DD-0756

KASON CORPORATION 67-71 East Willow St.Millburn, NJ 07041-1416 USATel: 973-467-8140 Fax: 973-258-9533E-mail: info@kason.com

KASON CORPORATION, EUROPEUnits 12 & 13 Park Hall Business VillagePark Hall Road Longton, Stoke-on-TrentStaffordshireST3 5XATel: 01782-597540 Fax: 01782-597549E-mail: sales@kasoneurope.co.uk

SEPARATOR ENGINEERING LTD.4119 Cousens St.Saint LaurentQuebec CANADAH4S 1V6 Toll Free (Canada only):877-694-4441Tel: 514-667-6777 Fax: 514-745-2074E-mail: info@separatorengineering.com

Technical Article Series

www.kason.com

'Blo-Thru' Vibro-Sifter SweetensConfectioner's Results

"Blo-Thru" Vibro-Sifter Sweetens Confectioner'sResultsEngineering Manager Mike Hitchcock of Favorite Brands International, Inc. realized that if demand continued toincrease for their food products, the company would need a sifter with greater capacity. The new sifter would have tomaintain quality at higher production rates as it removed impurities and hardened lumps from the sugar arriving by railcar at their manufacturing facility in Kendallville, Indiana. Hitchcock needed a sturdy, high capacity screen separator foroperation under adverse conditions. Rail cars arrive at all hours, filled with bulk sugar that has been jostled throughmany miles of travel, and must rapidly be sifted before it can be processed into marshmallows, caramels and otherconfections and foodstuffs. Favorite would need a new sifter that could withstand long runs under difficult conditions.

Sixty Inch ‘Blo-Thru' Vibro-Sifter atFavorite Brands International includes avibrating ball tray to eliminates screenblinding. Operating with 6 to 8 lbs. Ofpressure in the pneumatic line, the unitcan handle 45,000 lbs. Of bulk sugar perhour.

Hitchcock investigated the options designed for use with Favorite Brands'pneumatic conveying line. After reviewing the designs and performancecharacteristics of several brands of circular screen sifters, he selected a 60 in.(1530 mm) diameter Kason stainless steel Pneumati-Sifter vibratoryseparator.

Its rugged features include heavy gauge materials and welded construction. Inaddition, the design of the bearings in the gyrator motor makes it ideal for thisapplication. Kason design engineers insure the required reliability withoversized bearings designed specifically for vibrating screeners, and for usewith performance-tested high pressure lubricants. The heavy duty doublespherical top roller bearing withstands high vibratory stresses, providing longlife.

Hitchcock worked with Kason's design engineers, and chose to include avibrating ball tray in the selected unit because screen blinding is a commonproblem when working with sugar. Repeated impacts from the balls on thetray, positioned beneath the screen, all but eliminate the problem. Alsoimportant in this installation is the fact that the Kason Pneumati-Siftervibratory separator operates efficiently with 6 to 8 pounds of pressure which isstandard for their existing pneumatic conveying line.

One of the concerns in selecting a sifter for this application was its ability towithstand the intermittent high capacity requirements of the unloadingoperation. The Kason separator needs to operate automatically on call fromthe rail car pneumatic unloading system. Demand may come at any time ofday or night, any day of the week.

The proof for Favorite Brands International is in the performance. Sinceinstallation the Kason unit, equipped with a 10 mesh screen, has removed thepea-sized hardened lumps and foreign materials that may be present in eachrailcar-load of sugar the company uses. Since it has the capacity to handle45,000 pounds (20,400 kg) of bulk sugar per hour, it will meet Favorite BrandsInternational's needs for some time to come.

Screen Tips - Volume 12, Number 2 Fall 1997