Paper Industry Pilot Coater Optimized with Ronningen-Petter DCF Self-Cleaning Filtration System
Ask Filter Man
Self-Cleaning Filtration System -- A Real World Documented Case Study
Two Ronningen-Petter Disc Cleaning Filter (DCF) stations help Contract
Paper-Coating R&D line increase capabilities, flexibility, and ease
maintenance.
SITUATION:
When a new Contract Paper-Coating pilot plant opened recently, it
sought to enhance operational capability, flexibility, and maintenance
to better approximate production runs for paper mills and converters
who were looking to improved their current products, develop new
products, or try new coating methods/equipment.
The Coating plant (along with its sister plants) is a strategic R&D
resource for the paper and printing industries. Ninety percent of the
plants activities -- including coating, papermaking, printing, and
recycling -- support their operating budget through contract services
within the paper and printing industries.
Because of the variety of coatings and papers involved, proper process
filtering of the type found in the actual paper mills was a critical
part of enhancing the Coating plant's operational capability,
flexibility, and maintenance. This would better approximate production
runs for paper mills and paper suppliers, and would result in more
efficient production and better margins for them.
The Coating plant turned to Ronningen-Petter (RPA Process Technologies)
for an effective process filtration solution.
After the engineers at RPA reviewed the filtration process, they notice
that the Coating plant had different flow rate needs depending on the
setup configuration of the coater.
Taking into consideration that sometimes one coating would be used, and
other times two different coatings would be used, the pilot plant ended
up with an automatic filtering system that is used in mill metering
size press installations and applications where similar setup needs
exist.
SOLUTION:
Two Ronningen-Petter Disc Cleaning Filter (DCF) stations now share the
same drain lines and inlet-outlet headers at the Coating pilot plant,
and are located between the run tanks and the coater.
The beauty of this type of set-up is that if the company needs to use
one DCF station for one coating -- and the second station for another
-- they close the two butterfly valves installed in the headers that
separate the stations.
They can then open these valves when they need both stations for single
high-flow rate applications. This allows the filter to act like two
filters, and saves the expense of two control systems and piping.
HOW IT WORKS:
With the DCF self-cleaning filter, coatings enter the top inlet of the
filter housing and passes through the screen. The screen holds any
particles over 75 microns, while cleaning coating exits the bottom
outlet of the filter.
A cleaning disc moves up and down the filter screen, removing debris.
With the aid of the downward fluid flow and the disc movement, the
debris is deposited into a holding chamber at the bottom of the filter
housing, and it regularly purged from the housing via a valve at the
bottom of the chamber.
RESULTS:
The Coating company monitors the DCF filter's differential pressure to
see if the cleaning system is being over tasked by a high debris level
in the coating.
The good news is that they have not found a coating or dirty base stock
it could not handle.
The differential pressure remains steady. Its ability to remove air
from a coating is also a great asset for run ability, especially when
we are operating the short dwell applicators.
The best part is that the filter is very easy to clean, and they have
not found it necessary to open it to remove coating. They simply flush
the system with water and have no compatibility problems. This is yet
another example where a Ronningen-Petter filter has exceeded our
customer's expectations!
--by Ask Filter Man
For questions about industrial filtration, please visit the Ask Filter
Man forum at http://www.rpaprocess.com/Ask-Filter-Man-Blog.asp.
If you would like to discuss this filtration solution with one of our
highly trained Applications Specialists at
http://www.rpaprocess.com/ContactUs/Contact-Us.asp.