In many industrial plants, the pressure is increasing: rising production volumes, higher requirements for safety and sustainability, and the need to respond flexibly to new raw materials. The situation was no different in this project: the existing storage capacities had reached their limits. Switching to tank storage was hardly possible with the existing infrastructure – logistics had reached a turning point.

This is where we came in. With our expertise in plant design, safety engineering and process integration, we laid the foundation for making the site’s raw material logistics fit for the future.

Fig. 1: Synthetic Resin Applications

Our Mission

We were commissioned to prepare the concept design for a new tank farm – as a decision-making basis for the expansion of storage capacity. The focus was not only on creating additional volume, but also on developing a holistic concept that combines safety, sustainability and efficiency.

Abb. 2: scope of services for developing the tank farm concept

The Design in Detail

The new tank farm is modular in design and, in its final expansion stage, will comprise eight on-site fabricated tanks with a net capacity of 250 m³ each. In the first construction phase, six tanks will be erected, with two more to be added in the second stage. The tanks are designed for various raw materials used in the production of synthetic resins.

Our design focused on the following key aspects:

Explosion Protection:
All components are designed for operation in potentially explosive atmospheres (Ex zones). This ensures the highest level of safety in daily operations.

WHG-Compliant Safety Technology:
All tanks are placed in a containment basin capable of holding at least the volume of one tank. A special coating ensures that even in case of an incident, no drop can escape into the environment.

Modern Infrastructure:
Five unloading stations for tank trucks provide short routes, clear media allocation and smooth operations – even under full load.

Process Stability:
For temperature-sensitive raw materials, tanks and pipelines are equipped with heating systems to ensure constant conditions.

Sustainability:
Exhaust air streams are not released into the atmosphere but treated in a regenerative thermal oxidation unit – a clear contribution to environmental protection.

Fig. 3: Flowsheet in the design concept stage

More than a tank farm

For us, this project is much more than the design of eight tanks. It is an example of the transformation of industrial logistics: from traditional raw material storage to a facility that meets the highest safety standards, protects the environment and makes the production site fit for the future.

Our contribution

Through close collaboration within our project team, we developed a concept that takes all aspects into account – from technical feasibility and process integration to safety and environmental protection.

Fig. 4: rendered 3D layout planning for tank farm concept development

We are proud to have laid the foundation for safe, sustainable and efficient raw material logistics with this design.

Der Beitrag Concept Design for a Tank Farm – Future-Proof Raw Material Logistics erschien zuerst auf KTC.

Continuous manufacturing processes have gained considerable importance in various industries, including the production of lube oils. This report examines the advantages and use of continuous manufacturing processes in the design of Lube Oil Blending Plants (LOBP).

Fig. 1: Planning a LOBP with SMB and ABB applications

Choosing the right production process – continuous or batch blender?

Let’s get straight to the point. The continuous processes to produce lube oils make an important contribution to the efficient production of lubricants in LOBPs.

The portfolio of a typical lubricant producer usually comprises hundreds of individual formulations, which must be incorporated into the manufacturing processes in an economically and technically optimal way. Despite the large number of formulations, in practice it turns out that only a few formulations make up a large part of the production volume. For this limited number of formulations with large production volumes per batch, a continuous process makes sense.

Basically, the rule is:

• For large batch volumes (appr. > 50 tons per batch), the use of a continuous process makes sense.
• Smaller batch sizes are usually produced in discontinuous batch blenders.

The selection of the right production system is carried out with the help of a business analysis of the overall production, the so-called ‘plant improvement analysis’, which is described elsewhere in this blog.

This analysis calculates the required numbers and sizes of discontinuous batch blenders, the so called Automatic Batch Blender (ABB) and continuous production systems, the Simultaneous Metering Blender (SMB) or the In-Line Blender (ILB).

With the continuous systems of SMB and ILB, it is very easy to continuously produce product sizes from 100 to 200 tons or even more.

