Case Study

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When it comes to providing one of the most versatile additives and fillers, NYCO Minerals, Inc., has accomplished this for over 50 years with its production of wollastonite.

Wollastonite is generally used as an additive or filler in a number of plastics, ceramics, coating, and construction product applications. Because consistency and accuracy are critical in the processing of wollastonite, NYCO relies upon Schenck AccuRate weighing and feeding equipment for maintaining a constant feed to its milling process resulting in high efficiencies and purity of product.

As their supplier of choice for over 10 years, NYCO uses a wide range of products from Schenck AccuRate, which includes gravimetric MECHATRON® screw feeders, SolidsFlow® How NYCO Minerals fed its Wollastonite craving Write In 294 feeding vibratory feeders, a DEA weighbelt feeder, and a BXN dual idler belt scale. Each of these metering devices are equipped with Schenck AccuRate DISOCONT® controls and DeviceNet cards for communicating to the plant's Allen Bradley PLC.

The Process
NYCO mines the wollastonite in a nearby quarry and transports the materials to their facility by truck where it is stock piled. Just prior to entering the facility, the raw material is weighed and totalized using the Schenck AccuRate BXN dual idler belt scale. NYCO chose to use a mix of MECHATRON ® loss-in weight screw feeders, SolidsFlow™ vibratory feeders, and a DEA weighbelt feeder for the various applications because each product has the unique ability to meter the hard-to-feed wollastonite.

Rick Olcott, Electrical Supervisor, commented, "the Schenck AccuRate feeders and their ability to maintain constant feed rates has been key to the plant's product quality and successful operation." He also mentioned, "after initial installation of the feeders there has been very little maintenance and no product failures."

For over a decade NYCO Minerals has successfully operated their plant using Schenck AccuRate weighing and feeding equipment. Since opening the operation in 1997, it has become the world's largest capacity wollastonite mine and processing facility. John Palmer, Process Engineer, stated, "the feeders have provided all of our plant operations with the accuracies and consistencies that were required resulting in the best quality end product."

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