Screw conveyors - USA

Horizontal screw conveyors ensure efficient cement transfers

A newly built cement terminal in Sacramento, California, USA, needed an efficient, high-capacity conveying system that could transfer dry bulk material either to silos or to trucks for onward transport; Siwertell horizontal screw conveyors proved to be ideal for the task.

Customer need 

In addition to a ship unloader, global building materials company, Cemex, needed a conveying system for its new cement terminal in Sacramento, California. It was built as part of the company’s substantial US network of facilities, including 10 cement plants, close to 50 strategically located cement terminals, around 50 aggregate quarries, and more than 280 ready-mix concrete plants.

The terminal’s new conveyor system needed to transfer cement from the ship unloader and moveable transfer trolley to the storage facility, and also ensure efficient material flows around the terminal. This included transporting cement to silos or to truck loading facilities.

The company has more than a hundred-year legacy of handling cement and has high expectations of any technology that it adopts.

Our solution

Bruks Siwertell was awarded the contract to not only supply the Siwertell ST 490-D ship unloader, with a side-tilting arm system, but also the terminal’s material conveying systems. The operator specified Siwertell horizontal screw conveyors including type-HSC-800 jetty screw conveyors, type-HSC 630 rail car discharge conveyors, and type-HSC 630 transfer conveyors. 

In total, the Sacramento facility is served by two horizontal screw conveyors, which transfer cement from the ship unloader to the silo area, and four horizontal screw conveyors that handle the cement in the terminal. Together they offer the facility exactly what it needed; high-capacity, reliable performance.

On the jetty, the horizontal screw conveyors are covered with a belt to protect the environment and minimize any fugitive dust emissions. They have a modular construction and have been installed in a series, which offers a consistent conveying profile over long distances. Horizontal screw conveyors have a reversible conveying direction and can be used for inclined conveying. 

Siwertell screw conveyors offer particular advantages to dry bulk operators, and have been a central part in loading and unloading systems within terminals for decades. They are robust and hard-wearing, so for the construction industry, handling cement and more abrasive materials such as clinker and aggregates, screw conveyors offer very reliable, cost-efficient performance and minimal maintenance. They can also be totally enclosed to bring dust emissions down to negligible levels and ensure spillage-free material transfers at very high capacities.