Kaolin clay manufacturer gets active to solve baffling material flow problems
When a variety of flow-promoting methods failed to cause consistent kaolin clay discharge from silos and bins, the kaolin manufacturer installed vibrating bin activators with baffles that act like wedges to promote flow.
The Middle Georgia operations of Engelhard Corporation's pigments and additives division mine and process kaolin clays. Crude kaolin is a soft white ore with a wide particle size range; kaolinite is the predominant mineral. To mine the kaolin, workers use excavators, front-end loaders, tractors, and drag lines to remove overburden and access the crude kaolin deposits that occur in seams a few feet to approximately 100 feet underground. The mining equipment and dump trucks stockpile and segregate the kaolin according to parameters such as brightness, viscosity, particle size, and bleachability. After the kaolin is mined from open pits, the land is reclaimed.