Extraction

Extraction

In the industrial context, the extraction and conveying of materials from storage to processing are vital aspects to ensure the operational efficiency of a plant. Dusty materials require special attentions as they can have very different characteristics: some flow fluidity as if they were water, others tend to compress, while others show a tendency to consolidate, making extraction operations complex.

In technical jargon, we often refer to the «bridge effect» when the product compacts and self sustains inside the tank, and the «rathole effect» when a tunnel forms in the product at the discharge point, with most of the material stagnating near the walls.

In addition to boasting years of field experience, Air Tec System has an equipped laboratory for studying the rheology of powders. This approach provides crucial information about the behaviour of materials under flow, compression and handling conditions, facilitating the prediction of ideal solutions for extraction.

For materials such as carbonates, flour, sand, cement, and the like, cones or vibrating bottom prove effective. For products more prone to caking, such as cocoa and powdered milk, flat-bottom extractors, which keep the product moving by means of scraping blade, are more suitable. Finally, for some powders, air blowing systems are preferred, using porous plates or vibra flow, which move the material along the walls of the discharge cone. This diversification of approaches allows solutions to be tailored to the specific extraction needs of each type of powdery material.