Phosphate Rock Powder Conveying Solution for the Chemical Industry in Yunnan

As a core production area of phosphate rock resources and a chemical industry cluster in China, Yunnan is home to a large local chemical enterprise (hereinafter referred to as "Yunnan Chemical Enterprise") that is advancing the capacity expansion and upgrading of its phosphate chemical industry chain. The enterprise plans to build a dedicated bulk material conveying line from the phosphate rock crushing station to the fertilizer production workshop, with the core requirement of realizing continuous, sealed, and efficient conveying of phosphate rock powder (with a moisture content of 12%-15% and a particle size of 0.1-5mm). At that time, the pain points faced by this enterprise were common in the chemical industry in Yunnan, directly restricting capacity release and environmental compliance:

Firstly, there was prominent environmental pressure. When conveying phosphate rock powder using traditional trough belt conveyors, the open design led to dust emission as high as 30mg/m³, far exceeding the limit of 15mg/m³ specified in the national Integrated Emission Standard of Air Pollutants (GB16297-1996) at that time. There were multiple complaints about dust around the plant area. Moreover, phosphate rock powder tends to agglomerate when exposed to rain, and its spillage causes soil pollution, which is contrary to Yunnan's local development requirements that emphasize ecological protection. Secondly, there was the difficulty of terrain adaptation. The total length of the conveying route was 719 meters, passing through 2 gentle slopes (maximum slope of 8°) and 1 river bend (turning angle of 95°). Ordinary belt conveyors required 3 transfer stations to achieve direction change and slope climbing, which not only increased equipment investment costs (the cost of a single transfer station exceeded 500,000 yuan) but also resulted in conveying efficiency loss (approximately 15% loss in the transfer process). Thirdly, there was insufficient capacity matching. The enterprise's newly built production line required a stable phosphate rock powder conveying capacity of 350 t/h, but due to the impact of transfer links, the actual conveying efficiency of traditional belt conveyors was only 280 t/h, which could not meet the production load demand, leading to frequent "material-waiting shutdown" of the production line.

To address Yunnan Chemical Enterprise's demand for a bulk material conveying solution that meets the requirements of "sealed environmental protection, adaptation to complex terrain, and meeting capacity standards", ZOOMRY established a special technical team. Combining the on-site survey data of the enterprise's plant (terrain, existing facility layout, and characteristics of phosphate rock powder) with its own pipe belt conveyor technical standards, and after 2 rounds of solution iterations, the team finally determined a full-chain solution of "core pipe belt conveyors + supporting feeding/unloading equipment + independent components". This solution fully leverages the advantages of pipe belt conveyors, such as "sealed conveying, curve adaptation, and long-distance conveying without transfer", and accurately matches the project parameters and scenario requirements of the chemical industry in Yunnan.

Core Requirements of the Conveying Project

Core Customer Requirements

Yunnan Chemical Enterprise's requirements were clearly defined around four dimensions: "material characteristics, technical parameters, scenario adaptation, and compliance & safety", which are also in line with the typical needs of phosphate rock powder conveying in the chemical industry in Yunnan. In terms of material characteristics, aiming at the characteristics of phosphate rock powder ("easy to generate dust and agglomerate when wet"), a fully sealed conveying design was required to avoid material loss and pollution. In terms of technical parameters, it clearly required a conveying capacity of ≥350 t/h, a conveying distance of 719 meters, and a pipe belt conveyor diameter of 350mm (to adapt to the particle size of phosphate rock powder and avoid blockage). The equipment needed to adapt to an 8° slope and a 95° turn, matching the terrain characteristics of Yunnan with numerous mountains and rivers. In terms of scenario adaptation, the equipment installation needed to avoid existing pipelines and buildings in the plant area to reduce civil engineering renovation work (land resources in Yunnan's mountainous plant areas are tight, and expansion costs are high). In terms of compliance & safety, the dust emission was required to be ≤10mg/m³, the equipment needed to have belt deviation protection and power-off emergency braking functions, and it had to pass the national chemical industry equipment safety certification to meet the high safety standards of chemical production.

