Bongioanni Macchine supplies new preparation and extrusion line to Bordj Bou Arreridj in Algeria

Over the last five years, Bongioanni has built five plants around Bordj Bou Arreridj as well as others in different regions of Algeria, and established itself as a key supplier of preparation and shaping machines.

Preparation

The plants and machinery supplied by Bongioanni Macchine enable a production capacity of 270 000 t fired products per year, produced in three-shift operation. It supplied a preparation line in which two box feeders (type CFD120/6) feed the clay to a clay crusher (type R1200). In this machine, the raw material is reduced to a size suitable for the downstream disintegrator (type 11LD). Downstream of the clay disintegrator, a roughing roller mill (type Compact LE-810) further reduces the grain size to the smallest possible size to achieve a uniform moisture distribution during storage and thus improve the homogenization rate of the mixture.

M. Moussaoui followed the recommendation of Bongioanni Macchine’s technicians to arrange the primary machines along a line, enabling the clay to flow in a continuous “cascade stream” from one machine to another, without the need to install additional distribution devices on the belt conveyors upstream of the machines to be fed with clay. This solution can always be recommended as profitable according to Bongioanni Macchine as it offers significant advantages: utilization of the full production capacity of the machines, continuous stream of the comminuted raw material coming from each individual machine, longer lifetime of the machine components coming into contact with the clay as the wear is spread over the entire available working width of each machine instead of being concentrated in isolated areas.

From the roughing roller mill, the clay flows toward a moisturizing mixer (type MIX610I). Upstream of this mixer, a defined percentage of inert material is added by means of a rubber belt box feeder (type CRG100/4). Bongioanni Macchine positioned the metering of the inert materials downstream of the other machines to protect them from the much more severe wear caused by quartz particles.

On a system of rubber belt conveyors, the clay is conveyed from the mixer to the storage bays and once it has completed the aging process, it is picked up by a front loader. Planned is the installation of a bucket excavator for the automatic pick-up of clay. Building work for this purpose has already been planned and realized.

Shaping

The clay body is fed on a box feeder (type CFD120/6) to the refining roller mill (type Compact LI-1012) and then to the extrusion line consisting of the complete extrusion unit (type Tecno 750).

The moisture content is optimized by means of an automatic water feed system. This is fitted on the MIX710D de-airing mixer, which is placed on top of the Tecno 750M-D extruder. The aim is to keep the extrusion pressure as steady as possible. The extrusion pressure is controlled fully automatically. With the water feed system, the amount of water fed in the last stage of the mixing process can be controlled so that an optimum shaping of the extruded products as well as a constant humidity rate are achieved to facilitate the drying process.

Accessories

Besides preparation and production machines, other key accessories have been supplied. Pressure heads and the extrusion dies have been supplied by Bongioanni Stampi. For this project, extrusion and shaping devices for the “classic” products required, i.e. B8 and B12, were realized and extrusion dies of the Gamma Plus type supplied. This top-of-the-line model in Bongioanni Stampi’s product range is one of the best-selling dies not only on the Algerian market but also worldwide.

Bongioanni Macchine has also supplied the other complementary equipment such as rubber belt conveyors, and electric switch cabinets for both the preparation and extrusion line. In particular, the electric switch cabinet for the extrusion line is equipped with a heavy-duty inverter, and the R.A.V. system (automatic adjustment of the speed) patented by Bongioanni Macchine.