At its largest plant, the world’s leading producer of titanium dioxide has greatly extended the service life of critical piping with Kalenborn abrasion-resistant solutions. Titanium dioxide pigments add brightness and durability to paints, plastics, paper and other everyday products.
An especially challenging area of piping runs between the silos, where the titanium ore is stored, and the chlorinators, where the dry ore is combined with coke and chlorine to make titanium chloride. The plant initially used schedule steel pipe, but experienced extreme wear—to the point that the pipes had to be replaced every 4-8 weeks.
Kalenborn engineers were asked to consult on the project, and as a result of their recommendation, more than 1,000 feet of 2-8” diameter piping was installed. ABRESIST® lining was used on straight runs, with KALOCER® on elbows and connectors for extra abrasion-resistance. These two solutions effectively solved the wear problem, and in fact are still going strong more than 10 years after installation.
In this demanding application, Kalenborn solutions have paid for themselves many times over. The plant’s managers are so pleased with Kalenborn’s performance that they’re considering ABRESIST and KALOCER for additional uses in the plant’s pigment lines.