Lal Surajkumar Shrikant

1181110022

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

6/25/2013

2013In-plant training report

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Mr. Rajeshwar Khajone and Mr. Gitesh Choudhary for

guiding me throughout my training at Agri Search India Pvt. Ltd., Nashik. The

training was completed in June on Manufacturing Processes.

ContentsManufacturing Process of Sulfur granules

Process of obtaining SlurryPackaging process

Scissor LiftTabletop Filling Machine - Piston Filler

Pressure Sensitive LabelersReaction Vessel

Plate- Frame Filter PressBoiler

SAND MILLDrum Dryer

AbstractThe In-plant training report at Agri Search India Pvt. Ltd consists of Manufacturing Process of their various products used in Agriculture. The machineries used in plant are also described in this report. The plant is able to run for 24 hrs and product rate is 240kg/hr. The Packaging and other important information is shared in this report.

INTRODUCTIONSulfur is necessary for the growth and development of plant life. The majority of all sulfur in the

U.S. is used to make sulfuric acid, and about three quarters of it is used in fertilizers, according

to Chemistry Explained. Plants are dusted with sulfur powder as an insecticide. Agricultural

sulfur is produced in the form of powdered sulfur for use on vine crops. A water soluble powder

is applied by dusting or spraying plants. Dusting sulfur is also a fungicide.

ManufacturingSulfur powder is used in industry for the manufacture of numerous products. For example, it is

used to make tires. Sulfur is added during manufacturing to make the rubber hard and to prevent

it from melting during warmer temperatures. Other rubber products include latex gloves, pencil

erasers and automobile bumpers. Sulfur powder is used in the process of manufacturing other

common items such as matches, adhesives, synthetic fibers, paper products, plastics, water

treatment chemicals and storage batteries.

In this report Water Soluble Sulfur used in Agricultural purposes is described with its

Manufacturing and involvement of machines for mass scale production.

Manufacturing Process of Sulfur granules

Slurry is circulated by mixing it with water in order to process it. Let's call this as mixture

A.

Mixture A is feed to atomizer where particles of slurry are spread all over the drying

chamber into small particles. The hot air is passed at atomizer in order to blow away the

moisture present in it.

The atomizer rotates at 12000-14000 rpm and sprays the fine particles in drying chamber.

The moisture is to be blow away from an outlet which is connected to cyclone. The

cyclone circulates away the moisture from top and settles the solid powder at the bottom

which is again pushed back into drying chamber.

The powder collected at R.A.L. is pushed with the help of conveying blower into the

Drying chamber.

Meanwhile in the Drying chamber the small particles of mixture A are collected in solid

form at I.F.B.D.

At the I.F.B.D. hot air is passed to remove the moisture. Let's call this product as mixture

B.

At FBD the moisture is again blown to the cyclone circulates this moisture to ID Blower.

The ID Blower circulates the moisture via venturi tube to wet scrubber.

The moisture is collected in form of water at scrubber tank which keeps on recirculation

of liquid with the help of scrubber pump from water collected at scrubber tank.

The exhaust air is blown away from wet scrubber to exhaust duct which exhausts all

waste gases to atmosphere.

Now, at FBD mixture B after blown with hot air is converted into a solid product form.

The final product is collected from RAL3.

The finished product is Sulfur granules of Specified purity which is used for agricultural

purpose to boost yield.

Process of obtaining Slurry

The raw materials : (Raw Sulfur, Borates and a secret ingredient) is mixed in a reaction

vessel with water in proportion of 65:35 (65-solid, 35-water).

The mixture is stirred in a reaction vessel forming a vertex of water. This is achieved by a

scrubber motor present at reaction vessel.(scrubber motor is a 3 phase squirrel cage

induction motor with 300 rpm as set speed)

The mixture after completion of process in reaction vessel is transferred to a holding

vessel with the help of air operated pump.

The mixture is now filled in a sand mill where the fine particles of mixture are obtained.

This mixture is now passed through a metallic filter gauge.

The product obtained is Slurry.

Packaging processThe product (Protein/Ca/Zn/Fe, etc. plant nutrients ) are collected in sack bags made from

plastic with a capacity of 100kg. The RAL releases 100kg of product in one hr for protein

& it keeps on varying 100 to 150 kg/hr for different types of product.

