Industrial classification in a new impeller wheel classifier

Air classification is an important process step to optimize product quality. Especially after a grinding process, a certain amount of fine particles has to be removed. The reduction of fine particles above 10 mu m is state-of-the-art. Particles below 10 mu m are still difficult to separate if a high sharpness of cut is required or if particles have a low density. In order to realize economical production rates in the range below 5 mu m, a reasonable throughput has to be achieved. The newly developed MikroCut MC was designed to enable optimized conditions for the classification of fine particles. The MikroCut MC classifies particles from a few 10 mu m down to the submicron range. Very fine particle size distributions could be produced, e.g., talcum with 97% below 1.7 mu m and a throughput of several 100 kg/h. Results with powder coatings show, for instance, that the yield of coarse material could be increased by 22% in comparison to existing technology. This is equivalent to a reduction in product loss of more than 70%.