Ceramic Microgranule Granulation Without Spray Drying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing ceramic tiles face challenges in reducing energy and water consumption while ensuring the production of slidable ceramic material with uniform composition and granulometric distribution, particularly in the wet and dry processes.
Innovation Solution
A method involving dry grinding followed by controlled granulation with a liquid mixture injection onto the dry mixture, using a granulating chamber with specific rotation and stirring-disgregating elements to produce ceramic microgranules with reduced humidity and improved slidability, avoiding the energy-intensive spray drying process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the wet method with spray drying is used to produce ceramic granules, then uniform composition and spherical particle shape are achieved, but energy consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the humidity parameter from high (32-40% in wet method) to low (2-3% in dry method), eliminating the need for energy-intensive spray drying while maintaining granule quality through controlled granulation of dry ground powder
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of starting with wet grinding and then drying (traditional wet method), the invention inverts the sequence by starting with dry grinding and then adding controlled humidity during granulation, thereby avoiding the energy-intensive spray drying step while achieving uniform composition
2Shape
If the wet method with spray drying is used to produce ceramic granules, then spherical particle shape is achieved, but water consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the humidity parameter from high (32-40% in wet method) to low (2-3% in dry method), eliminating the need for spray drying and associated water consumption, while achieving spherical particle shape through controlled granulation of dry ground powder
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and eliminates the spray drying step from the traditional wet method, thereby removing the associated water consumption while maintaining the beneficial spherical particle shape through alternative granulation of dry ground powder
3Use of energy by moving object
If the dry method is used to produce ceramic granules, then energy and water consumption are reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases due to multiple process steps
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the grinding and granulation steps into a single integrated process flow, where dry ground powder is directly granulated with controlled humidity addition, eliminating the need for separate spray drying and simplifying the overall process despite using dry grinding
4Loss of substance
If dry grinding is used to produce ceramic powder, then water consumption is reduced, but metal impurity removal becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses partial wetting (controlled humidity addition during granulation) rather than full wet grinding, achieving sufficient water consumption reduction while maintaining ease of metal impurity removal through the controlled granulation process
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method reduces energy consumption by up to 55-65% and water consumption by 60-70%, producing ceramic microgranules with homogeneous composition and granulometric distribution comparable to atomized powders, resulting in high-quality ceramic tiles with reduced CO2 emissions.
Implementation Method 1
granulating by particle growth a dry mixture of powders to obtain ceramic microgranules in a granulating chamber rotating around a horizontal axis
Implementation Method 2
injecting in drop form a liquid mixture onto the dry mixture of powders
Implementation Method 3
granulating by particle growth a dry mixture of powders to obtain ceramic microgranules in a granulating chamber rotating around a horizontal axis, provided with a stirring-disgregating element rotating in the granulating chamber
Data Source
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AI summary
A method is provided for producing ceramic microgranules arranged for constituting the body of ceramic tiles formed by pressing, comprising the steps of: - setting up raw materials comprising clays, inerts and fluxes according to a defined recipe of ceramic body mix of said ceramic tiles; - dry grinding a quantity of the raw materials (QS) to obtain a dry mixture of powders of the raw materials; - preparing a liquid mixture with a further quantity of the raw materials (QL) and an aqueous vehicle; - granulating by particle growth the dry mixture of powders to obtain the ceramic microgranules; in which, except for the aqueous vehicle, the dry mixture of powders and the liquid mixture have the same composition as the defined ceramic mix recipe; and in that said granulating by particle growth comprises injecting the liquid mixture in the form of drops onto said dry mixture of powders.