TH will upgrade Sifucel´s kaolin treatment plant in Portugal

TH has been awarded the contract for the upgrading of the kaolin treatment plant run by Sifucel in Mosteiros (Portugal). Thanks to this upgrade, the existing plant will be able to produce higher-quality kaolin and cope the increased demand of this product in the ceramics industry.

TH will design, manufacture and implement a new classification and washing solution that will supplement the existing one. The new plant will allow to increase kaolin´s percentage of alumina before final product is sent to an existing thickener for subsequent filtration.

The TH solution will include two hydrocyclones´ batteries, a dewatering screen, and several sump pumps. The first battery will include 20 HCM-100 microcyclones, and will be used to obtain an initial product cut, with oversized material sent to the dewatering screen to produce intermediate-quality sands for sale. This sand would otherwise have been discarded as waste. The second battery will comprise 120 HCM-50 microcyclones. The combination of these two batteries will ensure a product cutting size 50% smaller than Sifucel currently obtains. All the microcyclones are made of Vulkollan, with a modular design for easy maintenance: if necessary one part of the cyclone can be replaced with no need to change the full unit.

Sifucel is a member of the Parapedra Group. It has three production plants in Portugal, which produce silica sand and kaolin for a number of industries, like per sample ceramics and glass industries. The output of the Mosteiros plant is 4000 tons per day.

TH has more than 50 years' experience in this sector and has successfully developed treatment plants for industrial minerals all over the world. The company's great expertise enables it to support customers from the preliminary stages of process engineering and then throughout the useful lifetime of their projects, providing after-sales technical service and supplying spares.