The sack bags are carried to packaging unit with the help of trolleys & transported

manually.

In packaging unit sack bags are emptied in a blender and then the churning operation is

carried. This gives the product a better texture & every component present in it gets

mixed well.

The lumps formed during the product formation are dumped in pulverizing machine

which makes fine powder out of lumps.

During the packaging operation care is taken to prevent the product from getting contact

with moisture.

The product is thus transferred to a Hopper. The Hopper is attached to a machine which

consists of screws to churn the product and it is controlled by a PID controller with in-

built logic operation.

The wt. of powder to be dropped by the machine in regular interval of time is taken as the

input for the machine.

For e.g.- Take the input of PID as 250g then the machine is turned on due to clutch

mechanism when 250 g product passes through the churning screw. The machine stops

for a while & then after sometime drops the product again.

Simultaneously an operator fills the pouches of 250g product. Another operator carries

this pouch and cross checks the wt. of pouch with the help of a digital weighing machine.

Meanwhile another operator takes the approved pouch and seals the pouch on a conveyer

type sealing machine.

Now, this sealed pouch is put into printed pouches with necessary details of product and

sealed on the conveyer type sealing machine.

The sealing machine takes time to generate heat required to seal the pack .This takes the

specified temperature as input and makes sure that the temperature is neither exceeded

nor it is dropped from the set point within a specified range by the commands directed to

it by a PID controller.

Thus, the sealed product is now filled in cartoon boxes of considerable sizes (according

to the order received by company) the sealed packets are now filled in cartoon boxes in

specified numbers such as 10, 20, 50, etc. The no. varies with the size of packet & size of

cartoon boxes.

Now these boxes are sealed with tape and label. These boxes are unloaded in storage and

then loaded in trucks for sales to dealers to distributers, from distributor to retailer &

from retailer to consumers.

Scissor Lift

The lift which we have mentioned in the picture is extendable scissor lift.

Application

 Two & Three Wheeler lifting

 Loading & Unloading from truck

 Automobile Showrooms

 Electrical and Building roof maintenance & many Industrial application.

Specification

Lifting Capacity : Up to 10 Tons

Power : AC/DC Battery, Engine Drive and    Electrical

Operated Type : Towing by Manual / Self Propelled

Features

 Custom Built

 Multi Utility

 Lifting height up to 40 feet

 Fixed and Mobile type.

It is used in industry to transfer Raw material from ground floor to first floor at Reaction vessel.

Tabletop Filling Machine - Piston Filler

Piston Filling Machines from Liquid Packaging Solutions use a volumetric filling principle.  The

piston draws back, allowing a certain amount of product from the supply system to enter the

nozzle.  This same amount of product is then pushed out of the nozzle and into the waiting

container. 

Piston fillers are ideal for thick or high viscosity products.  The piston filler is the perfect

solution

for pastes or sealants, allowing for an accuracy of fill from 1/2 to 1% by volume.

Pressure Sensitive Labelers

Pressure sensitive labelers are popular among packagers across all industries!  Pressure

sensitive labels are labels with an adhesive backing normally printed on a backing paper.

These machines are used to peel the label from the backing paper and apply the label to

the bottle using pressure, normally supplied by a brush or belt.

Standard pressure sensitive labelers are manufactured to apply the labels in many

different ways, including automatic wrap labelers that apply the label around a container,

automatic front and back labelers that place a different label on the front and/or back of a

container, and custom automatic labeling machines for unique applications.

Reaction Vessel

Function:

Reaction Vessels are used in carrying out a wide variety of chemical reactions

including condensation, polymerization, esterification etherifciation,

hydrolysis, hydration, reduction, oxidation, hydrogenation etc. at pressures

(Up to 30 Kg. / cm²) and at temperatures ranging -20°C to +250°C. Reaction

needing simultaneous fractional distillation and azeotropic distillation can also

be conducted very efficiently using these chemical reaction vessels.

Material of ConstructionsVarious materials of construction, such as MS, SS304, SS 316, SS 316L,

Rubber Lined etc, can be offered as per requirement. 

