GEA Niro's continuous high shear granulator HEC™ is the answer if detergents or any other chemical product is dusty, too light and not flowing properly.
The HEC™ has been developed to meet industrial requirements for converting dusty and light chemical powdered products into high density granular products with good flow properties and are not dusty when being handled.
All flowsheet animations are available in the GEA Niro download area.
How does it work?
The light powder is mechanically fluidized in a slowly rotating drum where an intensifier bar rotates at high speed. The suspended particles are made wet with a liquid and with the action of the rotating bar; the energy is effectively transferred to the wet powder in order to create a high performance mixing and compacting operation. The result is high density granulates with a density (for detergents) up to 1000kg/m3 with an average granule size from 250 to 1500 microns. Wetting rate, bar speed, and residence time determine the final size of the granules.
The final drying and cooling of the granulated powder is done in GEA Niro's VIBRO-FLUIDIZER™. Here, the final de-dusting takes place simultaneously. The air used for drying, cooling, and de-dusting is passed through a bag filter to recover the fines particles. Together with the smallest granulates that are sifted off from the main product, the fines are returned to the process. Thus, with the HEC™ you can produce a granulated powder with product specifications to your liking. The plant can also be equipped with CIP Cleaning In Place.
All plants designed and supplied by GEA Niro enable you to apply for ATEX approval or any other EU directive.
In our Test Center with more than 75 pilot plants, you can test your product in our pilot HEC™ with a capacity of 100 – 500 kg product/h.