Mechanical Recovery System – Screw Conveyor and Bucket Elevator

The excavated screw conveyor system combined with the bucket elevator is the ideal solution for maximizing the operator’s productivity, along with minimizing the required care and maintenance of the blast booth components. This system is suitable for large or small rooms, and offers flexibility in terms of recovery speed and floor layouts.

It provides an exceptional abrasive media recovery rate, without any restrictions when it comes to the media type or how harsh the application might be. Although it is the most expensive system to implement, it provides a quick return on investment when considering the overall costs of operation and maintenance of the blasting process.

This recovery system is suitable for large volume sandblasting applications and to recover heavy abrasive media types, such as aluminum oxide, steel shot, and steel grit.

HOW IT WORKS

Recovery System Capacity

The recovery rate capacity is 10,000 lb/hr.

Recovery Hopper Layouts Available

The floor recovery hoppers layouts are practically unlimited with this system.

Corner Shoot	Simple Screw	U-Shape	H-Shape
T-Shape	L-Shape	Complete Single	Complete Double

INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS

The screw conveyor system must be integrated into the blast booth floor to maximize the blaster’s performance and efficiency, reducing the effort required for sweeping the abrasive media into the floor hopper rather than shoveling it. Ideally, excavation work of at least 3 feet is required for the augers, and 5 feet is required for the bucket elevator. When excavation is not possible, the blast booth floor must be elevated at least 5 feet above the ground to permit the installation.

Furthermore, the installation of the bucket elevator requires a minimum ceiling clearance of 18 feet when excavated, or 23 feet for above-ground installation. As previously mentioned, the height of the bucket elevator is mainly determined by the size of the storage hopper. Consequently, a clearance of 18 feet allows for a standard 6.4 cu. ft. storage hopper, which is the size of the pressure blast pot’s tank. As a result, such an installation requires the blaster to clean the floor frequently to make sure the storage hopper is full before the blast pot runs empty in order to allow uninterrupted blasting operations – unless the system has a full-floor recovery system, which allows for continuous recycling of media without any effort from the operator.

So, if you are not allowed to excavate your building or if you do not have enough ceiling clearance, then your only two options are the pneumatic abrasive recovery system (if your application is suitable for it) or the hybrid abrasive recovery system.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

ISTblast offers various types of recovery floors which will be adapted according to your available production space and budget. Either for a surface installation or excavated, dimensions can vary from 4 feet in length for the compact installations, and to more than 40 feet for high output industrial facilities. The configurations are practically infinite!

The shallow and space saving over the floor design, is easy to install and requires limited maintenance. A 17” floor excavation is sufficient for existing floors. The system can also be installed on a concrete floor or on any other permanent or temporary floor.

We manufacture a complete line of Recovery Systems to accommodate sandblasting facilities constraints, and these systems are compatible with our equipment, with other manufacturers’ equipment, and even for self-fabricated facilities. The fundamentals behind an effective Recovery System is to Recover, Recycle and Reuse the abrasive. (3R).

ECONOMIC FEATURES

The concept of recycling abrasives allows the user to achieve substantial savings in abrasive consumption while protecting the environment from harmful sandblast dust. For example, the cost of steel shot is of approximately 10 times superior compared with the cost of any non-recyclable media. However, steel shot abrasives can be recycled and used up to 100 times compared to only once with the standard media, which makes it a lot cheaper per usage compared to non-reusable abrasives.

The non-recyclable sandblasting abrasives are not expensive to purchase but they can only be used for one sandblasting cycle. Because of their fragile molecular structure, they deteriorate quickly while generating harmful residual dust and substantially reducing the visibility of operators.