Pneumatic Conveying Consultants moves forward

Schnecksville, PA -- In 1983, Paul Solt started Pneumatic Conveying Consultants and for 26 years has continued to educate the world in the practical and real world aspects of pneumatic conveying systems, equipment and best practices.

His educational seminars have been attended by thousands of participants and his technical papers, articles and presentations have been visible in global media forums.

Paul Solt and Jack Hilbert have known each other for 35 years. Five years ago, Jack joined forces with Paul, bringing a new element of detailed engineering and project management capability to the traditional PCC business of educational seminars, troubleshooting and optimization of existing systems, new system design, expert testimony and software products.

Their combined capabilities and talents have resulted in an incremental growth in the business and the need to more attentively plan for the future. As PCC continues to moves forward, the day-to-day administrative aspects along with the detailed engineering and field services segments of the business will now be handled by Jack.

Paul will continue to be the principal person for the educational and intellectual property parts of the business. Paul will also be active in some of the field related activity as well.

The traditional PCC business has been transformed into a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and the new contact information is:

Pneumatic Conveying Consultants LLC
5836 Ridge Road
Schnecksville, PA 18078
Phone: 610-657-5286
Fax: 610-683-7592
Email: jack.hilbert@yahoo.com
Web site: http://www.powderandbulk.com/pcc/

Hillenbrand to acquire K-Tron International

Batesville, IN, and Pitman, NJ -- Hillenbrand, Inc. and K-Tron International, Inc. have signed a definitive merger agreement providing for Hillenbrand’s acquisition of K-Tron for $150 per share in cash. This price represents a 32.1 percent premium over the closing price of K-Tron’s stock on January 8, 2010, and a 38.6 percent premium over the 20-day average closing stock price. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the merger agreement.

The directors and officers of K-Tron holding approximately 10 percent of K-Tron’s outstanding common stock in the aggregate have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the transaction. The transaction will have an aggregate purchase price of approximately $435 million. Adjusted for K-Tron debt and cash on hand at October 3, 2009, the estimated net purchase price of the deal is approximately $390 million. The final net purchase price will be calculated based upon the K-Tron balance sheet at the date of close.

Following the completion of the transaction, expected to occur at the end of March 2010, K-Tron will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Hillenbrand. Kevin C. Bowen, who will be president of K-Tron’s Process Group, and Donald W. Melchiorre, who will be president of K-Tron’s Size Reduction Group, will continue to manage their respective businesses and report directly to Kenneth A. Camp, Hillenbrand’s president and chief executive officer. Lukas Guenthardt, senior vice president of K-Tron corporate development, will also report to Camp. Robert E. Wisniewski, chief financial officer of K-Tron, will report to Cynthia L. Lucchese, Hillenbrand’s chief financial officer. Edward B. Cloues II, K-Tron’s chairman and chief executive officer, will be appointed to the Hillenbrand board when the merger is completed. K-Tron’s headquarters will remain in Pitman, NJ.

“We are delighted that K-Tron will be joining the Hillenbrand family of companies,” said Camp. “Although K-Tron’s products differ from ours, we are both manufacturing companies that share similar processes and core operational values. Like our Batesville Casket business, the K-Tron operating companies are leaders in their industries and have highly effective executive management teams. K-Tron has a strong track record of delivering superior financial performance and creating significant shareholder value.”

“Hillenbrand and Batesville Casket represent a long tradition of manufacturing and distribution excellence, and K-Tron’s board and management team are excited to combine our own high-performing people, products and services with Hillenbrand’s,” said Cloues. “We’re looking forward to taking advantage of Hillenbrand’s lean business strengths in planning, processes and talent development to help create even more opportunities for growth and financial success.”

For more visit: http://www.ktron.com/

HSC Chemistry 7.0 calculates sustainable processes

Espoo, Finland -- Outotec’s thermochemical software HSC Chemistry 7.0 can be used to minimize waste materials and maximize energy-efficiency and yields by optimizing the process and conditions. The result is an industrial ecosystem where the economic, environmental, and social dimensions are in balance.

The software consists of 22 programs and 12 databases. The world’s largest thermochemical database contains the H (enthalpy), S (enthropy), and Cp (heat capacity) values for more than 25000 of the most common chemical substances. There are also extensive mineralogical and heat transfer databases and many others which are automatically utilized by the HSC calculation modules. The databases are continuously updated based on the feedback from tens of thousands of users. HSC Chemistry is the most widely used thermodynamic software in the world.

