Fabricated rotary valve provides all the parts for success
A company installs several fabricated rotary valves in its limestone production process to improve operating costs.
Columbia River Carbonates (CRC), operates a plant that produces high-grade ultrafine ground calcium carbonate (limestone) products for the paper, paint, plastics, and other industries in the Pacific Northwest. The company uses a dilute-phase pneumatic conveying system and screw conveyors to move the limestone throughout the plant from bulk storage silos to the size reduction, air classification, packaging, and other process steps. CRC originally specified cast-iron rotary valves for metering the limestone into the conveying lines, feeding it to the air classifying equipment, and discharging it to the packaging equipment. However, the company experienced problems with the cast valves that required excessive unscheduled production downtime to replace them. To improve production efficiency and reduce maintenance costs, the company needed to find longer-lasting and more reliable rotary valves.