How circular vibrating screener decreases operational cost & increases the net profit in paint, coating, chemical and ink industry?

The paint, coating and ink manufacturers face numerous challenges but one the significant concern is to reduce the operational cost of the organization which will eventually impact the bottom line.

The paint, ink and coating manufacturers have one important process during the manufacturing process of their products known as dispersion. In mixing stage, a paste is prepared mixing oils, resins, pigments, additives and other raw materials. This paste is poured into the high-speed dispersion tank or dispersion mill to blend the pigment into the solvent and achieve fine and smooth quality product.

Ideally, the dispersion process consists of 3 individual-processes,

?   Wetting of the pigment particles.

?   Mechanical breakdown of the associated particles leading to smaller particle sizes.

?   Stabilization of the dispersion.

One of the prime or special pigments such as titanium dioxide which provides coating products the perfect color, brightness, opacity, gloss and the right finish. All the pigments originally are in powder form usually of small size, and by nature has a tendency to attach together to create lumps also known as agglomerates.

The dispersion and stabilization of pigment particles is the most significant factor in deciding the final properties of lacquers, paints, coatings or printing inks i.e. the final products.”

The dispersion mill or the dispersion system consists of a container and a rotating device; the compartment is filled with grinding media (such as rubber, ceramic and stainless steel balls) and the product (i.e. the final product paint, coating or printing ink) to be dispersed. The actual particle size reduction is achieved by continuously rotating the grinding media (balls), which is activated by a high-speed mechanical agitator such as turbine or propeller to grind the product to achieve the right finish and smoothness and to blend the formulation completely.

 Another traditional or mechanical milling process is known as ball or bead mills. A ball mill, a type of industrial grinder, is a grinding device used to grind (or mixing) of materials like coating, chemicals, inks and paints to achieve fineness of the product. The ball mills have a grinding chamber which is filled with the material to be broken down plus the grinding media such as ceramic, rubber, and stainless steel balls.

The grinding media are in constant motion with the material in the grinding chamber i.e. ball mill which results into pressure or stress on the material which ensures fine grinding of the product.

The number of smaller grinding media i.e. grinding balls is high in number in the chamber which results in high-intensity pressure on the material which ultimately results into higher fineness of the product.

The grinding balls are one type of grinding media and are used to crush/break or grind the material (cement, mineral, pigments used to manufacture different products …) in a grinding mill. The gradation/classification of the grinding media is necessary when the ball load wears out.

For the ball, bead and other types of milling operation, the specific size of the grinding media are required but due to continuous milling operation, the wear and tear of the ball starts. Due to which the size of the grinding media decreases which eventually affects the milling process and ultimately the fineness of the product. The wear and tear of grinding media affects the final product quality and capacity of the batch during the production process.

For manufacturers, this is one of the biggest challenge where the production throughput and product quality hits a road block and easiest way out for them is to procure new grinding media i.e. replace the complete set of grinding media with the new one. This easiest step i.e. to replace the grinding media costs manufacturers a bomb and the halt in production process being its by-product.

In a typical industrial scenario, the manufacturers replace the old grinding media with the new ones every 15 - 20 days. The cost of grinding media is approximate 50$ to 60$ per KG. In the paint, coating and ink industry manufacturers install multiple ball mills for different colors and each bead mills require approx. 200 to 400 KG of grinding media.

Let’s see how the smallest entity affects bottom line of the organization.

Cost Calculation

200 KG * 50$ = 10,000$

400 KG * 50$= 20,000$ each ball mill/month.

After successful test sieve analysis at our premises, we found that approx. 40 to 50 % of the grinding media can be reused rather than replacing it with the new ones. The circular vibro separator achieves precise gradation of grinding media be it ceramics, rubber or stainless steel balls. The circular vibratory screeners (also known as industrial sieves and separators) screens bulk grinding media i.e. balls using mesh screen with different openings. Due to vibration, the material fed, travels across the screen surface in the circular motion and allows only those grinding balls to pass through the apertures of the mesh that are smaller than the mesh opening depending on the requirement from the paint, ink and coatings manufacturer.

The round vibro sifters can be installed for all the different color ball mills in same premises with the different mesh opening to achieve precise gradation of grinding media which will eventually decrease the operating costs of the organization.

Let’s see how major manufacturers can improve organizational ROI with round vibro sifters.

Profit Analysis: 

           40 % milling i.e. grinding media can be reused.

           Net Saving 4,000$ To 8,000$ on each ball mill/month.  

           Net Profit/Year – 48,000$ to 96,000$

Yes! You are right. It is possible to save such a huge cost every year by just reusing the grinding media using vibro sifters. The vibro sifters are ideal process equipment to increase net profit across major paint, ink & coating industries.

Created by

Mayank Patel | Galaxy Sivtek | www.galaxysivtek.com