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| Granumat 4.0 users can create their own shades from primary colors by additive weighing, or introduce special colors such as carbon black, white or green. Fed by super sacks or reusuable containers, the system provides batch range of 200 g (0.44 lb.) up to 40 kg (88 lb.) per color; accuracy up to +/- 10 g (0.022 lb.); and, total color batch as low as 500 g (1.1 lb). Dosing is undertaken by single weighing units per color via butterfly vales, giving a choice of coarse, fine or pulse delivery. |
The Huntsman Pigments & Additives Division bills the Granumat 4.0 Color Synthesizer as an advanced pigment metering solution designed to make colored concrete production smarter, quicker and more efficient. Topping a range of new features is the model’s capacity to simultaneously weigh up to 10 colors at high speed, and serve four mixers and cyclone holding hoppers either randomly or concurrently. The dual functionality equips the system to pace the fastest batching plants and production machines.
Granumat 4.0 is the next step in the evolution of the manufacturer’s widely adopted family of color pigment metering systems; they enable the easy, clean and accurate coloring of concrete in a wide spectrum of shades via free-flowing Granufin micro granules. Launched in 1989, Granumat machines automatically weigh pigment from bulk storage containers and transport granules directly into a concrete mixer in an enclosed automated batching operation.
Hunstman engineers cite two different interface options to support the drive for Industry 4.0— the fourth industrial revolution. Granumat 4.0 Color Synthesizer users can choose between a PC or Touch Panel PLC control system; both use a smart Ethernet connection to relay information between the metering machine and batching plant controls. The smart technology enables digital start and feedback signals to be easily exchanged. It also means color recipes, information on target and actual color dosages, and statistical data on pigment consumption can be easily relayed. A smart function that enables the system to automatically adjust weighing and conveying parameters is also available.
Engineering adjustments have resulted in system compactness, product engineers note: A typical six-color metering system is around 5.2 meters versus a 4.55-meter Granumat 4.0 height. Alongside the new dispensing system, Huntsman has developed a tandem Cyclone 4.0 holding hopper. With novel pressure controlled extraction capabilities, the vessel empties a pigment batch into the mixer while the conveying cycle progresses.
“[Granumat’s] launch in the late-1980s revolutionized the process for coloring concrete,” contends Huntsman Global Business Director for Pigments & Additives Todd Cottrell. “With unique features, the 4.0 takes this one step further, enabling concrete producers to speed up the production of colored concrete and embrace the most important facets of Industry 4.0—namely resource efficiency, adaptive control and data driven insights.” — Huntsman Pigments & Additives, www.huntsman.com/pigmentsandadditives
PIGMENT PRODUCTION BEGINS IN GEORGIA
Huntsman Pigments & Additives announced a mid-May start up of a new pigments facility in Augusta, Ga. The $170 million-plus operation is the first of its kind to be built in North America in more than 35 years. A showcase for world-class manufacturing technology, company officials note, it has annual capacity of 30,000 metric tons of yellow, red and black iron oxide pigments.