Application Example
Conveying and Feeding o
Introduction
Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is
one o the most popular mineral
llers used in the plastics indus-
try. It is widely available around
the world, easy to grind or re-
duce to a speci c particle size,
compatible with a wide range o
polymer resins and economical.
As an additive in plastic com-
pounds, CaCO3 helps decrease
sur ace energy and provides
opacity and sur ace gloss,
which improves sur ace nish. In
addition, when the particle size
is care ully controlled, CaCO3
helps increase both impact
strength and exural modulus
(sti ness).
Calcium carbonate may be
used with a myriad o thermo-
plastic resins. Polypropylene
compounds are o ten lled with
calcium carbonate to increase
rigidity, an important require-
ment or operations at high
temperatures. In PVC, calcium
carbonate is used with exible
compounds such as tubing,
Calcium Carbonate Sieve Analysis
CaCO3 Sample A
99% pure precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC); bulk density varies
rom
0.301 kg/dm3 [18.8 lb/ t3] loose to 0.398 kg/dm3 [24.9 lb/ t3] packed.
CaCO3 Sample B
95% pure granular calcium carbonate; bulk density varies rom
1.378 kg/dm3 [86 lb/ t3] loose to 1.474 kg/dm3 [92 lb/ t3] packed.
Calcium Carbonate in Plastics Compounding
wire and cable insulation, latex
gloves, trash bags and in rigid
compounds such as extruded
pipes, conduits and window
pro les.
Conveying CaCO3
The design o a eeding or
pneumatic conveying system
is heavily in uenced by a bulk
solid’s particle shape, size (as-
pect ratio) and particle size dis-
tribution as well as the particle’s
roughness, hardness (abrasive-
ness), and density.
In the case o calcium carbon-
ate these characteristics vary
widely depending on the source
and production process or the
individual samples. The sieve
analysis below illustrates the
di erence in particle shape,
particle size and particle size
distribution or two samples o
calcium carbonate.
The large number o particle in-
teractions (see sidebar on page
2) makes it impossible to estab-
lish a clear correlation between a
ller’s properties at the particle
level and its ow behavior as a
bulk solid. As a consequence,
pneumatic conveying systems
cannot be purchased “o -the-
shel ” and must be engineered
or each situation individually.
Both systems engineering and
equipment selection are a -
ected by di erences in a bulk
solid’s characteristics. Labora-
tory tests are o ten necessary
to help determine a material’s
properties and behavior.
A pneumatic conveying system
generally consists o ve basic
components: a gas motive, a
conveying line, a dispensing Aerolock™ Rotary Valve
device, a material-gas separator
and controls.
However, i the CaCO3 tends to
Dispensing Device coat the interior o the convey
When selecting a dispensing line, a exible hose could be
device, it must be taken into considered because exing o
consideration that some grades the line helps prevent build-up
o CaCO3 are light and uidiz- on the walls o the hose.
able and may ood convey lines. In vacuum sequencing systems,
In such cases, a rotary valve it is a good precaution to use a
should be considered to meter purge valve to allow the line to
the material into the line. Rotary clear between conveying se-
valves can be used or pick up quences. First, a shut-o valve
in either pressure or vacuum at the pickup o a vacuum sys-
pneumatic conveying systems. tem is closed to allow vacuum
With adhesive grades o CaCO3 to build in the line. Then the
the product will tend to build up valve is opened, creating a pres-
and not release rom the blades sure wave that helps clean o
o a drop-through rotary valve. any coating o material adher-
In this case a blow-through style ing to interior sur aces o the
rotary valve is necessary; air convey line.
is blown through each pocket
as the valve turns, dislodging Material-Gas Sepa-
material rom the blades. The
installation o a uidizing cone rator
in the eed bin is also help ul O ten CaCO3 will adhere to the
in controlling the ow o the lter, causing it to blind over
material. and reduce lter efciency. For
sticky grades o CaCO3 using l-
Conveying Lines ter bags instead o pleated lter
cartridges may help reduce the
Calcium carbonate powders
tendency o the CaCO3 to stick
can cause many problems in
to the lters. In extreme cases
conveying systems, including
the use o PTFE lter media is
sticking in hoppers, ood eed-
recommended.