Core Project Objectives

Based on the customer's requirements and combined with the production and environmental protection requirements of the chemical industry in Yunnan, four core objectives were set for the project: Firstly, meeting environmental standards - controlling dust emission within 8mg/m³ to completely solve the dust pollution problem and align with Yunnan's ecological protection policies. Secondly, matching efficiency - achieving continuous and stable conveying of 350 t/h without transfer loss to meet the full-load demand of the production line and reduce material-waiting shutdown time. Thirdly, cost optimization - compared with the traditional solution of "belt conveyors + transfer stations", reducing equipment investment costs by 20% and cutting post-operation and maintenance labor by 30% (labor costs in Yunnan's mountainous areas have been increasing year by year, making cost reduction an urgent need). Fourthly, safety and reliability - ensuring the equipment has an annual failure rate of ≤1% and a service life of ≥10 years to guarantee long-term stable operation and avoid production safety risks caused by equipment failures.

ZOOMRY Customized Solution

Core Equipment

To meet the project's requirements of a 719-meter belt length, 350 t/h capacity, and 350mm pipe diameter, ZOOMRY designed and produced a set of pipe belt conveyors as the core of the entire conveying system. The key technical designs of this equipment fully meet the needs of Yunnan Chemical Enterprise:

• Sealing and environmental protection design: A "hexagonal idler group (6 idlers distributed in a regular hexagon)" structure was adopted to fold the belt into a tubular shape with a diameter of 350mm, and the belt overlap was ≥120mm, realizing fully sealed conveying of phosphate rock powder. Combined with the passive dust-removing chute at the discharge end, the dust emission was finally controlled at 6.8mg/m³, far below the customer's requirement. Meanwhile, the tubular structure prevents direct contact between rainwater and materials (Yunnan has concentrated rainfall in the rainy season, with an average annual rainfall of over 1000mm), solving the problem of phosphate rock powder agglomeration when wet, and reducing the material loss rate from 5% (of traditional belt conveyors) to 0.8%.
• Terrain adaptability: For the 95° river bend, the pipe belt conveyor adopted a "flexible turning design". By adjusting the idler group spacing (1 set of turning idlers every 5 meters) and belt tension, the turning radius was only 30 meters (ordinary belt conveyors require ≥80 meters), eliminating the need for additional land acquisition or river reconstruction (land acquisition approval around rivers in Yunnan's mountainous areas is strict, and reconstruction costs are high). For the 8° gentle slope, the drive unit configuration was optimized, with 2 SEW three-stage reduction motors (total power of 75kW) and anti-slip belts (friction coefficient ≥0.35) used to ensure stable climbing under heavy load without material sliding risk.
• Capacity and stability guarantee: The pipe belt conveyor belt width was designed to be 1200mm (to adapt to the 350mm pipe diameter and 350 t/h capacity), and the belt speed was set to 2.5m/s. A PLC control system was used to realize the linked adjustment of feeding volume and belt speed, avoiding material overload or underload. Meanwhile, 40Cr forged rollers (diameter of 219mm) independently produced by ZOOMRY were used, with the surface treated with diamond-shaped rubber coating to improve belt friction. The roller ovality was ≤1.5mm (better than the national standard of 2mm), ensuring no vibration noise during long-term operation, and the equipment operation noise was ≤52dB, meeting the noise control requirements of Yunnan Chemical Enterprise's plant area, which is relatively close to surrounding villages.