General Description for

Standard Reactor

Plate- Frame Filter Press

Filter presses are sometimes called "Plate-and-Frame Filters." This

refers to the style of filter element that was most prominent in the

mid 1800's until the late 1960's.

While this specialized style of the filter press is still manufactured

today, the current manufactured units are more accurately referred to as "Recessed Chamber Filter Press”

and/or “Diaphragm (Membrane) Filter Press".

Definition

The primary usage of a filter press is as a "fixed volume, batch pressure filter." As a fixed volume filter, it

is built to hold a specific quantity of solids.  The term "batch" refers to the fact the cycle must be stopped

to discharge the collected “filter cake” prior to restarting a cycle. "Pressure" is created by the feed pump

in the separation process.

The filter press may also be used as a "polishing" filter to remove

minute quantities of solids from an influent stream. In these

applications the press is not sized for the quantity of solids holding

capacity but for maximum filtration area and hydraulic throughput.

When used as a polishing filter, generally a dry filter cake is not

developed. Rather, when throughput flow rates drop to an

unacceptable level, the cycle is ended.

The last most common usage of the filter press is as a "variable

volume" filter through the use of a filter plate known as a diaphragm or membrane plate. This type of

plate has a flexible drain-field which when sealed around the edges forms an integral bladder or

diaphragm that may be inflated to physically press additional liquid from the filter cake. This process can

significantly reduce the typical elapsed time for a press cycle and produce a dryer cake product, or more

uniform cake dryness from cycle to cycle.

How does it work?

The filter press is made up of two principle components:

- Skeleton

- Filter pack

This is true for all filter presses of the regardless of design and includes presses of both the sidebar and

overhead plate suspension types. 

Components

The skeleton has one chief function—that is to hold the filter pack together against the pressures

developed internally during the filtration process. The terms used to describe the skeleton may vary

slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, but the sub-components remain essentially the same:

- Stationary head 

- Follower head 

- Hydraulics  

- Manifold

These components will be tied together either by the use of sidebars

or overhead beams. 

The filter pack is where the actual liquid/solid separation process

takes place. The pack consists of a series of filter elements that form

a series of chambers when held together in the press skeleton. Each

chamber wall has a series of raised cylinders or "pips," which are then covered with a porous cloth

medium. 

These pips form a flow path for the liquid draining from the press.

At corners of the drain-field, interconnecting holes join the drain-

field to the four corner discharge ports. When the plates are held

together in a plate pack, the corner discharge eyes form individual

manifolds connecting the drain-fields of the plates with the external

piping of the press. The center feed (or less frequently a corner

feed) slurry inlet port also forms a manifold that connects with the individual chambers of the plate pack. 

Process

In operation, slurry is pumped under pressure into the press chambers through the manifold at the

stationary head of the filter press. As each chamber fills with slurry, the liquid passes through the cloth

medium, across the drain-field, through the drain ports and exits via gravity out of the corner discharge

eyes.

The prime function of the filter media is to provide a porous support

structure for the filter cake as it develops and builds. Initially, some

solids may pass through the cloth media causing a slight turbidity in

the filtrate, but gradually the larger particles within the slurry begin

to bridge the openings in the media reducing the effective opening

size. This allows smaller particles to bridge these reduced openings

initiating the cake filtration process. Once a layer of solid particles

achieves 1 to 2 mm in thickness, this "precoat" layer serves to separate out finer and finer particles as the

cake builds in thickness, yielding a filtrate that is very low in turbidity.

The Principle

The pressure behind the slurry (typically 100 psi, but up to 900 psi [7 to 60 bar]) is provided by a feed

pump—sometimes a positive displacement or centrifugal pump. With a gravity drain on the filtrate side

of the press, a pressure differential between the feed pressure and the gravity discharge is created across

the media and the filter cake solids as they build in thickness. It is the existence of this pressure

differential, not just the feed pump pressure that causes the filtering action to occur. Solids within the

slurry will flow to the area of cake development with the lowest pressure differential, resulting in a filter

cake that builds uniformly over the drain-field on either side of the chamber walls.

This fill cycle continues until the filter cakes forming on the chamber walls bridge at the center,

completely filling the press with solids. It is at this point that the filtration process is complete.  

