Solutions for Highly Abrasive Processes
Flow-Optimized Geometries and Materials as Solutions against Wear
Wear – Cost Driver Number One
In many industries, such as ore and metal processing, building materials or pigment chemistry, and salt and fertilizer manufacturing, abrasive wear leads to frequent plant downtime and the cost of repairing and replacing worn components. In applications with high product purity requirements – examples being the production of high purity silicon or toothpaste – traces of metals from the eroded steels can already lead to unacceptable contaminants and rejection of a product.
Wear Protection Pays Off
Every effective measure to extend the service life while stirring abrasive media pays off, in many cases after just a few weeks. Avoiding downtime is often much more serious than the mere cost of repair and replacement. EKATO has the know-how to determine the causes of wear in tests or through flow simulations and to derive appropriate measures: service life extensions from up to even more than 20 times are possible.
Flow Optimization
An elegant approach are flow-optimized impellers, since vortex shedding on the impeller blades especially increases the aggressive impact wear. If the flow separations can be reduced, the service life becomes longer without further measures: more than twice this is easily possible.
Coatings
Coatings must be very carefully matched to the operating conditions and the materials involved. The disadvantage of coatings: if the thin protective layer is penetrated by a comparatively small abrasion at one point, the wear in the base material underneath can proceed unhindered.
Ceramic Materials
Modern engineering ceramics open up completely new perspectives. Advances in ceramic processing allow the construction of impellers with diameters of 2 m and more. Even complex geometries can be realized. Depending on the size and shape of the impeller, it can be designed as one solid ceramic part, or alternatively ceramic impeller blades are connected to a metallic hub. This composite construction is permissible since wear always occurs in the area of the highest speeds, which is on the outer edge of the impeller.
Why Technical Ceramics?
Technical ceramics offer many benefits compared to metal or rubber coating materials:
- Significantly higher hardness and strength
- Very high chemical resistance
- Very good resistance to thermal shock
- Lighter than corresponding metal components
Your Advantages
All these material properties lead to significant advantages, especially in highly abrasive applications.
- Drastically longer product service life
- Significantly less service intervals
- Massive savings potential in operational costs
Success Story 1
Application: Gold extraction in a Pressure Oxidation Autoclave
EKATO Solution: Ceramic Blades on an EKATO EPOX Impeller
Example: Success Story 2
Application: Open Tank Application from a Mine in Sweden
EKATO Solution: Ceramic Blades on an EKATO VISCOPROP Impeller
Know-How as a Prerequisite for Success
A team of EKATO specialists constantly adapts the know-how for calculating and manufacturing the components to new requirements. For this purpose, the tools of finite element analysis are available as well as the possibility to put prototypes realistically to a long-term test. In the EKATO Test Center, a wide variety of vessels up to 100 m³ and 500 kW agitator power are available for specific applications.