Fig. 2: Lube Oil Blending Plant (LOBP) with DDU, matrix manifold and 2 simultaneous metering blenders (SMB)

SMB und ILB explained

The Simultaneous-Metering-Blender (SMB)

For the production of lubricants, a distinction is usually made between the simultaneous metering blender (SMB) and the in-line blender (ILB), although the two names are often misleading and invite confusion.

During production with the SMB, the liquid raw materials (base oils, additives and small quantities) are delivered one after the other via a transfer pipe into a finished product tank. The raw materials are fed into the transfer pipe either directly from storage tanks or alternatively from smaller cocktail mixers or drums/IBCs. They can also be pumped into the SMB from drum decanting units (DDU). The quantity of each individual component is measured using massflow meters, which can detect the end point of the addition of each individual raw material very precisely.

Depending on the flow speed and viscosity, the different raw materials in the SMB are distributed via collectors and a few feed lines to the transfer line. The feed lines differ in diameter and each contains a mass flow meter to detect the end point of the dosing of each individual formulation component.

If the base oils still need to be heated, this process step is also carried out continuously in the SMB by switching on a heat exchanger while the base oils are being dosed into the finished product tanks.

The formulation components are thus transferred sequentially one after the other into a finished product tank. In this tank, all formulation components are mixed to form the finished lube oil. Blending is a simple process engineering task and can also be carried out in large tanks using side-mounted agitators.

The advantage of this production method is the very fast and very precise dosing of large quantities of raw materials with simultaneous heating of the base oils in a finished product tank, in which the blending can take place separately. Once dosing is complete, the SMB is immediately available for further formulations. The SMB is therefore much faster than a discontinuous batch blender. The batch times are much shorter.

Fig. 3: SMB feed lines / SMB dosing diagram

In discontinuous batch processes, the formulation must first be completed after dosing before dosing can start again. In addition, heating in blending vessels via external half pipe coils take considerably longer than in efficient plate heat exchangers in the SMB.

The disadvantage of the SMB is its limited flexibility. In principle, of course, only those components can be dosed that are also connected to the SMB. A ‘cocktail mixer’ on the SMB can serve as a workaround, which can flexibly receive all types of drum goods or small quantities and dose them onto the SMB.

The SMB is cleaned using a pigging system, which cleans the transfer line from the SMB to the finished product tanks with minimal residue. Only residual quantities between the raw material collector, the mass flow meter and the connection to the feed line cannot be 100% avoided, even after compressed air treatment.

The SMB is built as a space-saving, stand-alone platform on which all the necessary units for dosing and heating the raw materials are housed. As a plug’n play unit, the installation of such a skid unit is quick and easy.

The In-Line-Blender (ILB)

When producing lube oils with the ILB, all formulation components are simultaneously dosed into a transfer line in the correct mixing ratio. Here too, the raw materials can be transferred directly from storage vessels or from cocktail mixers. A transfer of additives from a drum decanting unit (DDU) is not suitable for the ILB, as the additive from the DDU is only available discontinuously.

A separate feed line and a separate mass flow meter are required for each of the raw materials dosed in parallel. This can easily mean that three to four times as many feed lines are required compared to the SMB. The costs for an ILB are therefore generally higher than for an SMB skid. The base oils can also be heated in an ILB before the additive components are added. In addition, a static or dynamic in-line mixing device is installed in the ILB so that all components are completely mixed at the end of the unit.

Like the SMB, the ILB is built and supplied as an independent platform so that it can also be easily installed in existing production systems.

The clear advantage of the ILB is that the lube oil is ready to use as soon as it leaves the ILB unit. All raw material components are added in parallel in the correct ratio and mixed immediately. A finished product tank is theoretically no longer required for mixing the raw material components.