Supporting Equipment

To ensure seamless connection from truck transportation of phosphate rock powder into the plant to conveying by pipe belt conveyors, the solution was equipped with 2 types of core supporting equipment, both independently developed by ZOOMRY to adapt to the raw material transportation characteristics of the chemical industry in Yunnan:

• 1 ZR120D hopper feeder: Installed at the feeding end of the pipe belt conveyor and connected to the truck unloading point. The feeder has a hopper capacity of 5m³ and uses a variable-frequency speed-regulating motor (power of 15kW). It can adjust the feeding volume according to the operation status of the pipe belt conveyor to ensure stable feeding of 350 t/h and avoid material accumulation and blockage (25-ton dump trucks are mostly used for phosphate rock powder transportation in Yunnan, and the feeder needs to adapt to the intermittent unloading rhythm). The inner wall of the hopper is lined with wear-resistant plates (thickness of 12mm) to resist the abrasiveness of phosphate rock powder and extend the equipment service life.
• 1 ZRLS-TU1400 truck unloader: Used for raw material receiving in the plant area. It is equipped with a hydraulically adjustable ramp (slope of 7°) to adapt to the 25-ton dump trucks commonly used in Yunnan. The unloading efficiency reaches 400 t/h, meeting the raw material supply demand for the full-load operation of the pipe belt conveyor. Rubber skirts are installed at the bottom of the ramp to reduce dust dispersion during unloading, forming an environmental protection closed loop with the sealed design of the pipe belt conveyor and avoiding secondary pollution in the unloading process.

Core Components

All key components of the entire system are independently produced by ZOOMRY to ensure quality consistency and adaptability. The parameters of core components are better than national standards, providing support for the long-term stable operation of the equipment and reducing the difficulty of spare parts procurement for Yunnan Chemical Enterprise's later operation and maintenance (logistics in Yunnan's mountainous areas is inconvenient, and the spare parts supply cycle needs to be strictly controlled):

• Idlers: Mute idlers independently developed and produced by ZOOMRY (diameter of 133mm, adapted to 1200mm belt width) were selected. The radial runout is ≤0.4mm (national standard ≤0.5mm), the water intake after 72-hour immersion test is ≤95g (national standard ≤150g), and the operation noise is ≤42dB, reducing noise pollution in the plant area. The service life of the idlers is over 50,000 hours, resulting in low replacement frequency in later operation and maintenance and reducing spare parts procurement and replacement costs.
• Cleaning Scrapers: 2 sets of PU material cleaning scrapers (1 set at the head, 1 set at the tail) are equipped. The fitting degree between the scrapers and the belt is ≥95%, which can effectively remove residual phosphate rock powder on the belt surface and avoid belt deviation caused by material adhesion. Meanwhile, the tail scraper is equipped with an automatic compensation device, which can automatically adjust the spacing after wear without frequent manual maintenance (Yunnan Chemical Enterprise's plant is mostly located in the suburbs, with limited configuration of operation and maintenance personnel).
• Conveyor Belts: PVC integral core flame-retardant conveyor belts (thickness of 15mm) are used, with a tensile strength of ≥18MPa, meeting the flame-retardant safety standards of the chemical industry. They can withstand Yunnan's summer high temperature of 35℃ and winter low temperature of -5℃ (temperatures in some mountainous areas of Yunnan are relatively low in winter, so it is necessary to avoid belt aging and cracking), ensuring stable operation throughout the year.

Project Implementation Process

During the project implementation, ZOOMRY strictly controlled the entire process from pre-preparation to after-sales training to ensure the effectiveness of the solution implementation, demonstrating professional service capabilities for chemical industry projects and adapting to the special conditions of project implementation in Yunnan's mountainous areas:

In the preliminary survey stage, ZOOMRY dispatched a 5-person technical team to Yunnan Chemical Enterprise's plant, spending 15 days completing three key tasks: Firstly, using a total station to survey the 3D terrain data of the 719-meter conveying route, accurately marking the slope, turning radius, and existing pipeline positions (the pipeline layout in Yunnan's mountainous plant areas is complex, so it is necessary to avoid conflicts between equipment installation and existing facilities), providing a basis for optimizing the laying path of the pipe belt conveyor. Secondly, collecting phosphate rock powder samples and conducting fluidity and abrasiveness tests in the company's laboratory to determine the pipe belt conveyor speed and hopper feeder parameters (the characteristics of phosphate rock powder from different mining areas in Yunnan vary, requiring targeted adjustments). Thirdly, communicating with the enterprise's production team to understand the production line schedule and equipment maintenance habits, and customizing a simplified operation interface (supporting Chinese display to adapt to the operating habits of local operation and maintenance personnel).

