine faults can cause canbe avoided. It is imperative toprioritiseassets and rank them in order of importance before making schedules, assigningworkorders andcreating routes. Also, success depends on selecting a qualified assessment team familiar with the various pieces of equipment, then the team can use the quality criteria to gain consensus about why a piece of equipment was included and how it was ranked. Once the assets to be included on the list (by type, size and location, etc.) have been decided on, create a numbering system, such as on a scale of 1 to 5, to rank each asset from ‘most critical’ to ‘least critical’ based on each ones importance to overall production. Now that the asset criticality analysis list is complete, the next step is to establish a preventive maintenance task for each data collection point on the route to accurately screen machine condition changes. Once the maintenance plan has been established and a fixed route of data collection points is in place, start laying out vibration screening schedules and testing frequencies, such as daily,monthly, bi-monthly, quarterlyor yearly, depending on the asset criticality ranking and associated risk factors important to the industry, company and plant. Additionally, identify the appropriate technician or engi neer (less-experienced, semi-experienced, highly-experienced) to address the task, depending on the asset ranking, difficulty of the task and expertise/training needed. For example: • Screening: schedule junior technicians using electrical, thermal and vibration screening tools to monitor equipment: Star machines—daily; critical and semi-

A technician performing vibration screening with the improved Fluke 805 Vibration meter.

S ome of the jobs being performed by today’s technicians don’t even have names or descriptions yet and are be ing added ‘on the fly’ to keep up with today’s innovative tools and advanced equip ment condition-monitoring techniques.What was once a complex set of tasks performed only by reliability engineers or specialised contractors, can now be accomplished by less experienced technicians with easy-to use tools, such as vibration screeners and thermal imagers. Consequently, this allows analysts and reliability engineers to use their time and expertise more efficiently by examining equipment condition data andmaking proac tive decisions to prevent equipment failure, ultimately saving money. Training the technician to use high tech Recently, a large, globally-recognised auto mobile manufacturer successfully deployed maintenance technicians, who normally repair equipment, to carry out route-based condition monitoring using handheld vibra tion meters and thermal imagers. Like many plants, the manufacturer had started to incorporatenewtechnology into its operations; however, much of the machinery was still not equippedwith sensors so little or no equipment condition datawas being gath ered. Also, no regular condition monitoring

routes or schedules had been set up. Both the company’s thermographer and reliability team supervisor understood the value of equipment condition monitoring with regard to proactive maintenance for extendingequipment life. Theydecided toput vibration screeningmeters, infrared thermal imaging tools and technicians to the test. “Our main reason for testing these tools was to see if we could pass along some of the vibration testing and thermography scans to maintenance technicians so the reliability team could concentrate on the most difficult issues,” said the Reliability Supervisor. “Right now, we’re only able to look at certain pieces of equipment because we haveonly somuchmanpower. Ifmaintenance could collect data on more equipment, and the experts could spend their time analysing the data, we could look at everything more frequently. The tools we use have to make it easy for the maintenance techs to upload the data because we want them to be more efficient.” In the end, the pilot programme proved that techs could be deployed to assist the reliability team. It also provided technicians with a nice change of pace fromsome of their usual tasks. With the techs now trained and armed with thermal imaging andvibration screening tools, a natural next step for any manufac turerwould be to transition to regular route

10 ¦ MechChem Africa • September-October 2022

⎪ Maintenance and asset management ⎪

At HannoverMesse 2022, SKF launched SKF Axios, a solution that reinvents the fields of industrial machine reliability and predictive maintenance based on a collaboration be tween SKF andAmazonWeb Services (AWS). SKF Axios is a fully automated condition monitoring solution comprised of sensors, gateways and amachine learning service that is easy to install, commission and scale with no experience necessary, allowing sensors and apps to be operational within minutes. It detects anomalies and pushes notifications allowing for quick action to avoid unexpected machine failures. SKF’s team of vibration analysts and en gineers will continue to be an integral part of helping customers to improve the reliability of their equipment. SKF Axios complements SKF’s current portfolioof sophisticatedcondi tion monitoring products and now provides industrial companies with a simple solution SKF exhibits SKF Axios tive maintenance approach takes time. Transitioning, or adding to a technician’s skill set early in theprocess and introducing things like smarter tools will help combat the grow ing need for amore technologically advanced workforce and will make each consecutive addition to the programme that much easier. By adding condition monitoring based on anasset criticality list, companies can improve personnel and plant efficiency and take qual ity, proactiveactions basedondata toprevent equipment failures before they happen. Reliability is a journey and not a destination. Never stop documenting successes or a new directive will cancel the great accomplish criticalmachines—monthly; Non-critical machines—quarterly. Diagnosis: schedule mid-level techni cians using vibration testers tomeasure and diagnose faults on: star machines— weekly; critical machines—quarterly; other machines—as needed. Alignment: schedule mid-level techni cians to perform alignment checks and corrections on: starmachines—monthly; critical machines—yearly; other ma chines—as needed. Analysis —schedule senior technicians/ engineers or contractors to perform advanced analysis and resonance test ing on: star machines—quarterly; criti cal machines—annually and as needed; semi-critical machines—as needed. Keep in mind that, although the asset criti cality analysis list serves as a strong guide, it also needs to be flexible enough that unique considerations or decisions can be made as needed. Making the switch to a more proac • • •

An example of an Asset Criticality list.