Fig. 4: ILB feed lines/dosing diagram ILB

However, the reality is that, for logistical reasons, the finished lubricant is pumped from the ILB skid into a finished product tank in which the finished product is waiting to be filled. It should also be noted that the ILB has a certain run-in phase lasting several minutes, during which all components have to start up and the correct quantity ratio has to be found. The correct ratio of the raw materials to each other cannot be guaranteed during this running-in phase. Either the lubricant from this run-in phase is discharged separately as a loss or the material from the run-in phase is mixed with the rest of the batch in the finished product. This in turn requires a finished product tank. At the end of continuous production in the ILB, there may also be shifts in the ratio of raw materials, resulting in off-spec finished products.

The quality assurance of the finished product in the ILB must also be considered. Continuous sampling is required and what happens with off-spec material? If the finished product tank is not available, remixing is no longer possible.

If it were possible to guarantee stable production in the ILB and avoid the finished product tank by filling directly into containers/trucks, then the ILB would be an unbeatable alternative as a continuous production unit. By eliminating the finished product tanks, the slightly higher investment compared to the SMB always pays off. However, if mixing has to take place due to the run-in and run-out quantities and a finished product tank is therefore necessary, then an investment in the ILB is always less profitable than in the SMB from a purely economic point of view.

Possible residual quantities in the ILB are minimized here through the use of pigging technology, but not completely avoided in the area of the feed lines. It is necessary to consider the residual quantities for each application.

The control system of the ILB must be evaluated separately. Due to the necessary, continuous dosing of the raw materials in the correct ratio, all mass flow meters must be continuously monitored by the control system and the other components must be adjusted and shut down accordingly if a delivery rate drops. If one component fails, the ILB operation is knocked out.

Fig. 5: Engineering of a complete Lube Oil Blending Plant (LOBP)

Conclusion

The philosophy of the In-Line Blender (ILB) with the immediate completion of the lube oil downstream of the blender in continuous operation sounds tempting. If the lube oil could be filled directly downstream of the ILB and finished product tanks could be dispensed with, then this production method would be the method of choice for large batch volumes. Compared to the SMB and especially the blending vessel, production times are considerably shorter.

In reality, however, it is not possible to dispense with finished product tanks. The run-in and run-out volumes as well as quality assurance of the finished products also currently still requires intermediate storage in order to have a buffer until quality release after the laboratory test or the possibility of readjusting the finished product.

The SMB is also able to produce large quantities of finished product continuously. However, this requires a finished product tank for mixing the sequentially added raw materials. This means that quality assurance and remixing in the finished product tank is possible at any time.

As the batch times in the SMB are considerably shorter than for comparable quantities from blending vessels, the SMB is the best choice for continuous production processes in lube oil production.

If it were possible to carry out quality management during production by the ILB in a secure manner and to ensure direct filling from the ILB, then the ILB process could play out its advantages and replace the SMB technology if the finished product tank is eliminated.

Der Beitrag Continuous blending processes for the production of lube oils – a dream for increasing efficiency or just an empty promise. erschien zuerst auf KTC.

Polyester resins are synthetic resins and condensation products of di- or polyhydric alcohols (e.g. glycols or glycerol) and dicarboxylic acids. Unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) are used, among other applications, for the production of fiber-reinforced plastics, putties or casting resins. The applications for saturated polyester resins (SPR) can be identified as powder coatings, coil and can coatings, automotive coatings, packaging, industrial coatings and others.

Production plant philosophy

The industrial production of polyester resin in general is a batch process. The resins will be manufactured by adding the raw materials into a reactor of sizes typically between 5 and 50 m³ working capacity. The reaction mixture is heated and, if necessary, pressurized. The resulting reaction water needs to be removed during the conversion and the heat generated by the exothermic process will be withdrawn.

Polyester resin plants should support the universal production of a wide variety of polyester resins and be as universally applicable as possible. Multipurpose synthetic resin plants built from standard components in prefabricated frames are clearly the trend in the design and installation of high-quality but yet cost-effective reaction units.

Multi-purpose lines can run the production of polyester resins with all kinds of required temperatures and especially pressure that is needed to manufacture high-performance polyester resins for the world market.