Once this is achieved, the hydraulic closure of the press is retracted, the individual filter elements are

separated and the filter cakes are discharged, usually by gravity, to an appropriate receptacle.

Boiler A pulverized coal-fired boiler is an industrial or utility boiler that generates thermal energy by burning

pulverized coal (also known as powdered coal or coal dust since it is as fine as face powder in cosmetic

makeup) that is blown into the firebox.

The basic idea of a firing system using pulverized fuel is to use the whole volume of the furnace for the

combustion of solid fuels. Coal is ground to the size of a fine grain, mixed with air and burned in the flue

gas flow. Biomass and other materials can also be added to the mixture. Coal contains mineral matter

which is converted to ash during combustion. The ash is removed as bottom ash and fly ash. The bottom

ash is removed at the furnace bottom.

This type of boiler dominates the electric power industry, providing steam to drive large turbines.

Pulverized coal provides the thermal energy which produces about 50% of the world's electric supply.

How it works

The concept of burning coal that has been pulverized into a fine powder stems from the belief that if the

coal is made fine enough, it will burn almost as easily and efficiently as a gas. The feeding rate of coal

according to the boiler demand and the amount of air available for drying and transporting the pulverized

coal fuel is controlled by computers. Pieces of coal are crushed between balls or cylindrical rollers that

move between two tracks or "races." The raw coal is then fed into the pulverizer along with air heated to

about 650 degrees F from the boiler. As the coal gets crushed by the rolling action, the hot air dries it and

blows the usable fine coal powder out to be used as fuel. The powdered coal from the pulverizer is

directly blown to a burner in the boiler. The burner mixes the powdered coal in the air suspension with

additional pre-heated combustion air and forces it out of a nozzle similar in action to fuel being atomized

by a fuel injector in modern cars. Under operating conditions, there is enough heat in the combustion zone

to ignite all the incoming fuel.

SAND MILL:

A sand mill is a piece of industrial equipment designed to grind a given material into very small particles

of roughly equal size. Sand mills are used for processing a wide variety of products, and can also be used

as mixers and dispersants, creating a uniform mixture of several components during the grinding process.

A number of companies produce sand mills for various applications, including different designs and sizes

to meet the needs of various applications.

In a sand mill, a central bar agitates the sand, causing it to have a grinding action. Many sand mills

produce very small particles on the first pass, with the particles passing through a mesh screen. Others

have recapture systems, allowing people to pass the mixture through the sand mill again to make it finer

and more even. The design works by agitating the sand, rather than creating pressure, ensuring that the

grinding medium does not break apart in the device when it is used properly.

As the name implies, sands can be used as grinding media, but other materials may be used as well. The

choice of medium depends on the material being ground. Some companies maintain several mills

dedicated for specific uses, while others may change media as needed in a single sand mill. Sand mills are

used in cosmetics manufacturing, the production of paints and pigments, and similar activities.

Drum Dryer

A drum dryer is a rotating cylinder that uses steam or hot air to heat feedstock and reduce the moisture

content during a manufacturing process. The configuration may include one or more drums.

A drum dryer may use atmospheric pressure or function under a vacuum. Drum dryers have many

applications in the food industry because they are very efficient for drying pastes or gelatinous materials.

In the simplest configuration, a single drum dryer is supported on a frame so it can rotate on its axis.

Steam is forced through the inside. A thin layer of feedstock is then applied to the outside of the  drum. As

the temperature rises, the moisture in the feedstock reaches boiling point, begins to evaporate, and leaves

the feedstock. The dried layer of feedstock is removed from the drum with a scraper.

Depending upon the products it will be processing, a drum dryer is typically made from cast iron or

stainless steel. The length of time the feedstock remains on the drum depends on the original moisture

content and the desired ending moisture content. The range is usually between a few seconds and half a

minute. Feedstock may be applied to the drum dryer by rollers, dipping the lower edge of the drum into a

tray of feedstock, or spraying it on to the drum surface.

ConclusionThe Firm is very keen in producing high quality granules of products and the

management is very good in marketing. The training enhanced my technical as

well as management skills while training under the General Manager and Chief

Engineer. The defects and accident prone sites were being noticed for the new

plant. It was a great experience working with this firm.