Mantec Secures First Taiwanese Order for Porous Ceramic Tiles

Mantec Secures First Taiwanese Order for Porous Ceramic Tiles
 

Plans are now well underway for the installation at a coal-fired power plant in Taiwan of a series of special porous ceramic tiles from Mantec Technical Ceramics; in this application to be used to effectively deliver fly ash to the combustion process. It is the company’s first order for this product in Taiwan and was gained only after a great deal of hard work in the face of sustained international competition.

Mantec Technical Ceramics (MTC) had to satisfy a series of tough technical benchmarks before its tiles could be considered for this project. However, after independent testing in both the USA and the UK, every single parameter was matched – and, indeed, in many cases surpassed.

An experienced UK consultant in the area of bulk powder and industrial materials handling advised on this particular application and also liaised with the multi-sector Taiwanese contractor. This respected Asian contracting group has over 40 years’ experience in supplying various innovative products and advanced engineering to the power generation, petrochemical and steel mill sectors. Its commitment is continually to search the world for exceptional products and technology and to bring them into play in Taiwan.

The MTC order, which the company hopes will turn into further significant business in the region, was for 600 of the specially manufactured high alumina, highly porous (>50% apparent porosity) ceramic tiles. Each tile measures 12in x 6in x 1.5in and together they will play a crucial part in ensuring the smooth movement of the fly ash into the power plant system.

This plant uses a Fluidised Bed Conveyor, where essentially a powder or similar material is enabled to flow in much the same way as a fluid, with the obvious advantages that this brings to the process. The conveyor will incorporate a trough divided along its length by a layer of the MTC porous tiles into an upper and lower compartment. The latter comprises the plenum chamber through which air or gas is fed to the tiles. This air or gas can only escape by way of the ceramic tiles into the powder above and, when velocities are high enough, induces fluidisation.

The upper compartment is the conveying trough along which the powder is transported. In the unfluidised state the ability of a powder to slide down a chute or slope is determined by the characteristic angle of repose of the material – the slope must be greater than the angle of repose. Transformation to the fluidised state virtually eliminates this angle of repose and fluidised conveying troughs can be operated at inclinations between 2° and 6°.

There are a number of advantages to a fluidised bed conveyor that employs MTC’s specialist product – which is still manufactured by the expert team in Stoke-on-Trent – amongst which is that the equipment has no moving parts that need to be in contact with the materials, which are frequently highly abrasive in nature.

In general, the air or gas can be heated to induce a better flow for any given powder or granulate. This, of course, poses no problem as it passes through since these ceramic tiles can withstand in-process temperatures up to around 540°C (1005°F).

Andy Frost, Project Engineer at Mantec Technical Ceramics, commented: “We have been encouraged by this particular order because we have never supplied a Taiwanese customer before and we were required to prove that we manufacture a technically superior product before being able to proceed. Through what until January 2012 was Fairey Filtration, MTC has over 25 years’ manufacturing experience relevant to this sector and is an acknowledged leader in the field of Industrial Porous Ceramics, so we were confident that we could meet all the customer’s expectations.

“We employed our CORALITH C9S aluminosilicate material for these tiles and under test they passed with flying colours. It’s a great reference to have in South Asia.”

At the MTC plant in Staffordshire, porous ceramic tiles are subject to close control during manufacture. Individual tiles are matched one against the other to ensure even overall permeability and the grades used present sufficient resistance to spread the air or gas evenly over the whole area.

In addition to a series of these porous ceramic tiles being used as a bed in fluidised conveyors, an interesting development is the employment of the tiles positioned on the side of hoppers or silos. This prevents localised bridging and rat holing in the hopper outlet and thereby ensures continuity and acceleration of the rate of discharge.

Power plants (coal dust, fly ash etc) are just one area where this technology is a preferred option – others include the following:

• Alumina
• Sand
• Sugar
• Molochite
• Salt
• Gypsum
• Cement
• Zircon Flour
• Soda Ash

Contact:

Andy Frost – Project Engineer
Mantec Technical Ceramics Ltd
Normacot Road
Longton
Stoke-on-Trent
Staffs
ST3 1PA
England

Tel: +44 1782 377557
Fax: +44 1782 377599

E-mail: afrost@mantectc.com