Super-thin basalt fiber - Equipment for production of heat-insulating materials

Staple thin basalt fiber - Equipment for production of heat-insulating materials

Thin basalt fiber - Technologies and Equipment

In brief, conventional technology of production of staple-thin basal fiber (TBF) and TBF slabs consists of the following processes:

• Loading basalt rock to the furnace;
• Basalt melting and melt homogenization in the furnace;
• Receiving the basalt melt from furnace feeder through a bushing assembly in the form of streams of melt;
• Blowing the primary fibers with blowing head into staple fibers, applying binder onto the fibers in the forming chamber;
• Forming and drying the slabs at the production line;
• Cutting and packaging the slabs.

Process equipment for production of staple-thin basalt fibers and its materials

Purpose. Process equipment is intended for production of staple thin basalt fiber and materials based on it: soft slabs with density of 50 - 70 kg/m3, rigid slabs with density 100 - 140 kg/m3, cardboard with density of 150 - 160 kg/m3.

Process equipment configuration

Equipment for production of staple-thin basalt fiber

• Rock melting furnace.
• Production unit of staple fiber from the melt - blowing unit.
• Forming chamber with conveyor.

Equipment for production of NS-1V inorganic binder

• Dispensers of the components.
• Reactor-mixer. Storage and supply container.
• Binder supply system into forming camera.

Soft salb process line

• Inorganic binder NS-1V spraying unit.
• Drying chamber.
• Cutting slab unit.
• Packing slab unit.

Rigid slab and board process line

• Inorganic binder NS-1V application unit.
• Cutting slab unit.
• Drying chamber.
• Packing slab unit.

General process equipment are:

• Equipment for staple-thin basalt fiber production: melting furnace; unit for production of staple fiber from the melt; forming chamber with a conveyor and binder application unit.
• Equipment for NS-1V inorganic binder production.
• Section drying chamber.
• Cutting slab unit.
• Packing slab unit.

Distinctive features of the process line

1. Usage of rock melting furnace with low specific gas and electricity consumption per production unit. Application of new basalt melting technologies, specific gas burners and heat recovery system of exhaust gases.
2. Usage of NS-1V inorganic binder for slabs and boards (without using the clays for fiber binding) that allows to provide the quality of materials and reduce their production cost.
3. The equipment is based on the principle of a single process line for production of basalt fiber materials. For production slabs, and boards, some general basic units of equipment of the process line are used.

Manufacturing process of staple basalt fibers and materials

Loading of loosened basalt rock into the melting furnace – melting and homogenization of the melt – producing the fibers – injection of inorganic binder into forming chamber – formation of felt of basalt fibers with binding – prepressing the felt – forming the slabs – drying the slabs – packaging the slabs.

Features and benefits of technologies.

Production of soft slab materials is carried out by NS-1V binder spraying technology technologies in the forming chamber.
Manufacture of rigid slabs and board are performed by combined inorganic binder spraying technology and direct injection into the basalt fiber mat.

Benefits of the proposed technologies

• Technology provides uniform distribution of the binder, and thus quality of the slab.
• In manufacturing the soft and rigid basalt slabs, impregnation of the mat with NS-1V binder is performed by the combined method.
• Technology excludes the slurry preparation procedure based on bentonite clay binder resulting to negative factors – destruction of fibers and considerable moisture of the slabs.
• The basalt fiber mat has no high humidity that reduces the energy consumption for drying the slabs and boards.
• Production of basalt fiber materials is performed as a common operating procedure on basic process equipment.

Production cost of TBF materials

Production cost of staple-thin basalt fibres using gas-melting furnaces is quite low compared to other types of furnaces.

Production of materials (soft, rigid slabs, and board) are performed according to NS-1V binder spraying technique that determines the low moisture of the mat. Therefore, the energy consumption for drying the slabs and cardboard is minimal.

The proposed technologies and equipment are determined low production costs of staple-thin basalt fiber, and materials based on such fiber.

Picture of processing line for manufacturing of heat-insulating slabs

Rock melting furnaceStream of basalt melt

Forming chamberDrying unit

Cutting slab unitBinder preparation site

Production facility requirements

Basic requirements to production facilities to place the Process equipment for production of BTF and BTF-based materials.
At the installation site of the melting furnace, height is 10 m; width – 12 m, length – 40 m.

 Utilities:

• middle pressure gas (0.03 - 0.04 MPa or 0.3 - 0.4 kg/cm2), flow rate - 350 m3/h;
• electricity 3x380V, 50 Hz; installed capacity is 600 kVA (including two-fold reserve);
• compressed air – 60m3/min, pressure – 0.12 MPa (1.2 kg/cm3);
• water supply – up to 5 m/h (recycling supply from cooling towers), water pressure – 0.3 MPa;
• sewerage for domestic needs of the staff.

Production facilities should be equipped with aeration lantern, plenum system, overhead-track hoist or other lifting devices to install equipment and lift basalt raw materials. Weight-carrying capacity of overhead-track hoist – 400 - 1000 kg. The site should have a number of utility areas: a basalt raw material storage area of 100 - 200 m2, storage area for finished products - 300 - 400 m2. The manufacturing site should be equipped with household premises for personnel, premises for technical personnel (section foreman, production foreman, electricians, and automation technicians), repair room (should have fitter work place, welder work place). Minimum distance to the nearest dwelling houses is 200 meters.

Production management of STBF materials

Installation and commissioning of process equipment for STBF production and its materials are carried out on turnkey basis including commercial production batch, customer’s personnel training.
The customer is responsible for preparation of the manufacturing areas to place the equipment and supply the communications (gas, electricity, compressed air, water), for mounting smoke exhaust system (air ducts, smoke stack).