In the production and manufacturing stage, all equipment and components were produced in ZOOMRY's Hebei factory, and the entire process was integrated into the ISO 9001 quality management system: The pipe belt conveyor rollers must pass ultrasonic flaw detection to ensure no internal cracks; the idlers must undergo a 1000-hour no-load test run to verify sealing performance and rotational resistance (≤2N, better than the national standard of ≤3N); the belts must undergo tensile and flame-retardant tests before leaving the factory.

In the installation and commissioning stage, ZOOMRY dispatched an 8-person installation team to the site, adopting a "modular assembly" mode: The main body of the pipe belt conveyor was divided into 12 sections (each about 60 meters), pre-assembled in the factory in advance. On-site, only bolt connection and belt vulcanization were required, and the installation period was only 28 days (the industry average period is 45 days; the construction period in Yunnan's mountainous areas is greatly affected by the rainy season, so it is necessary to shorten the installation time). During commissioning, a 72-hour continuous full-load test run was conducted to simulate the enterprise's production conditions, optimize the PLC program parameters, and ensure that the pipe belt conveyor's conveying efficiency was stably maintained at 355 t/h, exceeding the 350 t/h requirement. Meanwhile, the problem of "turning idler spacing deviation" found during installation was solved by adjusting the idler positions on-site to ensure no belt deviation during operation.

In the operation and maintenance training stage, ZOOMRY provided a 10-day special training for 10 operation and maintenance personnel of the enterprise, covering daily equipment inspection (idler rotation status, belt tension), common fault handling (motor overload, belt deviation), and regular maintenance (idler lubrication, scraper replacement). Chinese operation manuals and fault diagnosis videos were also provided to ensure that the operation and maintenance team could independently complete equipment operation and basic maintenance after training (the cost of sending operation and maintenance personnel for training outside Yunnan's mountainous areas is high, so localized operation and maintenance is required).

Project Results

Since its official commissioning, the project has operated stably for a long time, with all indicators exceeding expectations. It not only solved the core pain points of bulk material conveying for Yunnan Chemical Enterprise but also provided a benchmark solution for phosphate rock powder conveying in the chemical industry in Yunnan, creating significant economic and environmental value:

In terms of environmental protection and compliance, the fully sealed conveying of the pipe belt conveyor reduced the plant's dust emission from 30mg/m³ to 6.8mg/m³, far exceeding national and local standards. Since then, the enterprise has not received any more dust complaints and avoided the risk of environmental penalties (Yunnan imposes heavy environmental penalties on chemical enterprises, with a single penalty amount of up to one million yuan). The phosphate rock powder loss rate decreased from 5% to 0.8%, reducing annual loss by 20,500 tons based on an annual conveying volume of 2.5 million tons.

In terms of efficiency and capacity, the pipe belt conveyor realized 719-meter long-distance continuous conveying without transfer, with an actual conveying efficiency stably maintained at 355 t/h, meeting the full-load demand of the enterprise's production line. Compared with the traditional solution of "belt conveyors + transfer stations", the conveying cycle was shortened from 4 hours to 2.1 hours, reducing the annual production shutdown time caused by insufficient conveying by approximately 30 hours, and indirectly creating production value of over 5 million yuan (calculated based on a profit of 200 yuan per ton of fertilizer products). Meanwhile, the transfer-free design reduced the equipment investment and labor costs of 3 transfer stations, lowering the initial project investment by 22% (saving over 1.5 million yuan) and reducing the annual operation and maintenance labor cost by approximately 400,000 yuan (labor costs in Yunnan's mountainous areas increase by an average of 8% annually, resulting in significant long-term cost reduction effects).

