News items November 2006

S+S EASY CLEAN magnets provide 12% increase in performance S+S Separation and Sorting Technology GmbH has launched an “XXL version” of their well respected and proven RM and MAGBOX magnet systems. Both are now available in “king size” dimensions with the MAGBOX system achieving up to 10,000 Gauss across the entire operating surface. The RM range of magnetic separators is designed for use in pipelines to remove ferrous metals from powders and granular bulk materials. The housing as well as the cone top of the core magnet is made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel. The dimensions of the unit have been carefully calculated to ensure that good product continues to flow freely between the magnet core and housing, even after prolonged use. MAGBOX systems are equipped with four neodymium magnet grids lying one on top of another. With a magnetic field strength of 10,000 Gauss across the operating surface all magnetic contaminants, and even weakly magnetised stainless steel particles, are removed thus reducing the

After two years in the chair, Graham Rideal hands over to Lloyd Holiday After two very successful years, the mantel of the chairmanship of The Filtration Society has been passed from Graham Rideal of Whitehouse Scientific to Lloyd Holiday of Larox. During his term of office, Dr Rideal saw the biggest growth in numbers of Corporate Associates of the Society in the organisation’s 40 year history. A major factor contributing to the success of the Society has been its organisation of up to four one-day technical meetings each year, at which highly relevant and state-of-the-art information can be exchanged. The most popular series is centred around filter testing, and these meetings regularly attract international audiences from more than 10 different countries. Lloyd Holiday brings to the office a large international network of his own and highly respected organisational skills. He will continue to build on the success of recent years to grow and further develop the activities and reputation of the Filtration Society. Filtration

For nearly 10 years BEHN + BATES, Münster/Germany, has specialised on the international food industry. Renowned starch, flour, baking ingredients, sugar and cocoa producers have placed numerous orders with BEHN + BATES throughout the years. BEHN + BATES has turned out to be one of the best known packaging machine experts in the food industry and has become a competent partner with large know-how and experience in food design for food producers all over the world who require a high-quality packaging of their products even at increased packaging rates. Sufficient reason for the traditional Westphalian company to market this message. Some days ago the decision was made to add to the company name the affix “Filling Food – Consider It Bagged!” The managing director Ralf Hövelmann explains: “Due to the globalisation we chose an English name affix. This additional slogan shall become our distinctive trademark and provide our customers with the confidence that

Marco Hartmann has been appointed Project Manager Process Systems at Malvern Instruments GmbH. In this role he succeeds Oliver Schmitt, who earlier this year (2006) moved to Malvern Instruments’ UK headquarters to lead the company’s growing process business worldwide. Marco Hartmann has worked for Malvern Instruments since 2003 as Applications Specialist for rheology systems. He studied at Universität Karlsruhe and is a chemical engineer with a mechanical engineering specialization. In his new role, Marco Hartmann will be responsible for on-line particle measurement techniques in Germany, with particular interest in their increasing role in process optimization. His comprehensive expertise in the area of rheology is especially relevant with Malvern’s recent introduction of the Insitec LPS, which measures particle size in wet systems, across a very wide range of process streams, from highly concentrated mineral slurries through to lipid emulsions. www.malvern.com

Electrostatic Separator separates PVC Contamination It is difficult to separate PVC from PET. Floating-sinking separation of PET flakes in conventional separation equipment does not work due to the difference between the densities being too small. Flotation processes are also not suitable. Separation of entire bottles with the aid of NIR technologies or manual sorting often do not work one hundred percent. The EKS-PET electrostatic separator used by hamos separates practically all of the PVC from shredded, washed and dried PET flakes and produces a clean PET fraction. The mixture of PET and PVC contamination becomes charged in a tribo-electrical manner. Here, the PET particles take on a positive charge and the PVC particles a negative one. After charging, the PVC particles are separated electrostatically from the PET fraction in a high voltage field. Due to the practically complete separation of PVC contamination, the EKS-PET electrostatic separator enables very high PET purity. The PET flakes produced can be used,

