Processes for custom-made powders
Directly giving end products the desired properties
Although Hosokawa Micron B.V. is particularly well known for its mixing and drying systems, it actually offers much more technology for making custom-made powders. The company develops complete processes which enable customers to give their end products the desired properties directly.
Doetinchem-based Hosokawa Micron has a long-standing reputation for a wide range of mixing and drying systems based on the Vrieco-Nauta conical screw mixer. These systems have earned their stripes over the past decades in a multitude of applications in numerous industrial sectors. Hence, the company has built up a wealth of experience in the processing of almost every raw material imaginable. This has resulted in a strategy of product diversification, with the company developing technology for a whole host of new applications.
Hosokawa Micron’s current product range facilitates the set up of complete factories so that customers can give their end products the desired properties directly. In these production lines, the raw materials and products are not only subjected to mechanical and/or physical treatment (such as mixing, drying and impregnation), but are also exposed to chemical processes (such as high-temperature reactions or polymerisation).
Polymerisation, metal coating and crystallisation are just a few examples of high-temperature processes. Hosokawa Micron has responded to market demand for these kinds of processes by developing various processing equipment including the conical paddle mixer (CPM) and the conical paddle dryer (CPD). Just like the Vrieco-Nauta mixers, all these pieces of equipment have a wide range of uses and the product can be discharged quickly, efficiently and completely. However, what makes the CPM and CPD different from the conventional Vrieco-Nauta mixer is that they only have one drive unit. This reduces the construction complexity of the high-temperature systems. As a result, models are available with useful volumes of up to 10,000 litres for product temperatures of up to 325°C. Apart from the double-walled versions, the CPM and CPD can be adapted for specific applications, irrespective of whether atmospheric, overpressure or vacuum processes are required. Construction materials, bearings, gaskets and seals can be aligned with the process requirements.