Design & Installation

Typically, the polyester resin plants are designed to use the gravity in the material flow (Fig. 1). At the highest level (usually level 4), weighing tanks for pre-dosing of acid anhydrides and – if necessary – tanks for melting polyhydric alcohols are installed.

The 3^rd floor is the reactor level. The reactor is filled with the pre-dosed raw materials as well as additionally required reaction partners. On this level, hand components might be fed from containers or sewer ports into the reactor.

The heating/cooling level for the reaction vessels is located on the 2^nd floor. Heating and cooling facilities will be pre-assembled in skid units to minimize installation time and costs.

Fig. 1: 3D-Layout of a Polyester Resin Plant

Beside the heating/cooling skids, the thinning tanks are located in levels 2 and 1. The hot resin will be transferred to the thinning tanks and diluted with solvents.

Raw material deposition and transport

The fully-automated charging of the reactors with solid and liquid raw materials requires one solid weighing hopper and, if necessary, one melting vessel for each reactor.

The solid weighing hopper is mounted on weighing cells and is dosed with the anhydrides of dicarboxylic acids, precisely measured according to the formulation. Big-bags or bags are commonly used, but it is more economical and attractive to store the solid raw materials in bulk. Dosing of the bulk solids into the solid weighing vessel will be executed by using a pneumatic, nitrogen-based transfer system.

The polyhydric alcohols are pre-dosed for the batch in the melting vessel according to the formulation values. The vessels, which are also stored on load cells, must be transferred under heated conditions, since the alcohols used can often crystallize out at room temperature. In addition to the load cells, mass flow meters may also offer an attractive, alternative method.

Mass meters, as compared to scales, are the most precise measurement devices, but when using a mass meter for several dosing vessels, only one vessel at a time can be filled.

Core equipment

The core equipment of a synthetic resin plant for the production of polyester resin includes the following devices, in addition to the above-mentioned dosing vessels:

Reactor, columns/dephlegmator, ascending pipe, total condenser, separation receiver and collection vessel for water. Equipment into contact with hot reaction media should be made of stainless steel, material no. 1.4571 (316Ti).

For safety reasons, the equipment is designed for a temperature of 300°C, even if the reaction temperature is not that high. The hot oil for heating the vessel will be at appr 300°C anyhow. The design pressure varies with the pressure at which the reaction is to take place. For average and high-molecular polyester resins, the design pressure should at least at 10 barg overpressure. Exact design pressure might be double checked with the formulations. When engineering the equipment, the consistent design of all parts according to temperature and pressure is a safety-relevant issue.

With low molecular resins, the process can also be carried out at normal pressure. However, the design pressure should not be less than 3 barg for safety reasons.All equipment connected directly to each other need to be designed for the same temperature and pressure for safety reasons.

Fig. 2: Installation of a Polyester Resin Plant

The resulting reaction water is carried away from the reaction material by means of a column or Dephlegmator (correctly tempered vertical heat exchanger with baffle plates) to force the balance reaction to take place on the products’ side. The reaction water is fed into a collection vessel.

Vacuum units

The most robust solution for a vacuum system is certainly the water ring pump. To avoid contamination of the cooling water with reaction material, the vacuum pump should be installed in a secondary circuit in which the impurities are collected. This secondary circuit will be changed after a few days or weeks, depending on the mode of operation.

With water ring pumps, a minimum vacuum of 60 – 70 mbara might be achieved in the reactor. Further reduction of the pressure requires additional technical equipment.

One possibility to further reduce the pressure in the reaction vessel is to install steam or gas ejectors. Also the installation of an additional booster pump can ensure additional compression before the vacuum station and leads to a lower pressure in the process. It must be taken care to protect and/or clean the booster pumps with additional devices at specified intervals.

Another possibility is the use of dry-running vacuum pumps. Also here, attention must be paid to the cleaning and/or protection of the pumps. It is essential to check their use beforehand by means of a series of tests.

