Clear Edge boosts production efficiency for India’s prestigious Iron Ore producer

India’s prestigious 100% export-oriented unit boosts production efficiency by using Clear Edge Non-Woven Disc bags.

Ever since the inception of the plant, it has been running with the 17-disc filters and has been using disc filter bags made from Elasta woven fabrics from one of their existing suppliers and faced problems of frequent replacement that lead to an increase in operating cost. They needed an improvement in their filter bag life to reduce energy consumption, minimise operating costs and increase efficiency at its plant. The company has put its trust on Clear Edge and asked to provide alternative filtration solutions to their existing disc filter bags.

THE CHALLENGE

Unplanned production interruptions in the mining and metal processing industries are very costly. The company mines 100% of the iron ore in India and is therefore one of India’s largest iron ore producer. The company needs a reliable supplier who can provide innovative filtration solutions to increase filter bag life in the Disc filters and increase efficiency at its site. This is a highly abrasive application and company is facing limitations such as less cloth life and increase in operating cost. The challenge was to carry out the work without a moment’s interruption of production and no deviation in the results due to a new product.

THE SOLUTION

To ensure optimized up-time, and to validate savings that could be made from an upgrade of their existing elasta filter bag, Clear Edge implemented a process study. To conduct the study, our technical experts visited the customer site to identify the problems in details and an analysis of the site. The study indicated that the company could save 20% in total cost of ownership by replacing the existing filter bags with Non-Woven filter cloth bag to suit their needs and to optimize the machine performance.

After successfully lab testing of our cloths, a set of trial was conducted for Non-Woven filter cloth. They performed well and observed that they were able to control moisture, required flow rate and increase in production output. After receiving the order, the engineers were tasked with accomplishing the changeover without shutting down production, which was successfully done, thanks to meticulous planning and precise execution. The first step was to install a new set of bags on one machine and then move to another machine so that it doesn’t impact production much. We were also able to address their delivery lead time.

THE RESULTS

The customer was impressed with the results and performance of our filter cloth as our cloths achieved life span of 1100 hours which exceeded customer’s expectations of 700 hours. Our filter bags were able to keep moisture intact, increase productivity due to capillary flow from the non-woven bags and reduce operating costs. Inventory cost was also reduced as we matched their delivery lead time.

“Excellent Product with improved life and productivity with reduced lead delivery times, we are very happy with the product and service from Clear Edge”

Mr. D’souza, General Manager- Plant