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LARGEST
capacity fertiliser
blending plant in Africa
I
n 2018, a fertiliser blending plant was commissioned in South
Africa. This plant can blend at up to 200 tons per hour and can
bag out at 240 tons per hour through high technology applied
to reach customers’ needs. This is the largest capacity blending
plant in Africa.
The high production capacity of the plant and the relatively low
labour resources required to run the plant afford flexibility to the
owners to serve a market that is driven by unpredictable forces.
At this facility a customer can arrive at the site and have his blend
produced and ready for a full load in just ten minutes.
All critical points of the plant are monitored automatically by the
system. Some issues are dealt with automatically without any op-
erator intervention, while more serious issues are clearly pointed
out to the operator by a series of displays located around the plant.
The software and layout have been designed to favour production
while keeping blends at the highest standards.
The project was completed in collaboration with Bagtech Interna-
tional’s long-time partner Festo, who is at the forefront of Indus-
try 4.0. With Industry 4.0 monitoring efficiencies and optimising pro-
cesses have never been so clear and simple.
Every device used in the plant is connected via Ethernet and is In-
dustry 4.0 ready, thus feeding the main plant controller a plethora
of information and making it available over the cloud. Maintenance
is also taken to a new level with digital maintenance technologies
known as ‘Smartenance’, where every device’s usage is monitored.
It is the same as where every device in the plant has a digital odom-
eter notifying you of its next service.
The project has presented new and exciting opportunities to bring
to bear the application of machine learning technology and artifi-
cial intelligence to the challenges that fertiliser processing presents.
In Bagtech’s pursuit for perfection they have begun implementing
machine learning algorithms that learn how different raw materials
flow over time.
These algorithms send this valuable information over to the accu-
rately controlled servo dosing gates resulting in near perfect blends
from the first kilogram.
ON FARM LEVEL
Fertiliser
Product information
BRETT BINNEKADE,
Festo/Bagtech