Aramid in Conveyor Belts for Extended Lifetime, Energy Savings and Environmental Effects

In addition to textile and steel cord reinforcements for conveyor belts, Aramid can be found in numerous applications, mainly due to its heat and corrosion resistance. But it can also help reduce installation costs, energy usage and, thus, the carbon footprint.

In recent years, aramid fabric as reinforcement in conveyor belts has gradually found its position among the traditional textile and steel cord reinforcement materials. The main arguments for this trend are enhanced lifetime and energy savings. Aramid has already been in use for more than three decades in some niche applications such as phosphate mines and steel production plants because of its corrosion and heat-resistant properties.The background of aramid as reinforcement material is briefly described here. Practical examples are reported, demonstrating increased lifetime, which consequently reduces maintenance and maximises output.In mining operations, the transportation of minerals and overburden accounts for a significant share of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Aramid in conveyor belts reduces the weight of the belt and lowers the system rolling resistance. This leads to energy savings and lower CO2 emissions.With the Customer Benefit Model, an eco-efficiency tool, quantitative proof is provided that saving the environment and financially sound business practices can go hand-in-hand. The potential energy saving by using aramid in the carcass and as an additive in cover compounds is an input parameter for the Customer Benefit Model. An energy saving calculation tool, based on DIN 22101, has been developed and will be explained in this paper.

The properties of aramid will only be briefly described here, since these have already been covered previously at Beltcon by Arts and Lodewijks [3,4]. For the sake of completeness, the relevant details are summarised.Poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide, also known as aramid from ‘aromatic amide’, is a very strong and lightweight synthetic fibre. It has a high modulus, is thermally stable, and highly impact and chemically resistant. It can be used in conveyor belts in two different ways:

as aramid-reinforcement fabric in the carcass;

as a chemically treated aramid-based additive to the bottom cover compound in order to lower rolling resistance.

For the carcass, the so-called straight warp fabric construction is most commonly applied. A schematic view of the fabric embedded in rubber is shown in Fig. 1.