Dose of colour

Aluminium powder coating specialist, France Alu Color, recently cut chemical costs and improved the reliability and safety of its surface treatment processes after upgrading its dosing pumps. At the company’s plant in Marcilloles, some 50 km south of Lyon, France Alu Color coats around 8500m² of aluminium every day.

The plant has one of the most modern vertical powder coating lines in France and operates under the Qualicoat product certification scheme, which promotes quality and environmental standards in the aluminium coating industry.

After experiencing problems with its dosing pumps, the company adopted Qdos dosing/ metering pumps from Watson- Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG).

Unclogging valves

There is little margin for downtime at this fast-moving process plant, where the powder coating operation comprises surface preparation, chemical conversion, application and baking, says Nicolas Crouzet, head of chemicals at France Alu Color.

However, a year ago it was experiencing problems with acid etching and chemical conversion after the dosing pumps in place at the time became repeatedly clogged. The problems related to siphoning, clogged valves, and a lack of necessary precision to dose the injected chemicals.

The only way to keep production moving was to regularly maintain the pumps, with all the time, costs and safety issues that resulted from potential chemical contact. As a consequence, the company approached Watson-Marlow, which recommended a trial of its Qdos30 model, a move that Crouzet says paid dividends immediately.

“We installed Qdos pumps on the vertical powder coating line to dose specific chemicals at three essential points in our surface treatment process,” says Crouzet. “This brought about a radical change because the siphoning problems ceased, meaning there were no longer any issues relating to excessive chemical consumption.”

Safe hands

“Another advantage for France Alu Color is that dosing is now precise regardless of whatever flow rate is selected between 0.1 ml/ min and 30 l/hr. Furthermore, Qdos pumps do not have any valves, so the clogging problems that previously resulted from impurities in the chemicals, are a thing of the past, he says.

“The Qdos30 can be emptied easily and thanks to the design of the ReNu pumphead, the pumped liquid remains sealed within,” says Crouzet. “In addition, there is even an alarm system that sounds if the tube within the pump head fails. This means that the operator never comes into contact with the chemicals, ensuring complete safety.”

Other benefits of using Qdos technology cited by France Alu Color include a dramatic reduction in maintenance times and, due to precise dosing, the production of far less waste. After using the pumps for one year, France Alu Color reports it has only changed a single pumphead, and has already generated payback on its investment.

It now runs eight Qdos30 dosing pumps across two facilities and has also installed a Qdos pump to dose flocculant on the effluent treatment plant.