Dr Antti Roine from Outotec Research Center outlines the main benefits of the new software version. He is one of the developers of the software and has decades of experience in metallurgical research at Outotec’s research center.  " The new 7.0 version features two completely new modules, a completely updated flowsheet module and databases,” he says.

“Conventional H, S, and Cp estimation programs require the user to insert information on the molecular structure of the substance, but it is often something that the user doesn’t have a clue about. The new HSC Estimation module generates the H, S, and Cp estimates solely on the gross formula basis. The new HSC module requires significantly less background information, but the correlation between the estimated and experimental values is still astonishing,” he explains.

The new Aqua module integrates sophisticated calculation routines to estimate non-ideal electrolyte solution properties, like activity coefficients, enthalpies and heat capacities, which may be used in process models and equilibrium calculations. "This is something that is completely new in the field,” Roine adds.

Another improvement of the software is flowsheet simulation, which is now even more suitable for minerals processing, hydro and pyrometallurgical applications. If the raw material composition changes, a flowsheet simulation will show, what will happen to the process.

”It is like a flight simulator, which allows you to test flying conditions that would otherwise be too scary and dangerous. You can test conditions that would be impossible to test in the real industrial-scale process. These process models may be used for closing material and energy cycles, pretesting different raw materials and process conditions as well as for training process operators. “If you can start the new plant within three months instead of six, you’re looking at significant cost savings.”

While creating process models is simple, some expertise and professional skill is needed to create models of large industrial processes. Robust models are easier and faster to create if you have long experience in this kind of work. Consequently, the easiest way to start the simulation of your plant is to order a tailor-made process model application from Outotec. These models may help to identify bottlenecks and run the process in a more efficient way.

Source: http://www.outotec.com/

Cooling Screw for Thermal Cleaning of Tar Asphalt

Drunen, The Netherlands -- °Celsius has designed and produced a number of screw heat exchangers for the "Van Bentum Recycling Centrale" in Rotterdam to cool tar asphalt (TAG) in a continuous process from 600°C to 50°C.

The "Van Bentum Recycling Centrale", with nine plants in the Netherlands, is market leader in the field of recycling mineral construction and demolition waste and also a supplier of aggregates to the civil engineering, road construction and hydraulic engineering industry.

The Dutch authorities want to remove tar asphalt from "the chain" once and for all, so since 2001, the re-use of uncleaned TAG is no longer permissible. All tar asphalt removed during reconstruction must be thermally cleaned.

In theory cleaning tar asphalt is simple. TAG consists of sand, gravel and a pollutant binder, namely tar. The tar is removed from the asphalt by heating at a high temperature. The pollutant gases released are also cleaned. This leaves clean sand, gravel and filler. The thermal cleaning plant on the site in Rotterdam has a cleaning capacity of approximately 750,000 tons per year.

Process description

A number of screw heat exchangers form part of this cleaning process. In view of the heavy industrial application and the abrasive nature of the product, °Celsius has used highly wear-resistant materials in the engineering and production. This guarantees a long service life.

With a capacity of 4000 kg/hour through one of the screw heat exchangers for example the filtered material from the after burner is cooled in a continuous process from 600°C to 50°C to 60°C. Another example is the single screw heat exchanger for cooling mineral filtered material with a temperature of 350°C, with a capacity of 5000 kg/hour this is cooled to 80°C. All the screw heat exchangers use the existing cooling water system of approx. 30°C.

Source: http://www.celsius.nl/

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MTS : Half Frame Bulk Bag Discharger with Delumper Half frame bulk bag discharger with a delumper and a Flo-Master™ bag massaging system with carbon steel tubular arms.

Malvern skips trade exhibition at Pittcon 2010
Malvern skips trade exhibition at Pittcon 2010 to focus on technical program contributions.

Bucyrus to acquire Mining Division of Terex Bucyrus announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the mining equipment business of Terex.

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Sales Engineer Wanted - Houston, TX

Sales Engineer required for Houston based manufacturer of application specific vibratory equipment used a wide range of industries. JVI specializes in electromagnetic feeders, electromechanical feeders, conveyors, screening machines, spiral elevators and specialty equipment.

This position requires a conscientious team player with mechanical aptitude and excellent verbal/written communications skills. Affords the opportunity to participate in complete sales cycle while providing application specific material handling solutions to engineering, OEM and end user accounts. Some overnight travel may be required.

Dry bulk material handling experience coupled with Engineering, Engineering Sales / Industrial Distribution or Engineering Technology degree preferred. Others degrees and sales experience will be considered as well.

Please submit resume via email to: rbishop@jvivibratoryequipment.com 

Web site: http://www.jvivibratoryequipment.com/

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