Bateman Engineered Technologies (a division of the Bateman Engineering Group, which lost out in the tender for the Delimara power station extension) has been awarded a contract to provide the fly ash handling equipment for the greenfields Eskom Medupi power station project in South Africa’s Limpopo province.

The multi-million rand contract, which was awarded by Clyde Bergemann Africa (Pty) Ltd, covers the design, supply and commissioning of the fly ash handling equipment for six fly ash storage silos. The contract, which will be carried out in two phases, was won against wide competition, due not only to the competitive pricing but also to Bateman Engineered Technologies’ niche technology and extensive track record in fly ash handling.

The equipment to be supplied includes Bateman-IBAU inverted cones for the silos, Bateman-IBAU aeration pads powered by blowers, as well as Bateman-IBAU control valves and airslides powered by fans to discharge the fly ash from the silos to the conditioners. All the associated piping and valves will also be supplied by Bateman Engineered Technologies and sourced from local, South African suppliers.

Bateman Engineered Technologies provided the silo dimensions in accordance with the fly ash handling equipment that will be provided. The silos, which receive fly ash from the power station boilers, each have a storage capacity of 3,700 t, with each airslide discharging at a rate of 220 t/hr to its respective conditioner.

The work has already commenced, with Phase 1 (the ash handling equipment for Silos 6, 5 and 4) due for completion in November, with commissioning in February 2011, and Phase 2 (Silos 3, 2 and 1) due for completion in February 2011, with commissioning in February 2013.

Medupi power station is South Africa’s first new coal-fired power station in more than two decades and will have a capacity of 4,800 MW by the time its last unit is commissioned.

Bateman Engineered Technologies has been responsible for a number of fly ash handling systems since the early 1990s with systems supplied to, amongst others, CLP in Hong Kong and Ash Resources in South Africa, through to the most recent systems for Ulula Ash in 2008 and Sephaku Ash in 2009, both in South Africa. IBAU, with which Bateman has a long-standing agreement, is a world leader in the supply of ash handling equipment, with several hundred references across the globe.