How to Design an Elevating System for High-Temperature Fertilizer?

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Materiae Amans
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Greetings,

For my school's project, I have to design an elevating system. Its main function is to continuously elevate a fertilizer disorderly and in bulk (rate of flow ~ 300 tonnes per hour, height of the elevator /course ~ 20 meters, the fertilizer is at 70°C, 5% humidity). My request is as follows : I'd like you guys to suggest any ideas for such a system, either simple or too complex to be considered. The main point is to correctly analyze the specifications and come up with several ideas for the system, to finally choose the most suitable one while justifying the rejection of the other options. Thanks in advance :)
 
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(1) We would like to hear about some of your own ideas on this .

(2) There is certain to be information about existing elevator designs online . Try searching on 'grain elevators' and similar things to begin with .
 
So, my ideas are :

- A bucket elevator
- A pneumatic conveying system
- A huge vertical worm
 
All those ideas are feasible .

I like the worm idea best . Search 'screw conveyor' on Google Images to get some construction ideas .

Sketch a preliminary design and we'll have a look at it .
 
I checked it out, but my teammates and teacher weren't fans of the idea for the elevator. On the other hand, it seems like a great idea for the horizontal conveying system we have to pick as well, it seems more broadly used for that matter.
 
Designing an efficient pneumatic system for such a high a tonnage rate would be difficult I think . So that just leaves the bucket elevator .
 
Indeed, the maximum I've found was 200t/h
 
Any other ideas in mind?
 
Materiae Amans said:
Its main function is to continuously elevate a fertilizer disorderly and in bulk
Has your class discussed "Intrinsically Safe" systems and issues regarding explosions with such systems? How might those considerations guide your choice of conveyor systems? You are not transporting gravel in this application...
 
berkeman said:
Has your class discussed "Intrinsically Safe" systems and issues regarding explosions with such systems? How might those considerations guide your choice of conveyor systems? You are not transporting gravel in this application...
Not to my knowledge, what they pointed out is that the system should be chemically compatible with our fertilizer, which means the components shouldn't react with it...