GYPSUM DRYERS

How Gypsum Wallboard is made:
Gypsum Wallboard is manufactured from gypsum mined from the ground. Once the gypsum is shipped to the plant it is then crushed and mixed with water and other ingredients to make a "slurry," or paste. This slurry is spread between two sheets of paper to be formed into wallboard. This sheet travels 600-800 feet on conveyors to harden before it is cut. Once the wallboard is cut into panels it is placed in the kiln to dry. After it leaves the dryer, the wallboard is bundled, stacked and shipped out to retail stores.

Application Characteristics:
When the Gypsum is being crushed, it creates a powdery dust and settles on machinery. A Plant Supervisor stated that they produce 1.2 million sq ft of product build-up/day.

When Gypsum is mixed with liquid and formed into wallboard, some of the compound will leak out and onto the conveyor rollers, bearings and motors. The compound will then dry and form cement like characteristics causing extreme wear and contamination on these parts and sometimes jams, which cause back-ups quickly.

Current Cleaning Method: Hand chipping and sometimes using a pressure washer. The pressure washer does nothing to eliminate the problem because one is just adding water back into the equation and the problem starts all over again. Dry Ice blast cleaning versus current cleaning method: Dry ice blasting drastically reduces clean-up time. Dry ice does not soften the mixture once it has hardened and adhered to the rollers, bearings, and motors. Anticipate using their dry ice blast machine on a daily basis to control dust and product contamination.

Recommended Blast Machine:
The customer eagerly awaited the arrival of their AeRO 75 with a variety of nozzles. The plant supervisor told us that he tracked the shipment online up until the day of its arrival!