Royal IHC Developing the Screening Technology

At the end of 2019, Royal IHC was awarded a contract for the design and delivery of two mining screen towers by the family-owned company Spaansen.

The towers will be installed on the hopper dredger YED PRIOR.

Spaansen is currently converting the GERD container vessel into a gravel hopper dredger with a hopper capacity of approximately 5,000m³. The conversion is taking place in a yard in Harlingen, The Netherlands.

For this order IHC has upgraded the design of the screen towers to increase their screening efficiency and ease of maintenance. The screen decks will be twice as large as the standard design and cylinders will be added to remotely adjust the screening angle.

In addition, the screen deck has been made out of two sections to optimize the flow. The areas with the highest wear are being redesigned so they can be easily maintained. All these upgrades will ensure a high separation efficiency, resulting in obtaining higher volumes of gravel with a higher value.

“IHC has invested extensively in the development of its screening technology,” commented IHC Manager Operations Robin Hageman. “We are now much better at predicting what happens on the screen deck, which allows us to design an optimal screening system for each customer. We are proud that Spaansen has awarded us with this order and are looking forward to seeing the screening deck in operation.”

The engineering has already been completed and the towers will be installed on the vessel during the second quarter of 2020.