ing into convey lines, building
up inside convey lines, and Some calcium carbonate grades
blinding over lter bags and may require a steeper discharge
cartridges in receivers. cone in order to allow complete
emptying o the hopper. Flow
Rigid pipes may be used as a
aids such as vibrators or uid-
convey line or highly uidiz-
izing pads inside the receiver
able to slightly adhesive CaCO3.
1
Particle Interactions
Three distinctive relationships a ect the ow behavior o
mineral fllers in pneumatic conveying and eeding systems:
Particle-particle, particle-equipment and particle-environment
interactions.

Particle-Particle hopper will usually help ensure
Particle-particle interactions quicker and more complete
discharge o the receiver.
are directly related to the
iller’s chemical composition
and physical characteristics
Application
rather than bulk properties. The Example
most important particle-particle The sieve analysis on page  1
illustrates the di erence in
orces are the electrostatic or
particle shape, particle size and
van der Waals orces o attrac- particle size distribution or two
tion between molecules. As the samples o calcium carbonate.
separation between particles increases, the van der Waals orces While Sample A is a precipitated
calcium carbonate (PCC) with
decrease, explaining why the addition o small particles to cohe-
a relatively low bulk density,
sive powders improves their owability. Other particle-particle Sample B is a granular calcium
orces include capillary orces, responsible or liquid bridge orma- carbonate with a much higher
tion, and sintering orces, responsible or solid bridge ormation. bulk density.
Capillary orces develop in the presence o water vapor in the gas The diagram on page 3 shows a
schematic representation o the
phase whereas sintering orces develop when material migrates
pneumatic conveying system
due to di usion or viscous ow. Interparticle orces contribute to required to trans er the calcium
the cohesive characteristics o fne powders and their tendency carbonate rom a storage bin
to orm aggregates or agglomerates. into a eeding system in a com-
pounding operation.
Particle-Equipment In this example, a custom-
er needs to trans er 4.5  t/h
The ow o solid particles inside (10,000  lb/h) o calcium car-
a vessel or a pipe is a unction bonate rom a storage bin (1) to
o two important character- a lter receiver  (2) located on
istics, wall riction and shear top o a rotary valve (3) or the
extrusion o PP and CaCO3 at a
strength. Wall riction relates to plastics compounding acility.
how particles slip on a contact The acility is located at 305 m
sur ace while shear strength is (1000  t) elevation with an aver-
the resistance that the powder age daily temperature o 29.5°C
(85°F) during the entire year.
bulk o ers to de ormation, or
The selected calcium carbon-
how particles slip relative to each other.
ate sample would need to be
pneumatically conveyed over
Particle-Environment 30 meters (100  t) horizontal
Particle-environment interactions deal with external orces distance and 15 meters (50  t)
vertical distance with our
(e.g., temperature, relative humidity, vibration, gravity, aeration,
90-degree angle elbows  (4)
etc.) exerted over the aggregate o particles. The air Relative present in the system. The
Humidity (RH) and the fller’s hygroscopic nature are o ten blower  (5) would be located
coupled with increase cohesive- in such a way that the air line
ness because o inter-particle
liquid bridges; temperature a - Table 1:
ects the particle’s crystallinity Di erences in Conveying Equipment Selection
behavior, promoting “caking”, Equipment Sample A
while pressure increases the Blower size 16 kW [20 HP]
contact points between par- Rotary Valve Throughput 15 m3/hr [531 t3/hr]
ticles, causing “compaction” or
would be 15 meters (50  t) long
(when combining horizontal
and vertical distances) with no
more than 2 elbows.