to broaden their rotating asset predictive maintenance programmes. JohnSchmidt, SKFPresident for Industrial Region Americas says: “With SKF Axios, we are able to provide a larger portion of the industrial market with actionable insights leading to improved decision making and more efficient maintenance planning and scheduling. Through leveraging these insights and SKF’s knowledge of rotating equipment, customers can improvemachineperformance and overall reliability of their operations.” Vasi Philomin, Vice President ments that have been seenwith the reliability programme. Future steps might include the addition of a Cloud-based computer main tenance management system (CMMS), such as eMaint, which allows access to data from FlukeConnect™-enabledhandheldtoolsusing a desktop, smartphone or tablet. In conjunc tion with tools such as thermal imagers and vibration screening tools, aCMMS easily con nects workers, like technicians and reliability engineers, to critical historical and real-time data—anytime, anywhere. Fluke’s twoguidingvaluesare that custom ers’ opinions, needs and wants are closely listened to and, as a consequence, Fluke meters are continuously improved. The Fluke

805FCVibrationmeter, for example, through improved features such as: set up equipment andmaintenance routes usingFlukeConnect; push work orders and routes to the techni cian’s smartphone via Fluke Connect; add work orders directly to the unit using the Fluke Connect mobile App; easily upload results after measurements are made; share andviewresults remotely, receivealertswhen equipment heath changes, and view active trends of multiple parameters. This greatly improves theeaseof perform ing vibration screen routes for technicians and managers, enabling better management and monitoring of workflow. www.comtest.co.za associated with unplanned equipment downtime. We remain committed to offering our expertise in cloud solutions, IoT systems, and machine learning to enable SKF to constantly innovate and enhance its industrial products and services.” Inventory for SKF Axios was made avail able in July 2022 in North America with other regions expected to follow throughout the year. www.skf.com/axios

of AI Services at AWS, says: “SKF Axios represents a tremendous op portunity for industrial customers of all sizes to benefit fromscalable, data-driven, machine-learning technologies offered by AWS. These solutions enable industrial customers to make better deci sions faster; increasingoperational efficiency and reducing the costs

The new SKF Axios condition monitoring solution powered by AWS provides a fully automated anomaly detection solution for proactive maintenance.

September-October 2022 • MechChem Africa ¦ 11

WEC packaged wastewater plants: ideal for Africa’s varied needs Gunter Rencken and Rudolf de Koning of WEC Projects talk to MechChem Africa about distributed wastewater treatment using packaged plants that can be purpose-customised and factory-built for easy shipping to, and assembly on, remote sites all over Africa.

W EC Projects, a South African EPC contractor specialis ing in water and wastewater treatment solutions, is about to complete the installationof anewWECModel B packaged sewage treatment plant at the Mothae Diamond Mine in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho. “The mine lacked a sustainable sewage solution for the 60 m 3 per day of domestic raw sewage it was producing,” says Rudolf de Koning, sales representative for WEC Projects. “The mine used sewage trucks, also known as honeysuckers, to dispose of the sewage at the nearest disposal facility almost 130 km away. This was obviously a very costly method of dealing with locally produced wastewater, so we proposed the installation of one of our wastewater treatment solutions –ourModel Bconventional activated sludge (CAS) treatment plant with a daily capacity of 80 m 3 , which can accommodate future upgrading and expansions of the mine’s operations.” The WEC Model B CAS plant is part of WEC’s modular range of sewage treatment plants that starts with the single reactor Model A plant and goes up to a Model D consisting of four reactors in parallel. “Within each reactor there are anoxic and aerobic stages, along with a clarification tank. Each plant works as a completewastewater treat mentmodule, taking rawsewage inat oneendanddeliveringdischarge quality water at the other, and the remaining sludge is pumped out to drying beds or mechanical dewatering devices,” explains de Koning. A single reactor WEC Model A packaged plant can recycle 60 m 3 of wastewater per day, with every additional module adding a further 60m 3 /dayof sewage treatment capacity. “SoaModel Bpackagedplant, like the one we are currently installing at the Mothae Diamond Mine, consists of two reactor modules that can treat up to 120m 3 /day if the need arises. Andwe can put up to four packaged units in parallel to get amaximumcapacityof 240m 3 /h fromthismodular packaged solution,”

he says. Gunter Rencken,WECProjects’ technical director continues: “We're talkinghere about a relatively small volumeper dayof domestic wastewater treatment. In the flowrange starting at 50-60m 3 /day, one reactor can meet the needs of about 300 to 600 people, depending on howmuch wastewater each household in a community produces. “When it comes to greater volumes, though, it becomes a question of economics. For requirements greater than 240 m 3 /day a Model D packaged plant with additional reactors no longer makes economic sense, because one Model R self-contained packaged plant – which is built using a circular construction – offers cost and space savings com paredtomore than four rectangularmodules,”he tells MechChemAfrica. De Koning says that a key advantage of the packaged approach is that units can be manufactured and pre-assembled at WEC’s local premises, where they can be properly configured and tested before being disassembled, loaded onto trucks and shipped to site. The units are easy to transport and the installation time is significantly reduced, as is the overall footprint of the plants. “Model A to D and Model R plants are usually above ground and require very fewcivil works. Each plant simply requires a small pump sump or a buffer tank to absorb any shock flow, and a few concrete slabs for the reactor modules to sit on. The blowers used for the aeration zone, the dosing units and MCC panels are all housed in a container,” de Koning tells MechChem Africa . “This makes these units ideal for mining camps such as theMothae DiamondMine, as well for smallermunicipalities – in SouthAfrica and across the sub-Saharan African region,” Rencken adds. The modular Model B plant at Mothae also integrates a WEC Wastemaster, which screens, de-grits and removes any oils, fats and non-biodegradable material upstream of the treatment process. “Besides the high fat and oil levels of thiswastewater, the high altitude plant is also susceptible to lowandfluctuating temperatures. Biological population growth occurs optimally at around 19 °C and above. In

12 ¦ MechChem Africa • July-August 2022