Abstract
A substantial part of the network of processing plant at the china clay extraction sites in Devon and Cornwall, England, still has no automation or instrumentation. Imerys Minerals, Ltd., the largest of the three companies that work these deposits, is now implementing supervisory control and data-acquisition systems throughout its kaolin operations and is also developing sensors to measure product properties on line. The product specifications for the various applications of china clay are couched principally in terms of particle-size distribution, brightness, rheology, abrasive properties and contents of moisture and chemical impurities. Descriptions are given of the Conesizer, a sedimentation-based instrument for automated on-line monitoring of particle size, and the CROMA probe, which provides a measure of the brightness of material in a slurry that can be converted to a prediction of the conventional measure of brightness, which must be obtained on dry material.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.