Automated handling of raw materials in the manufacture of basic chemical products
When supplying dry and liquid raw materials to dissolvers, the main task is to provide the different components, depending on their flow properties and proportion in the formulation, to the dissolver with the required degree of accuracy. In order to achieve efficient use of the dissolver, the liquid and dry, raw materials needed for the next batch must be made available during a mixing process.
Powders are often stored in silos. Depending on the required throughput, these are conveyed with the aid of a pneumatic conveyor system into a hopper, which is equipped as loss-in-weight scales and which feeds the components into the dissolver. Vacuum conveying is used to feed smaller components into a receiver, which is also fitted as loss-in-weight scales.
Liquids are very often also added to the dissolver manually as small components or dosed into liquid scales and drained into the dissolver.
In general, conveyors and weighing containers can be designed as gain-in-weight or loss-in-weight scales depending on the requirements. This largely depends on the proportions in the formulation, on the required levels of accuracy and, not least, on the properties of the raw materials themselves.
The Kastor process control and instrumentation system with formulation management ensures that production is both reliable and efficient and that the plant, mixer and filling operate at capacity.
