Background
Huntsman Pigments and Additives is a specialized global business with a high-value portfolio of innovative products. They supply pigments and additives across the world, the Greatham Works produces titanium dioxide-based pigments for thousands of everyday items from paints, inks, plastics and concrete to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food.
They are more than 200 years old and operate from over 30 locations worldwide and employ over 4,500 people.
The Overall Objective
During production, waste effluent was discharged into 3 lagoons prior to discharge, however, a high volume of valuable pigment remained within the effluent. The lagoons were filling up with pigment in the form of a thin slurry.
An alternative contractor was originally dewatering the pigment on a batch basis at a high cost.
Solution
Siltbuster offered to run a large 2,500-litre filter press continuously to produce a higher yield which would also provide better value for Huntsman Pigments And Additives. Alongside this Siltbuster provided 2 MT30 mix tanks (1 for sludge, 1 for filtrate), walkway and a rundown screen. Siltbuster also provided 8 employees to operate the plant 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
The result was that Siltbuster reduced the amount of pigment build up in the lagoon and were produced an average of 16 tonnes per shift of valuable titanium dioxide dewatered filter cake every 12-hours, stored in weatherproof bags, ready for sale by Huntsman.
