Screeners do a fine job handling attapulgite clay
A clay processing plant installs five new screeners to increase production capacity and lower operating costs.
Zemex Corp., headquartered in Atlanta, operates an attapulgite clay processing plant in Attapulgus, Ga. The attapulgite clay (hydrous magnesium aluminum silicate) is mined, dried, sized-reduced to a fine powder, and then run through a screener to separate onsize material from oversize. Throughout the year, as product demand increases, the company ramps up production to meet its customers’ needs. However, up until fall 2005, the company’s five screeners were unable to handle the increased throughput rates, requiring that the plant’s operators work overtime to meet production requirements. Tom Oldaker, plant manager at the Attapulgus site, recalls, “The overtime was costing us money, so we needed to replace the inefficient screeners with ones that could handle more material in less time.”