hamos recycling equipment enables very high PVC purity Clean PVC regrind from recycling of PVC window profiles is a valuable raw material, that can be used again for the production of PVC windows. But contamination such as by rubber from seals, polyamide, plasticised PVC, etc are problematic. Such contamination can influence the possibilities of using PVC recyclate or even make the use impossible. The rubber seals are therefore normally separated manually before shredding. This process is laborious however, only allows a low rate of throughput and is therfore not suitable for economic recycling of used windows. The separation process used by hamos works however entirely automatically, i.e. without manual pre-sorting. The PVC window profiles are firstly shredded into regrind, de-dusted and then largely freed of rubber and other contaminants by an EKS electrostatic separator. Use is made here of the different electrostatic charge of rigid PVC compared with rubber and other substances. The PVC has purity of approx. 99.5%

Expansion of Asian Sales Network results in LUM`s growth in Berlin Berlin, 16.11.2006: L.U.M. GmbH, market leader for innovative instruments for dispersion analysis expands the Asian sales network and reports growth at the headquarters in Berlin, Germany. Prof. Lerche, Managing Director of L.U.M. GmbH: „The constantly increasing demand for our high-tech products in Asia results in further growth of our company in Berlin. Our long-term partners in Japan (Nihon Rufuto, Co., Ltd.) and Israel (Tetrasense Scientific Tools) are on top of our global sales network, and besides Korea, they contribute significantly to our success. In Asia more than 30 % of our annual turnover is generated. Now, we are on track of the tiger. With recent contract conclusions in China (Twinson International Ltd.) and Taiwan (Lih-Yuan Enterprise Co., Ltd.) we welcome new competent partners for our customers there. “ In the territory of the tiger states of Singapur, Malysia and Thailand, LUM has been represented by the company group DKSH for a short time.

The new Sartorius Metal Detection High Detection Accuracy The technology used in the new Sartorius detectors ensures the highest sensitivity for all types of metal in diverse products. When metal is detected, a relay is activated; its potential-free switch-over contact can be used for any control processes, such as stopping the processing machine or conveyor belt, activating marking devices or ejectors, etc. In addition to detecting magnetic metal parts, Sartorius metal detectors also reliably identify high-alloy steel particles and non-ferrous metals (copper, brass, aluminum, lead, etc.). User-friendly Operation Exceptional ease of operation is what both versions have in common. Thus, the metal detector is simple to set using just the function keys and by following the display prompts in a choice of languages. The user can assign a joker key to a relevant function for convenient “touch-and-go” access. Comprehensive Documentation Various selectable reports document the plant

RETSCH sieve shakers, test sieves and optical particle analyzer CAMSIZER are used in quality control labs all over the world for precise and reliable particle characterization. For this range of products RETSCH starts the new “Gold Rush” campaign. It includes two special offers for all orders placed between 1 October 2006 and 31 March 2007: · With each RETSCH sieve shaker the evaluation software EasySieve® standard comes for free · Each RETSCH superior quality sieve comes with a free inspection certificate On top of these offers, everyone who visits the website www.retsch.com/goldrush and takes part in the big raffle can find his personal gold mine and win 1 kilo of pure gold or one of the valuable monthly prizes! Retsch is a global company dedicated to providing novel technologies and high quality tools for the sample preparation of solids used in R&D and QA applications as well as small scale production.

Euromixers announce a new range of innovative IBC mixers Euromixers announce a new range of innovative mixers designed for stirring and agitating the liquids contained in standard transportable intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) with 150mm screw-caps and bigger. The system consists of mixers mounted on a stainless steel support above the IBC, whether of 800 or 1000 litre capacity. There are high and low speed drives, using either air or electric motors, connected to shafts with folding impellers. These unique products are used to stir, agitate and re-suspend viscous and settled liquids after transport or storage. The technique produces significant improvements in transfer efficiency, and can save money on cleaning costs for both the IBCs and other mixing vessels that would previously have been required.