Ceramic Overflow Elbow

Background

A gold mine processing plant had been experiencing excessive wear in a cyclone overflow pipe elbow and contacted Keramos for a solution.  The traditional rubber lined pipe lasted around 4 weeks before replacement from excessive wear.  A trial of an alumina ceramic tiled option had been conducted with another company and had lasted about 3 months and this was initially deemed a satisfactory result.  However, they asked Keramos if we thought this could be improved.

Solution

The worn alumina tiled ceramic pipe showed premature wear at the ceramic joins and general wear throughout.  After inspection of the worn ceramic pipe, Keramos recommended trialling a cast siliconised silicon carbide ceramic lined pipe.  The advantage of this design is a superior wear resistant ceramic combined with the elimination of joins in the ceramic lining, where the main wear had initiated.

Result

The Keramos elbow lasted 14 months in continuous service, compared with 3 months for the alumina ceramic lined elbow and 1 month for the rubber lined elbow.

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Benefits

Direct savings on each elbow totalled over $7,000 per year.