Kilic Engineering grain reclaimer and stacker set for International market
Dry Cargo International magazine
Engineering and equipment
KE’s new innovative grain reclaimer and superfast grain bunkerstacker machine to hit the global market in late 2024.
Kilic Engineering’s international brand, KE Agri International (KE), is expanding its overseas presence and entering the USA market later this year with its BunkerSweeper600 grain pile reclaimer being introduced to storage and handling operations across the mid-west.
KE has been supplying bulk handling equipment for grain handlers in Australia, Asia and the Middle East for almost 50 years, servicing the agricultural industry with fixed and portable machinery over that period. With open stockpile storage facilities (grain pile or bunker storage) becoming more prevalent in many grain producing countries, KE has been concentrating more recently on supplying its customers with its specialized bunker in loading and reclaimer machines.
Its new BunkerSweeper600 reclaimer will undergo US field trials in November 2024 in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. These trials will involve major bulk handlers such as CHS and Viterra USA as well as several other companies including KAAPA ethanol who are keen to see the machine in action after its promotion at the GEAPS conference and expo in Kansas City earlier this year.
The BunkerSweeper600 is designed to make reclaiming grain from temporary storage, grain piles or sheds, directly into road trucks quick and easy, reducing operating costs for grain distributors and handlers, with its superior safety features making it one of the safest methods to move agricultural produce from a grain pile to a truck.
The new model reclaimer is self-propelled (using hydraulic drives) which meets the needs of operators seeking an alternative to using front-end loaders or other less efficient mobile plant to recover products from open stacks and piles or from shed storages.
Its manoeuvrability, one-person operation and suitability to handle all grains, including corn, oilseeds and pulses makes it a valuable addition to agricultural bulk handling operators across the globe, with remote control and automation ready technology a key feature of the new machine.
The self-propelled unit has a capacity of over 600tph (metric tonnes per hour) (wheat at 800kgm3) or 22,000 bushels equivalent and can be used to direct feed into road trucks or into other portable conveyors to outload product from the storage pile, providing additional flexibility for the operator. Its swing conveyor offers multi-directional feed, whilst hydraulic steering, the ability to have its height adjusted to allow for various ground levels and pneumatic tyres providing stability and traction, are other features of the new reclaimer.
Furthermore, the BunkerSweeper600 is compact, which enables it to be easily driven onto and off a flattop trailer and transported from site to site as a standard semi-trailer load in most jurisdictions.
On the grain unloading side of grain handling operations, KE’s BunkerStacker range of handling equipment has continued to be a leader with the larger bulk handlers in Australia, with the extremely popular self-propelled machines allowing road trucks to deliver grain to a shallow above ground road hopper which feeds an under-belly belt conveyor onto a stacking conveyor to move product into open storage grain piles or ‘bunkers’, as well as into horizontal shed or warehouse storages.
Farmers, truck drivers and machine operators have said they appreciate the easy loading system — deliveries can be made by driving over the 6m dumping zone and leaving up to 12 tonnes to be moved. The machine is self-propelled and is a self-contained work centre, reducing the workload for other equipment around grain handling sites.
KE currently services the majority of bulk handling operators in Australia with its bunker loading equipment, with major customers including Viterra, CBH, Cargill, ADM, CHS Broadbent, LDC, T-Ports, Bunge, Manildra, Fletchers International, Australian Grain Exporters (AGE), Altora Ag and Robinson Grain. KE’s BunkerStacker range includes the base level Joey version, which utilizes a smaller dump pit and conveyor to stack the product at a maximum rate of 600tph (wheat tonnes), to the Super Roo version which receives and stacks product at 750tph (wheat tonnes).
The fastest discharge machine that KE currently produces is its Super Roo version or BunkerStacker3750 machine which has the added benefit of requiring only a 14 metre (46 feet) footprint between bunker or grain stockpiles for truck access.
The most popular of the current range of portable stackers is KE’s Big Roo BunkerStacker3000 which has a handling capacity of 600tph (wheat tonnes) and is capable of handling truck lengths of over 30 metres with its easy access nine-metre-long approach and exit ramps supporting delivery to a six-metre (19ft) drive-over hopper pit for rapid discharging of the truck’s cargo.
These machines are a one-person operation with self-propulsion features and hydraulic lifting jacks for the hopper, stacker and ramps enabling the equipment to move along the grain or product stack with ease. Powered by its own generator set mounted to the unit, the Dump and Go hopper design featured on the Roo and Super Roo is a point of difference to other machines on the market and allows for softer handling of agriproducts, particularly pulses and oilseeds, in addition to the major cereal grains in wheat, barley and oats.
During 2024, KE worked with its customer base to develop additional models to its BunkerStacker fleet which can now incorporate auger discharge conveyors in lieu of its standard underbelly belt conveyors which feed grain and other products from the receival hopper to the conveyor stacker.
Some customers consider the new under belly auger (UBA) design hopper discharge is more suited to oilseed products and, although many still prefer the under belly belt (UBB) conveyor option which handles all grains, pulses and oilseeds, KE has been more than happy to modify its designs and manufacture alternative machines to meet specific customer requirements.
In addition to the new UBA design hopper conveyors detailed above, KE is working with customers to trial an even faster BunkerStacker machine that can unload grain deliveries from farmers at 1,000 wheat tonnes per hour.
The demand for this superfast machine, to be labelled the BunkerStacker SuperRoo 4000 is not just driven by Australian interest at grain handling receival sites but also KE customers overseas who are looking to utilize the newly developed model in their transhipment operations.
The New SuperRoo 4000 will be the fastest unloading bunker loading machine in the market and will feature the traditional large hopper, serviced by with UBA conveyors feeding a twelve hundred mm wide chevron belt with all the other standard features of the SuperRoo 3750 detailed above. The initial machine will be operational in early December and trialled at LDC sites in Australia during this coming harvest.
KE is a diverse mechanical engineering company based in Adelaide, South Australia, owned and operated by the Kilic family since 1973. The company has a long and proud history of excellence in designing, manufacturing and installing a wide range of material handling systems, including its exclusive and most popular BunkerStacker and BunkerSweeper range of portable agri product handling equipment.
Dry Cargo International, September 2024
