Automated material handling enables Gulf Coast sulfur distributor to expand overseas.

In 2005, Martin Midstream Partners L.P. (MMLP) entered the prilled sulfur business when it acquired the assets of a California company, and most importantly, when it began construction of a new sulfur processing facility at its Neches deep water marine terminal near Houston, Texas.

The now completed Neches facility includes molten sulfur storage, sulfur processing, dry bulk storage, automated stockpiling, reclaiming, and ship loading systems. At the site, molten sulfur is processed into pellets or prills at a rate of 2,000 metric tons per day.

This vast output means that the prills must be properly stockpiled and stored at the facility until they are loaded onto ships or barges. Automated material handling via the use of telescoping radial stacking conveyors, tripper conveyor systems and mechanical ship loaders, has allowed MMLP to stockpile and distribute “sulfur prills” – the widely accepted sulfur form for overseas shipments.

Automated Intelligence
To capitalize on the competitive advantage of inland or ocean transport, material handling and stockpiling systems must be equally as efficient. Effective material handling is a major part of maintaining profitability. For example, an automated TeleStacker conveyor maximizes stockpiling capabilities in ports where space is often restricted.

“By adding automated stockpiling, conveying and loading systems, we’ve opened ourselves up to a huge number of new overseas markets. Before these systems were installed, we didn’t have that luxury along the Gulf Coast,” says Keith West, project engineer for MMLP.

A Customized Solution
West says that the sulfur material handling process begins with Superior’s 150-foot TeleStacker conveyor, a telescoping radial stacker that is operated via simple touch-screen programming. “With the TeleStacker we can cost-effectively and safely store and stockpile large volumes of material within a defined area, until it is time to load it onto the large marine conveying system,” he says. “Its biggest advantage is the automation. We can be hands-off and let it stack on its own.”

When it is time to reclaim the prills for shipping, material is loaded into hoppers and conveyed via portable jump conveyors to a large marine belt conveyor where it is transferred to Superior’s custom-designed tripper system, which works in conjunction with the mechanical ship loader.

At MMLP’s Neches facility, West explains that the tripper system is connected to the mechanical ship loader. The ship loader “drags” the tripper car with it as it moves from hatch to hatch within the ship. The tripper car allows the product to discharge from the tripper conveyor onto the shiploader and thus into each hatch.

“We load varying quantities of sulfur into each hatch. Every ship is different, and the system must be able to adjust to each one. But typically there are between 5 and 7 hatches on a ship, and we are loading from 30,000- to 60,000-metric tons per ship. We average about one ship per month, with material being transported to almost any international market, from South America to Southeast Asia,” says West.