The signi cant particle charac-
teristic di erences between the
two CaCO3 samples result in the
selection o di erent equipment
components as well as di erent
sizing o the entire system. A
higher blower horsepower (5)
is required or calcium carbon-
ate B to provide the increased
system air low and vacuum
necessary to maintain dilute
phase conveying at the required
rate. Di erences in the bulk
density and particle character-
istics determine the adjusted
rotary valve (3) throughput to
maintain the desired rate. To
this end, or the much denser
material B, the volumetric
throughput is much lower than
calcium carbonate sample A.
The lter housing diameter is
determined based on the can
velocity restriction or each
sample. Maximum can velocity
is the largest vertical velocity
through the lter housing that
will allow the majority o mate-
rial to all out o the airstream.
The lter cloth area or each ma-
terial is based upon the ltering
characteristics o each sample.
Particle size plays a large role
in determining the necessary
lter cloth area required or
the materials. The larger the
particle size, the easier it will be
to separate rom the airstream;
there ore less ilter cloth is
required. Table 1 summarizes
some o the equipment di er-
ences or these two samples.
Sample B
20 kW [25 HP]
3.6 m3/hr [128 t3/
hr]

more inter-particle adhesion. Rotary Valve Efciency 84% 92%

Adjusted RV Throughput 17.9 m 3/hr [632 3.9 m3/hr [139 t3/
t3/hr] hr]
Filter Housing Diameter 1.4 m [54 in] 0.9 m [36 inches]
Filter Cloth Area Required 17.7 m2 [191 t2] 7.5 m2 [81 t2]
Maximum Can Velocity 21.3 m/min [70 t/ No restriction
min]

2
Feeding CaCO3
The selection o the appropri-
ate eeding system or each o
the illustrated calcium carbon-
ate samples is determined by
two main variables: the char-
acteristics o the mineral ller
(e.g., particle size and shape,
gas permeability, bulk density
and angle o repose) and the
required eed rate.
Loss-in-Weight (LIW) eeders
provide total containment o
the raw material and dust and
optimal eed rate per ormance
to guarantee overall end prod-
uct quality. LIW eeders are
available in a variety o con gu-
rations, where the hopper size,
eeding device and weighbridge
are tailored to the speci ic
characteristics, ow properties
and ow rates or the material
to be ed.
Volumetric vs.
Gravimetric
Most eeders may be catego-
rized as volumetric or gravimet-
ric. Volumetric eeders operate
by delivering a certain volume
o material per unit time and are
the lowest capital cost eeding
solution. However, volumetric
screw eeders cannot detect or
adjust to variations in a mate-
rial’s bulk density. As a result,
these eeders are most e ec-
tive with relatively ree- owing
Sample Pneumatic Conveying System
1
3
materials with consistent bulk
density, such as pellets, and in
applications where a guaran-
teed eeding accuracy is not
Refill hopper
crucial.
In gravimetric eeding, dry bulk
material is ed into a process
at a constant weight per unit Feeder
o time. Gravimetric eeding controller
provides better monitoring o Refill device
the eeding process with a eed-
back loop that measures weight
and speed, thereby determining
actual weight o material being
ed on a second to second basis.
Load cells
Weight
Hopper Selection signal
Once the size and type o eeder
is established, a hopper o the
appropriate shape and size
must be selected to contain the Metering zone Speed
right amount o ller required
or a continuous plastics com-
pounding operation. Hoppers Drive command
are available in cylindrical,
asymmetrical and symmetrical
shapes and in sizes rom one Typical Loss-in-Weight Feeder
liter to several hundred liters.
