Who Is Dubai Municipality & What Did They Need To Pack?
Dubai’s Municipality is one the United Arab Emirates’ largest government institutions. It offers a range of public utility services, including managing and operating waste treatment systems. The Municipality built a 670 hectare sewage treatment plant to dry wastewater into sludge, reducing its volume and converting it into safe to handle bio-solids. These bio-solids can be used to fertilise and condition soil and landscaped areas across Dubai. It also keeps the wastewater sludge from ending up in landfills, a process which is costly and bad for the environment.
The plant’s average daily treatment capacity needed to increase from 300,000 m3 to 670,000 m3, to manage the city's 3.35 million population. To do this, they added a module capable of processing an additional 370,000 m3 daily. The plant processed 1300 kgs of biosolids per line hourly which needed to be bagged and palletised at 2.1 tons an hour. They approached Webster Griffin for a solution that would bag, palletise and protect 25 kg bags of product. Here’s the solution we created for them.
What Challenges Did Webster Griffin Encounter When Planning The Installation?
Webster Griffin were tasked with installing a bagging solution for Dubai Municipality. Due to the nature of the biosolids, the Form Fill Seal bagging machine needed a dust extraction/vapour control and filtration for clean and safe filling.
The biosolids were dried and shaped into pellets, the packaged products needed protection from the elements after being palletised.
In addition to the above, the entire system needed to be able to function efficiently in hot and windy conditions as the plant was located in the Jebel Ali desert.
Which Equipment Was Required On Site For The Installation?
Webster Griffin installed a UPS-500 Form Fill Seal bagging machine and Okura III Series robot palletiser.
These machines were chosen for their performance and ability to withstand the plant’s desert environment, well as limited moving parts requiring frequent replacement. The bagging machine also included a dust extractor, weigher, bag applicator, pallet wrapper and pallet magazine.
How Did The Installation Help Dubai Municipality To Meet Their Production Targets?
Webster Griffin's Form Fill Seal bagging machine provided Dubai Municipality with an automated, affordable, high throughput solution compatible with different bag weights and product types. Its series of belts and roller conveyors quickly transported the product from filling to palletisation. It also featured a dust extractor operating at 400m3/hour, ensuring a clean, safe working environment for employees. The automatic net weigher with an accuracy within +/- 0.5% ensured the product giveaway was at a minimum saving them time and money, and an automatic bag applicator provided flexibility for pillow and gusseted bags.
The palletiser robot came with a 9” colour touchscreen control panel and OXPA ‘Easy Teach’ programming software with 100 pre-configured stacking patterns to be customised to preference. The high speed pallet wrapper was equipped with a rotating turntable to waterproof the pallets before transportation, with a standard empty pallet magazine capable of stacking 15 to 20 empty pallets.
What Key Benefits Were Realised After The Installation?
After the system’s installation, the Dubai Municipality experienced a better than projected throughput of 3 tons an hour, with reduced production costs thanks to the system neglecting the usage of pre-made bags.
The creation of waterproofed pallets ensured each package was protected for transport and distribution.
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