Control systems

The greatest development of synthetic resin plants has certainly been made in the last decade in the field of process control. Inherent safety control systems are capable of running the processes as safely as possible. However, I still consider mechanical safety devices to be necessary as a ‘last’ safeguard.

The installation of flow and temperature sensors on the heating/cooling inlet and outlet provides the opportunity to understand the process very well on the energy side. The incoming data from sensors can easily be evaluated by the control system and show the energy consumption of the whole installation.

Fig. 3: Command structure of control levels

The connection of the control system with Scada systems, ERP systems and preventive maintenance tools gives the operators and management level the opportunity not only to follow the production but also to taking preventive measures to maintain production capability.

The intelligent and integrated control system is part of the companies IT infrastructure and communicates to optimize the product quality and disposability under most sustainable conditions.

Der Beitrag Polyester-resin-plants: A Report of latest technologies and developments erschien zuerst auf KTC.

Not the gut feeling defines the batch size

What is the optimum batch size?

When expanding production facilities, the central question is often how large the new production unit should be designed. This usually involves batch reactors or continuous production units. The size of the production units determines all further design data of the production plant.

It is worth taking a look at the determination of the plant size in order to design according to the requirements, but not oversized.

If it would be possible to consider every single recipe of a production unit and to determine an optimal batch size for every single recipe, then a definition of the optimal reactor size for the complete set of recipes is possible.

This is exactly the approach taken by our ‘Plant Improvement Analysis (PIA)’. In PIA, a comprehensive, economic view of the production environment is developed for each recipe and the optimized batch size is defined according to economic considerations.

The optimal batch size describes the point at which the sum of storage and production costs (total costs) are minimal (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Determination of the optimal batch size from storage and production costs

What factors influence the optimal batch size?

The amount of production costs when producing goods depends on the respective energy consumption (operating resources such as electricity or gas), possible setup costs for machines, the working time of operators or costs for laboratory analyses. These production costs must always be considered individually for each recipe.

In addition to production costs, storage costs are also incurred. Raw materials and finished products have to be stored, which results in physical storage costs as well as expenses for capital commitment.

Production and storage costs are two opposing cost blocks depending on the production volume (see Fig. 1).

The larger the production quantity, the lower the relative production costs. Reasons for this can be the same production time with a larger volume or lower laboratory costs per volume. At the same time, storage costs increase with larger production volumes due to increasing demand for storage facilities and higher expenses for capital commitment.

With PIA, the optimal production quantity of a batch (optimal batch size) is determined for each individual recipe of a production line as a function of the storage and production costs.

The result is a static simulation in which the economically optimal batch size for all recipes over a defined period of time will be calculated (e.g. annual demand) (see Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Determination of the economic batch size according to PIA using the example of a Lube Oil Blending Plant (LOBP)

Mathematically, the optimal production quantity is determined according to the modified Andler formula (EOQ formula).
(Kurt Andler: Rationalisierung der Fabrikation und optimale Losgröße. Oldenbourg, München. 1929.)

In business management theory for determining optimal inventory levels, Andler’s formula is a well-known and applied model.

Adaptation of the PIA to side conditions

Side conditions from reality can influence the results coming from the mathematical simulation of the economically optimal production size.

For example, when defining the batch sizes, transport sizes, packaging sizes or also delivery bottlenecks of raw materials can play a role and influence the storage capacities or the batch sizes.

Therefore, an examination of the PIA results must be carried out for each recipe, considering the side conditions. Only after examination, the actual storage sizes for raw materials and finished products as well as the optimum batch sizes are finally determined.

Fig. 3: Example of a summary of the adapted results from the PIA with adjustment to side conditions

Applications

Originally, the calculation method was developed for sizing in the production of article lots. The storage costs are compared to the setup costs and the economic batch size is determined.

We use the Plant Improvement Analysis (PIA) for economic batch sizing in the production of chemical and petrochemical products. In practice, we have used PIA for the design of optimal production facilities to produce lubricants (LOBP) and the assessment of synthetic resin plants (SRP).

