Hydro and Malvern Highlight On-Site Particle Size Analysis Success in Joint Presentation at RELPOWFLO IV
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15 May 2008: Malvern, UK: Leading aluminium and aluminium products supplier Hydro (Norway) and materials characterization company Malvern Instruments, will jointly present a paper at RELPOWFLO IV to be held in Tromso, Norway from 10-12 June 2008. The presentation - 'Investigation into the segregation of alumina on board ships and in the silos' - describes how Insitec Voyager, Malvern's mobile, on-line particle size analyzer, is being used to characterize the alumina feed for Hydro's aluminium primary production. Voyager has enabled Hydro to investigate segregation during transport and storage, and the impact this has on the electrolysis process.
Alumina is delivered, by ship, from around the world. Loads are generally between 10,000 and 50,000 tonnes. Although there are certificates of particle size, alumina is extremely prone to segregation, hence this feed can be quite variable.
"Insitec Voyager has allowed us to increase the frequency of analysis by several orders of magnitude. Now we can see how segregation impacts the feed with a higher resolution, and how accumulated fines negatively affect alumina transport and the efficiency of the electrolysis cells."
Analysis is now completed rapidly, at site rather than at a remote lab, and at a number of locations since the instrument is easily moved to the required sampling point. Voyager is a fully automated laser diffraction system with no moving parts, suitable for dry streams with particles in the size range 0.1 to 1000 microns. It analyzes even highly concentrated streams with no loss of accuracy - an important feature for this application.
In future, Hydro seeks to investigate the further potential of the Voyager, employing it as a field laboratory facility to make possible the analysis of thousands of samples. By introducing at-site analysis during larger campaigns, analysis will become less expensive, with the results available much more quickly. www.malvern.com
About Malvern Instruments
Malvern Instruments provides a range of complementary materials characterization tools that deliver inter-related measurements reflecting the complexities of particulates and disperse systems, nanomaterials and macromolecules. Analytical instruments from Malvern are used in the characterization of a wide variety of materials, from industrial bulk powders to the latest nanomaterials and delicate macromolecules. A broad portfolio of innovative technologies is combined with intelligent, user-friendly software. These systems deliver industrially relevant data enabling our customers to make the connection between micro (such as particle size) and macro (bulk) material properties (rheology) and chemical composition (chemical imaging).
Particle size distribution, particle shape information, zeta potential, molecular weight, chemical composition, and bulk materials properties can all be determined with instruments from the Malvern range. The company's laboratory, at-line, on-line and in-line solutions are proven in sectors as diverse as cement production and pharmaceutical drug discovery.
Headquartered in Malvern, UK, Malvern Instruments has subsidiary organizations in all major European markets, North America, China, Korea and Japan, a joint venture in India, a global distributor network and applications laboratories around the world. www.malvern.com
About Hydro
Hydro is a Fortune Global 500 supplier of aluminium and aluminium products. Based in Norway, the company employs 22,000 people in more than 30 countries and has activities on all continents. Rooted in a century of experience in renewable energy production, technology development and progressive partnerships, Hydro is committed to strengthening the viability of our customers and communities we serve.
For press information, please contact:
Trish Appleton,
Kapler Communications
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Tel: +44 (0)1480 479280;
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Marisa Fraser,
Malvern Instruments Inc.
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Tel: +1 508 768 6400
Fax: +1 508 768 6403
marisa.fraser@malvern.com
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Malvern Instruments Ltd
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salesinfo@malvern.com