In terms of reliability and service life, as of 2025, the equipment has remained stable, with an annual failure rate of only 0.6% (far lower than the 1% target). Core components such as idlers and rollers have not undergone large-scale replacement, and only regular belt and scraper replacement is required, with the annual operation and maintenance cost controlled within 80,000 yuan. When the enterprise expanded the production line capacity, the pipe belt conveyor could meet the new capacity demand of 400 t/h through a simple drive unit upgrade (power increased from 75kW to 90kW), demonstrating the equipment's expandability and durability and providing flexible support for the enterprise's later capacity upgrade.

The person in charge of the project at Yunnan Chemical Enterprise stated during a return visit after the equipment operation: "ZOOMRY's pipe belt conveyors not only solved our environmental protection and efficiency problems at that time but also can adapt to later capacity expansion and remain stable after long-term operation. Compared with other brand equipment we investigated, they offer higher cost-effectiveness and durability. We will give priority to ZOOMRY's solutions for future plant expansion and will recommend this conveying solution suitable for mountainous chemical enterprises to our peers in Yunnan."

Competitive Advantages of ZOOMRY

In the 2011 project competition, ZOOMRY's core advantages over other international brands were reflected in three dimensions, which were also the key to winning the project of Yunnan Chemical Enterprise:

• Stronger customization capabilities. International brands mostly provide standardized pipe belt conveyor products. For the special requirements of a 719-meter belt length and 350mm pipe diameter, a design cycle of more than 6 months is needed. However, relying on its independent R&D team, ZOOMRY completed the customized solution in only 2 months and could adjust the turning, climbing, and anti-agglomeration designs according to Yunnan's mountainous terrain and rainy climate, better adapting to the scenario needs of Yunnan Chemical Enterprise (most chemical enterprises in Yunnan are located in mountainous areas with large differences in terrain and climate, resulting in poor adaptability of standardized products).
• Higher cost-effectiveness. ZOOMRY independently produces core components (idlers, rollers, belts) and has a complete pipe belt conveyor industrial chain, resulting in an overall project cost 25% lower than that of the industry (most chemical enterprises in Yunnan are medium-sized, with a strong demand for cost control). Meanwhile, the equipment quality meets ISO 9001 and CEMA standards, and its performance is comparable to that of international brands, achieving a balance between "high quality and low price".
• Faster service response. During the project implementation, ZOOMRY's on-site installation team could respond to problems 24 hours a day, with a spare parts supply cycle of only 3 days (international brands require more than 15 days; logistics in Yunnan's mountainous areas is inconvenient, and long spare parts supply cycles easily lead to equipment shutdown). In the later operation and maintenance, an exclusive technical hotline was opened to ensure that faults could be solved through remote guidance within 2 hours, reducing equipment shutdown time, which is crucial for chemical enterprises with continuous production.

The successful application of ZOOMRY's pipe belt conveyors in the phosphate rock powder conveying project of the chemical industry in Yunnan not only verifies its technical strength in the field of long-distance, sealed bulk material conveying but also becomes a typical benchmark for the upgrading of bulk material conveying in the chemical industry in Yunnan. It proves that domestic pipe belt conveyors can replace international brands, and while meeting the requirements of environmental protection, efficiency, and reliability, they provide higher cost-effectiveness and more flexible customized services, adapting to the development characteristics of the chemical industry in Yunnan, such as numerous mountains, emphasis on environmental protection, and the need for cost reduction.

The experience of this project has also laid a foundation for ZOOMRY's subsequent services to the chemical industry in Yunnan and even the southwest region of China: The experience accumulated in the project, such as "mountainous terrain adaptation", "anti-agglomeration in rainy climate", and "localized operation and maintenance support", can be directly reused in other phosphate chemical enterprises in Yunnan and even promoted to southwest provinces with rich phosphate rock resources, such as Guizhou and Sichuan. This provides equipment and technical support for the green and efficient development of the chemical industry in the southwest region, and practices ZOOMRY's corporate philosophy of "Building high-quality conveying products, forging a century-old foundation".