For both applications, empirical values are available. Both, continuous production lines and discontinuous (batch) reaction and mixing processes can be considered.

In the application of PIA, the number and sizes of storage tanks and packaging units for raw materials and finished products are determined as well as the size and quantity of continuous or discontinuous production units.

From the PIA simulation, the material flow diagram and the process flow diagram are developed, in which the quantities and sizes of the storage and production tanks are represented, and also, the delivery of the raw materials and the filling of the finished products are defined (see Figs. 4 and 5).

Fig. 4: Mass balance from PIA simulation for a Lube Oil Blending Plant (LOBP)

Fig. 5: process flow diagram of a Lube Oil Blending Plant, developed from the PIA Simulation

Management Summary

The determination of the optimal size for production units is the basis for the planning of new production facitlities (greenfield) or production expansions (greyfield).

The Plant Improvement Analysis (PIA) presented here provides a calculation of the optimum batch size based on economic data. The results of the PIA are upgraded with real side conditions.

Especially in the field of Synthetic Resin Plants (SRP) and Lube Oil Blending Plants (LOBP) the PIA has already been approved and successfully applied.

The analysis provides the size and number of necessary production units as well as the associated storage capacities for raw materials and finished products based on real data of each individual product of a production unit.

The PIA simulation is the basis for any process-engineering consideration and planning of a production plant on a economic basis, considering real data and interference factors. A cost-effective, fast and integral design of production plants.

For more information, please contact me at any time!

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Der Beitrag The perfect size of a production line – a business decision or a good gut feeling? erschien zuerst auf KTC.

Calling up the greatest possible capacity and flexibility of plant technology – with maximum safety and product quality. These projects are realized with reliable, creative and professional planning and implementation through over 25 years of experience in synthetic resin plant engineering.

The industrial production of different synthetic resin types requires greatest knowledge in the field of

• dosing of raw materials
• heating and cooling of technical equipment
• construction and connection plant technology
• Design and construction of the apparatus
• material selection of the apparatuses, valves and instruments
• Automatic control of synthetic resin plants

The best possible results in terms of yield, quality and safety can only be achieved if the plant design is ideally adapted to the synthetic resin type and application.

Alkyd resin plants/polyester resin plants

Due to the continuous development of alkyd resins and polyester resins according to the requirements of industry and trade as well as strict requirements from environmental protection, alkyd resins and polyester resins continue to play an important role and are still among the most important synthetic resins.

Alkyd resin plants and polyester resin plants specially tailored to industrial production considering the thermal stresses in production, the material requirements for equipment, fittings and instruments, the optimized separation of alcohols and water in polyester resin production and an optimized safety philosophy by combination of classic, mechanical safety technology with high sophisticated, safety-oriented and fully automatic control systems.

Turn-Key polyester resin plant

3D modell polyester resin plant

Applications of Polyester resin/alkyd resin:

Alkyd resins:
formulation of coatings, e.g. wood coatings, painters’ lacquers as well as parquet sealers, glazes, maintenance systems, primers, top coats and one-coat paints, stoving paints, 2K paints and printing inks (mainly pasty).

Polyester resins:
Casting resins for the embedding of electrical and electronic components; laminates for the automotive industry, container industry, building industry, furniture industry, toolmaking; molding compounds in electrical engineering and precision engineering/ mechatronics; binders for paints and coatings.

Acrylic resin plants

Acrylic resins are characterized by their excellent physical properties, such as

• transparency, glossy appearance and color stability
• resistance to weather, chemicals, heat and solvents
• Processability, elasticity, excellent mechanical strength
• Fast drying and pigment dispersion at room temperature

in a wide variety of applications.

