In addition to individual machines for the processing engineering stages mixing, dispersing, homogenizing, dry and wet grinding, deaeration or classification, the NETZSCH business unit grinding&dispersing also offers complete, so-called turn-key plants.
With its extensive portfolio and decades of experience, NETZSCH provides ideal solutions for a wide variety of product groups from the chemical industry, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, foods and minerals.
The equipment allows product development on the smallest laboratory scale, with a minimum of 15 ml active grinding chamber volume. A scale-up to production scale is possible. The largest mills made by NETZSCH-Feinmahltechnik GmbH have a grinding chamber volume of 15,000 l.
You can ask innovations of technology to our product experts and learn, for example, why NETZSCH sees the combination of an EPSILON inline disperser and a NEOS high-performance grinding system as the ideal universal solution for processing most printing inks. See a complete turn-key plant or find out about the innovative lab machine ALPHALAB ZETA®RS for your development projects for wet grinding applications.
Learn why NETZSCH is focused not on the standard solution, but on optimal solutions for maximum production performance, reliability and efficiency that are customized for your individual product.
Mission Impossible
The most intensive pre-dispersion or pre-crushing can be realized in an agitator bead mill.
First, however, a suspension must be prepared. This means solids must be added to a mixture of various liquid formulation components. Ideally, this step should be automatic and emission-free. Wetting of the solid surfaces is also necessary. Only then has a homogeneous pumpable suspension been created.
An agitator bead mill is not suitable for this task. And, for the majority of products, pre-crushing is not necessary.
Depending on the product properties, various dispersion machines, such as dissolvers, rotor-stator systems or inline dispersers, like the Ψ–Mix und EPSILON for example, are suitable for dosing and wetting the solids with a mixture of liquid formulation components, predispersion, homogenization and deaeration of suspensions.
In one step, the NETZSCH EPSILON inline disperser universally handles dosing, wetting, predispersion, homogenization and deaeration of solids in a dispersion medium for a wide variety of products.
Since there are no narrow gaps or static elements inside the machine, through which the product must be pumped, efficient dispersion is possible with low energy input and thus minimal product warming, even for shear-sensitive products.
The process housing and powder feed of the EPSILON inline disperser are designed such that, when necessary, they can be cleaned very quickly. Even complete emptying of the machine is effortless. This is an important point for frequent product changes during which contamination must be avoided.
The machine is characterized by a relatively small footprint as well as safe and easy handling during operation, cleaning and maintenance. In addition, depending on the bulk properties of the powder, the EPSILON can be operated with a variety of feeders for powders or solids.
The powder can be fed into the machine, for example, from a bag discharge station, BigBag, silo or, for light powder such as silica, via suction lance.
For a machine with an installed motor power of 30 kW, the typical powder feed rates are approx. 50-300 kg/h via suction lance and up to 10,000 kg/h via BigBag, sack chute and silo.
4 Pros for İdeal İndividual Solutions
In addition to predispersion, selection of the right grinding system and the optimum operating parameters is crucial to the efficiency and output capacity of a wet grinding process. Depending on the product requirements, there are four different
NETZSCH grinding systems that can be employed.
The DISCUS® disk grinding system is primarily used for dispersion tasks in single and multi-pass operation. The new MACRO® peg system was designed for a high power requirement for single and multi-pass operation.
The ZETA® high-performance grinding system or the newly-developed NEOS system can be used for processes in circulation mode. So, whatever the product specifications and grinding bead size requirements, the ideal grinding system is always available from NETZSCH.
All grinding systems are equipped with a highly-efficient cooling system. In addition, the standard grinding chamber liner is made of NETZSCH CeramC, a highly wear-resistant ceramic material. The excellent cooling properties and wear resistance allow for the highest power input and therefore maximum production output.
At the same time, the systems have extremely long lifetimes and thus minimal downtimes and low maintenance requirements.
ALPHALAB ZETA®RS
The ALPHALAB ZETA®RS laboratory agitator bead mill is the first laboratory machine that can be equipped with a screen-free, separately-driven, open, dynamic classifier system (SDC) for the separation of grinding media with a diameter of 0.03–0.3 mm.
This means that a scale-up-capable solution for small product batches is now available for development work on the nanometer scale. In addition to the ZETA®RS grinding nanometer scale. In addition to the ZETA®RS grinding system, other grinding systems, such as the DISCUS®, ZETA® or NEOS can be employed.
Switching grinding systems, which are available in various materials and grinding chamber sizes, is fast and straightforward. When designing the machine stand for the ALPHALAB ZETA®RS, special attention was given to user friendliness and ergonomics.
The grinding chamber of the ALPHALAB ZETA®RS can be swiveled, so very little effort is required to fill with grinding media, empty the grinding system with minimal hold-up and discharge the grinding beads after the test. The configuration was changed in order to optimize handling of the swivel mechanism.
The complete system for supplying the mechanical seal with barrier fluid is easily accessible. This means less time and effort are required to change the barrier fluid when changing products frequently.
The machine control system has a plain, clearly-arranged design. Standard with the new ALPHALAB ZETA®RS laboratory agitator bead mill is the interface required to access NETZSCH CONNECT, the databasecentered tool that is controlled via web browser.
With NETZSCH Equipment and Experience to Maximum Production Output and Efficiency
An ergonomic machine design facilitates faster cleaning with less solvent. The efficiency of the dispersing and grinding system results in energy savings and less wear, which leads to less maintenance and shorter downtimes, and thus cost savings and higher production output.
NETZSCH always offers the ideal combination of predispersion and wet grinding based on the particular product requirements.
The potential for savings, which is enormous in some cases, as well as the potential increase in product output can be discussed as a function of product characteristics and identified and calculated through trials in the Applications Lab.
NETZSCH offers consulting, training, optimization of existing grinding installations and upgrades for older existing NETZSCH grinding systems.
Depending on the initial situation, it is possible to increase production output by more than 100%, while also realizing savings in specific energy consumption or through raw material conservation. This also facilitates more costeffective production.
Elif Uçak Arıkan
Regional Sales Manager
NETZSCH Makine Sanayi ve Ticaret Ltd. Şti.