A eeder hopper is sized based
upon the re ll requirements o tion due to particle interactions.
the eeder and the space avail- Thus, the hopper size selection
able. A general “rule-o -thumb” is initially estimated using the
is to use 12 hopper re lls per ollowing theoretical calcula-
hour and the maximum ll level tion:
in the hopper should be 80% Hopper Capacity =
o the hopper volume. A large Flow rate / (Bulk Density x
hopper may not be desired
0.8 x 12)
because o incremental cost,
space requirements, and the Precipitated calcium carbonate
possibility o material compac- tends to compact in hoppers
2
K2-ML-T60 Twin Screw Feeder
and may cause rat-holing and
bridging. The ActiFlow™ Bulk
Solid Activator is a simple and
efcient ow aid device that
3
works by inducing particle-
5 particle vibrations, thus pre-
venting the ormation o highly
dense material points inside the
4 hopper. In addition, ActiFlow
3
Conveying and Feeding o Calcium Carbonate
in a Plastics Compounding Process
helps reduce head-room re-
quirements and eliminate clean-
ing concerns because there
is no need to use mechanical
agitators inside the hopper. For
extremely cohesive materials
alternative mechanical agitators
are available.
Feeding Device
Feeding devices vary depend-
ing on the bulk material to be
ed: single screw or Bulk Solids
Pump™ or ree- owing pow-
ders and granulates, twin screw
eeders or difcult powders,
vibratory trays or bers and
riable materials.
While a single screw eeder may
work with ree- owing grades
o CaCO3, a twin screw eeder
is generally recommended
to achieve a reliable result. A
variety o screw designs are
available according to the
ow rate and characteristics
o the mineral ller. The most
common screw pro iles are
Various twin screw designs
4 www.coperion.com
concave, auger, spiral and
double spiral. The objective o
the screws is to discharge the
bulk solids uni ormly into the
plastics compounding process.
Screws also serve to stop the
material ow when the screw
eeder is stopped and prevent
ooding e ects with uidizing
bulk solids.
Calcium carbonate’s tendency
to compact also occurs on
metal sur aces like the eeder’s
screws. For this reason, two
intermeshing co-rotating sel -
wiping screws are needed to
keep the screw sur aces clean
and ree o material buildup.
Weighbridge
The weighing system can range
rom small capacity plat orm
scales to large three point
suspension scale systems. All
K-Tron weighing systems em-
ploy patented, digital Smart
Fo rce Tra ns du ce r™ (S FT)
weighing technology with
Table 2:
Di erences in Feeding Equipment Selection
Equipment
Feeder model
Hopper size
Agitation
Feeding Device
Weighbridge
Manu acturing plants:
Coperion K-Tron Pitman, Inc.
590 Woodbury-Glassboro Rd
Sewell, NJ 08080, USA
Tel +1 856 589 0500
Fax +1 856 589 8113
in o@coperion.com
1:4,000,000 in 80 ms weighing
resolution as well as vibration
and temperature dri t immunity.
Sample Feeding
System
Table 2 shows an example o
ideal eeding systems or two
calcium carbonate samples.
Conclusion
The correct design o a pneu-
matic conveying and/or eeding
system or calcium carbonate in
plastics compounding opera-
tions is not a trivial proposition
because o the number o vari-
ables that a ect powder ow.
The return on investment (ROI)
o a plastics compounding plant
hinges on the proper selection
o the most cost-e ective pneu-
matic conveying and eeding
system. Particle characteristics
as well as particle interactions
with other particles, with equip-
ment and with the environ-
Sample A Sample B
K2-ML-T60 K2-ML-D5-T35 or
-S60
180 dm3 50 dm3
ActiFlow none
or Arch-breaker
twin concave screws single auger
screw /
twin auger or spi-
ral screws
3 load cells D5 plat orm scale
Coperion K-Tron Salina, Inc.
606 North Front St.
Salina, KS 67401, USA
Tel +1 785 825 1611
Fax +1 785 825 8759
© 2010 K-Tron Technologies, Inc. A-800109-en (1090000404) 2018-03
ment in uence the selection o
equipment and system design.
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systems engineering group
has the know-how to design
the smart solution or any ap-
plication.
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> Every solution is developed
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> Extensive range o conveying
and eeding equipment avail-
able.
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