Briquetting and Agglomeration

hrl: agglomeration services assist clients in achieving a range of technical, environmental and financial benefits which can include:

• Reduced materials volumes and improved material consistency for storage, handling and transport
• Convert the material into a form that can be utilised in a downstream process
• Alleviating dust related issues including explosion, fire, self-heating, safety, and environmental risks
• Reduced volumes of waste material requiring disposal and thus reduced disposal costs
• Converting waste or low value materials into higher value products

hrl: services related to agglomeration and pelletisation include:

• Laboratory analysis of feedstock and agglomerates
• Dangerous Goods Classification 
• Technical evaluation and selection of agglomeration technologies
• Assessment of suitable binding agents
• Pilot-scale agglomeration studies
• Agglomerate quality testing including chemical properties, mechanical strength, thermal strength and behaviour, DG classification (DG 4.1, 4.2, 4.3); and assessment of emissions during combustion
• Larger scale trials to produce larger batches (tonne quantities) of agglomerates
• Detailed engineering/feasibility study for agglomeration plant, including flowsheet development, cost estimation of project viability assessment
• Sourcing/procurement of equipment and project implementation 
• Engineering support including optimising existing processes

The agglomeration services are backed by hrl: analytical, thermal and mechanical testing capabilities, and supported by its team of chemical, mechanical, environmental and materials engineers and scientists.

Raw materials:

• Coal, coke, char and carbons
• Minerals including iron ore, synthetic rutile, titanium dioxide and spodumene
• Lime, cement and fly ash
• Paper and cardboard
• Bark, wood and sawdust
• Agricultural by-products
• Chemicals, plastics and fertilisers

Wastes:

• Tailings and slurries
• Fine particulate material captured in dust-extraction systems
• Steel, nickel, lead and zinc oxide fines
• Steel, aluminium and a range of other milling waste
• Chemical, plastic and paper wastes
• Refuse derived fuel (RDF) and municipal solid waste (MSW)
• Chicken litter and animal manure
• Biomass and agricultural waste

The range of agglomeration equipment operated by hrl: includes:

• Double-roll press briquetter for producing pillow or almond-shaped briquettes
• Pellet mill to produce 4 and 6 millimetre diameter pellets
• Drum pelletiser to produce 10 to 30 millimetre spherical pellets
• Reciprocating stamp press briquetter to produce 90 millimetre diameter briquettes
• Kneader-extruder to produce pellets from viscous pastes
• Screw extruder to produce agglomerates from 20 to 50 millimetre in various shapes
• Bench-scale stamp press
• Agglomerate quality testing apparatus
• Auxiliary equipment including mills, dryers, conveyors and mixers

Agglomerate Quality Testing

• A range of tests and activities can be performed to assess the quality of agglomerates
• Pellet mechanical durability test (I.S.CEN/TS 15210-1:2006)
• Drop shatter resistance (2 or 5m drop test)
• Abradability testing
• Compressive strength
• Agglomerate density
• Resistance to shock heating
• Visual appearance
• Moisture content
• Simulation in downstream processes
• Plant combustion and kiln trials, including plant performance and emissions testing

hrl: assists clients by employing advanced agglomeration techniques to convert valuable materials from particulate, solid and liquid waste streams into pellets, pills, balls or briquettes that can be recycled or reused.