Continental’s Eco Series conveyor belts are the basis for a shift towards reducing the carbon footprint of material handling, while affecting cost-efficiencies, servicing and safety.
Continental is at the forefront of reducing energy costs and driving efficiencies in material handling.
“In general terms, steel cord conveyor belting on overland conveyor systems is used for large-scale materials handling applications due to the demanding nature of modern mining operations, with significant belt tensions required to transport materials at high capacities over very long distances,” Continental Conveyor Belt Group business development manager Scott Little told Australian Mining.
Continental is engaged in a process of supporting carbon-neutrality targets with products that can be integrated within existing material handling systems and servicing regimes.
This ongoing development is not easy, however, as the low-carbon products must withstand the many stresses associated with operating around-the-clock and in harsh mining environments.
Continental’s Eco Series conveyor belts reduce power consumption by as much as 30 per cent, which positively impacts emission-reduction strategies as mining operators strive to meet carbon neutrality.
In conveying systems, the belt runs over idlers, with the bottom cover deforming. The resulting indentation rolling resistance is the main contributor to the power requirement of a conveyor belt.
The low rolling resistance properties comprising Continental’s Eco Series conveyor belts are designed to reduce energy loss.
The Eco Plus and Eco Extreme rubber formulations are integrated into a number of Continental long-distance overland conveyor belts, including Flexsteel and Phoenocord series steel cord belts.
These belts are utilised in tough mining applications, offering significant durability and performance reliability.
They possess high dynamic efficiency, corrosion resistance and low elongation, which are critical in long-length conveyor systems in underground and surface mining environments.
“The Eco Series is designed to assist with the power draw by reducing the indentation effect of the rubber surrounding the pulley cover as the conveyor belt passes over an idler,” Little said.
“The pulley cover rubber contains special properties, specifically designed to reduce the amount of energy that’s required to pull the belt over many rollers along the length of the conveyor belt.”
Thousands of kilometres of conveyor belting on mining operations across Australia and beyond are benefitting from Eco Plus and Eco Extreme.
As the desire for carbon-neutral technologies continues to expand, Continental is positioning itself to meet this demand by supplying its customers with sustainable solutions embedded within material handling systems.
A Continental service team recently installed an Eco Series conveyor belt, measuring 7.5km, at a large iron ore mining operation in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
“Our service teams are highly experienced and knowledgeable, and we leveraged all of our capabilities when successfully completing the recent overland conveyor system installation in the Pilbara,” Continental Western Australian regional operations manager Wayne Sheriffs told Australian Mining.
This conveyor belt is providing high performance and reliability in a harsh operating environment.
“Continental is engaged in a vertically integrated process, including our own rubber mixing and manufacturing capabilities, and this enables us to maintain rigorous quality control in the production of our world-class conveyor belts,” Sherriffs said.
Continental offers a comprehensive approach to service, including conveyor belt installation, technical support, training and belt monitoring.
Together with advances in sustainability, Continental regards safety as a fundamental priority, striving to ensure people working on and around conveyor belt systems are in safest of conditions.
“Safety is the most important aspect of Continental’s conveyor belt maintenance practices,” Sheriffs said.
“Whether it’s related to installation, undertaking repairs, or general maintenance activities, our trained and experienced teams are actively identifying potential hazards and instigating risk-mitigation measures and process improvements.”
The company provides support across all stages of the conveyor belt lifecycle, offering a highly flexible and customer-orientated approach with experienced teams able to complete belt installation and replacement, splicing with advanced processes such as Preform splicing, and conveyor maintenance and repair.
The company supports its customers under long-term contract agreements, offering emergency call-out support with rapid response times, conveyor inspections and audits, and now offers in-house design and supply of belt-handling equipment, such as winders, left-off stands and belt pullers.
This feature appeared in the October issue of Australian Mining.