| Chemicals |
Adding Australian Spodumene Saves Time and Money
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Sons of Gwalia (Gwalia) is a Western Australian mining company and is the largest producer of high-grade Tantalum mineral products and of high-grade Spodumene mineral concentrates.
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 The Greenbushes Mine, southeast of Perth, is the largest operating high-grade Spodumene deposit in the world, with a Lithia content in the ore of approximately 3.8%. The mining, processing and shipments is certified to ISO9001.
Gwalia Spodumene is an economic source for Lithia in glass, ceramic and the metallurgical industry.
For over 20 years, glass manufacturers world-wide have been using Spodumene to improve the melting characteristics, working properties and its glass quality. Initially, it was used mainly in standard container glass industry as a chemical booster. Today, many producers of special glasses such as fibre glass, lighting glass, tableware, cosmetic glass and glass ceramics use Spodumene to improve their glass properties as well as productivity. Properties of a glass that is influenced by the introduction of Li2O are:
? viscosity
? workability
? brilliance
? hydrolytic/chemical resistance
? hardness
? overall glass quality
The benefit of Spodumene in glass is:
? increasing the pull of a furnace
? lowers melting temperatures
? less use of energy
? pack to melt efficiency increases due to improved quality
? reduction of hazardous batch components such as Fluorines, Chlorines and Boron (ie. environment friendly)
Spodumene is an inherent part of the glass batch ingredients for high quality flaconage (cosmetics) and pharmaceuticals. It is used by almost all major producers and market leaders. Li2O is added in the range of 0.10-0.30 %wt to a cosmetic glass.
If increased pull is not required, energy savings can be achieved. The use of Spodumene allows the lowering of both the furnace top temperature and electrical boosting. By keeping the glass viscosity constant, the temperature can be reduced by approximately 20oC. This has a direct influence on energy consumption and on the load of the top furnace and the waste gas channels.
For high quality glass, it is possible to achieve efficiency in melting with only a small addition of Spodumene in the batch, around 3-4%, it increases the speed of melting, thereby allowing more time for refining and conditioning. This reduces:
? bubble/seed count
? streaks
The glass becomes marginally softer and it improves the workability, the result is lower cracks and folds.
Overall, the melt to pack efficiency of the furnace improves significantly. Even at a high level of 85% efficiency, a further increase of 7% is achievable. Thus, the unit cost of the product is reduced by using Spodumene.
Deliveries
Spodumene can be delivered both in bulk and bags in containers.
Inventory is maintained in Australia and at several other strategic locations worldwide to meet our customers? needs for consistent, reliable and timely deliveries.
Environment
Gwalia recognises that it has environmental obligations to the community. The Greenbushes Mine is certified to ISO14001.
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| Other Net Sources |
Spodumene
Visit the Spodumene website.
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