In the production of acrylic resins, the special properties of the chemical reaction must be considered in specially designed acrylic resin plants. The exothermic nature of the reaction must be controlled and the plant operators, the environment and the plant equipment must be safely protected. Safe elimination of the resulting energy through condensation systems, classical and mechanical protection devices together with inherent-safety, fully automatic control systems ensure optimized protection, highest yield and maximum quality during production in acrylic resin plants. Continuous metering of raw materials also enables the amount of energy to be controlled and safe production to be achieved with minimum batch time.

Electropolished surfaces, optimized stirring systems not only ensure optimal heat transfer, but also low-residue production.

Reactor in operation

Heating/Cooling stations in skid design

Applications for acrylic resins:

Production of paints and varnishes due to their excellent durability and adhesion to various substrates. For wood, decorative and industrial coatings, building protection and road markings,
for the formulation of primers, finishing paints and coatings, automotive
as compounds for injection or compression molding, for printing inks and as adhesives
as waterborne latex emulsions.

Phenolic Resin Plants

The first phenolic resin developed by Leo Hendrik Baekeland in 1905 is considered to be the first completely synthetically produced plastic material in the world. Since then, development has progressed continuously due to ever new technical requirements and for environmental reasons. Phenolic resins (PF resins/phenoplastics) are a condensation product of phenol and formaldehyde and are extremely heat-resistant, easy to press, with excellent dimensional stability and insulating properties.

For production in phenolic resin plants designed specifically for this purpose, it is important to control the reaction – either in a one-pot process or in continuous, stoichiometric metering of all solid and liquid reactants. Heated by steam or hot water, it is most important to ensure optimum utilization of the heating and cooling surfaces, optimum and fast heat distribution in the reactor, and adequate dimensioning of the plant components.

Reactor in phenolic resin plant

Agitator test

Applications for phenolic resins:

Molding compounds for presses, transfer molding and injection molding, adhesives, paint and impregnation purposes, flooring, curing agents for press compounds, production of printed circuit boards, heat-resistant and robust components, e.g. brake linings, foams or hard fiber boards.
Production and coating of laminates with very high resistance, for which phenolic resins are added to the wood panels, paper or fabric webs as powerful binders.

Urea-Formaldehyde resin plants /Melamine resin plants

The condensation of urea-/ or and melamine with formaldehyde leads to urea formaldehyde resins (UF-resin) or melamine resins (MF resins), the aminoplastics family, which form thermosetting plastics after curing. In addition to the classic resins, melamine-phenol-formaldehyde resins (MPF resins) and melamine-urea resins (UMF resins) are also produced by modifying the reaction partners. Melamine resin plants need to be designed in maximum flexible condition to produce all required resins with one configuration.

UF-/MF resins generally have good weathering and light resistance and durable thermal/mechanical stability.

Urea Formaldehyde resin plants (UF resin plants) and Melamine resin plants (MF resin plants) are tuned for moderate heating with steam or hot water and cooling with the largest possible exchange surface. The necessary dosing of acids and alkalis is fully automatic, at best in coordination with inline analytic methods for end-point detection of the reaction.

Equipment reactor hood

Applications for UF/MF/UMF/PF resins:

Laminates with paper, glass fibers or cotton fabric, production of moldings for electrical insulating parts, precondensates are used as glue or varnish resins, production of laminates, tableware, household appliances and furniture.

Varnish production plants (plants for printing inks binders)

Varnishes are used as binders for printing inks for letterpress and offset printing. They are produced by mixing resins and vegetable or mineral oils. The resins used are mainly phenol-modified rosin resins.

During the actual mixing process, the colloidally dissolved resins absorb the oil and swell to form a viscous mass. The mechanical, physical and chemical properties of the actual printing ink are determined by the varnishes.

Production in specially designed varnish plants takes place at high temperatures usually above 200°C, so the plants together with the accessories are heated with thermal oil. One peculiarity of the production process is the high proportion of solids in the exhaust air, which is freed of solids by specially flushed exhaust ducts.

Installation of reactors

For more information, please contact me at any time!

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Der Beitrag Engineering and construction of high-performance synthetic resin plants – efficient, safe and flexible erschien zuerst auf KTC.