Case Study: How Smart Screening Upgrade Keeps Calcium Carbonate Slurry Flowing
A top manufacturer of calcium carbonate slurry required a consistent quality of fine particle size for its downstream processes. The slurry – which is a water-based suspension of finely ground calcium carbonate – needed to be free of grit and any oversized particles in order to comply with strict quality regulations. The company was screening the slurry prior to storage and final application using a Sivtek Vibro Separator.
The Challenge: Mesh Blockage from Drying Grit
Calcium carbonate slurry is naturally alkaline and contains ultra-fine particles. Through the continuous screening, part of the fine grit at slurry surface would start drying and forming cake on the mesh surface of the Vibro Separator. This eventually formed an adamant veil which had sealed the pores of the screens.
The consequences were immediate:
- Frequent downtime: Downtime had to be planned, and the operators had to clean the mesh manually.
- Productivity loss: Every cleaning cycle stopped production and reduced throughput.
- Quality risks: Partial blockage provided inconsistent screening and a risk of passing out oversize grit.
The team needed a solution to keep the ply mesh clean without spans of operator intervention.
Galaxy Sivtek’s Solution: Automatic Water Sprinkling System
Galaxy Sivtek created a fully automatic water-sprinkling system within the lid of the Vibro Separator. This custom facility acted to address the very root cause of mesh blockage:
- Timed operation: The system automatically pauses material feeding every hour.
- High-pressure sprinkling: Controlled spray of water is discharged onto the mesh surface and loosens and washes away any dry grit.
- Automatic restart: The system will restart feeding of material automatically after it has been cleaned in the short cycle, and it does not require a human operator.
This could work a maintenance chore that had to be done repeatedly into an unattended procedure.
Implementation and Immediate Impact
The retrofit was simple: a dedicated water-sprinkling mechanism was integrated with the machine’s existing controls. Operators then had to set the cleaning interval just once.
The change delivered results from the first production run:
- Continuous operation: The separator could now run without any unplanned stoppages.
- Stable screening quality: Mesh openings stayed clear, ensuring consistent removal of fine grit.
- Reduced labor: Operators no longer had to manually clean the mesh, freeing them for other tasks.
- Lower maintenance costs: Less wear and tear resulting from constant manual cleaning had given them better mesh life.
Business Benefits
The automated cleaning system reshaped the customer’s operation:
- Higher productivity: The productivity was replenished due to the breaks caused by manual cleaning being offset by constant throughput scheduling and implementation.
- Reliable product quality: The slurry always met stringent particle-size requirement due to the consistency of the mesh performance.
- Modernized process: This automation enabled an entirely maintenance-free modern-day operation that was expected to meet the total efficiency target of the corporation.
Conclusion
The screening of calcium carbonate slurry is not without its challenges, from the fine grit drying up and blocking the mesh to incurring high costs due to unplanned downtime and maintaining inconsistent production. Galaxy Sivtek offered a modular solution comprising of a full automatic water-sprinkling system and the Sivtek Vibro Separator to offer a low maintenance solution.
This system features an hourly automated cleaning cycle that keeps the mesh clear and the slurry flowing smoothly, all without halting production or needing manual effort. This installation changed the customer’s screening process from an infrequent and troublesome exercise into a reliable continuous-flow operation; thus, every batch of calcium carbonate slurry produced complies with the stringent quality requirements without taking the operations cost-wise into the deep end.
