Atritor has been supplying plant for drying and simultaneously milling or de-agglomerating powders for over 80 years. The company was founded on the drying and milling of coal as pulverised fuel - PF; the Atritor Dryer-Pulveriser was developed to dry, mill, classify and blow PF into burner systems on kilns, boilers etc. Very soon the  minerals  &  chemical

industries recognised the advantages of this simultaneous processing, and applications multiplied. In total we have installed over 2500 powder processing plants throughout the world. Order values vary typically from €200,000 to €1,500,000 and we are able to offer full global service and spares back-up.

Mineral powders are now extensively used as fillers and extenders in a whole range of applications. Many of these require surface modification to enhance the functionality of the base material. Clays used in these

applications, particularly kaolin, will undergo a beneficiation process leading to a filter cake that requires drying. The various forms of calcium carbonate will generally be wet milled to an ultra-fine particle size and then require drying. Atritor Cell Mill-Dryers offer the perfect solution to process these materials to a dry, classified and, where  required,  coated

product in one unit operation. This is much more efficient than the traditional method where they are first dried and then milled or de-agglomerated in a subsequent operation. These separate operations involve making and then breaking inter-particle bonds, which in simultaneous processing generally do not form. Generally therefore, simultaneous drying & de-agglomeration increases process energy efficiency.

With its complex interactive forces  and  high  turbulence - tip

speeds up to 120 m/s - the Cell Mill can flash dry to less than 0.1% moisture and achieve a highly uniform surface coating. Fitted with an integral classifier, the unit offers improved control of top particle size down to ~20µm. For already fine materials fed as slurry or press cake, the unit achieves close to total de-agglomeration.

• Maximum possible exposure of the product surface to the air stream



• High efficiency energy transfer from the air



• High efficiency milling or de-agglomeration and coating



• Outlet temperatures generally controlled at a lower value than other types of dryers, improving thermal efficiency with lower dry product temperatures

To ensure that the equipment and associated systems were correctly sized and specified, the principal customer carried out extensive test programmes to secure process guarantees to meet rigorous particle size distribution specifications.

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