New wool scour at Belfast

Press, 15 April 1980, Page 13

New wool scour at Belfast

A new wool scouring plant at Belfast, which has been developed over the last two years by Kaputone Wool Scour, Ltd, at a cost of about $2 million, is to be opened this afternoon by the chairman of the Wool Board (Mr J. Clarke). The $2 million cost included new buildings, scouring plant, and container-handling facilities.

In the air-conditioned and fully insulated scouring room, two scouring trains which incorporate probably the most modem scouring technology, work beside each other.

As a result, the wool handling capacity of the plant has been increased to slightly more than double what it was — from about eight bales of greasy wool an hour to 16 bales plus. Before this. expansion' began two years ago there was one scouring train slightly less than 2m (6ft) wide. It had been installed at Kaputone in 1975 when it raised the plant’s capacity by 50 per cent.

The train has now been removed from its former location, modified to incorporate modern technology and new equipment such as three mini scouring bowls, and relocated beside a completely new 2m-wide scouring train, which was commissioned in January. The new plant was built by Annett and Darling, of Timaru, and the associate director of Mair and Company responsible for scouring (Mr M. R. Weill am) said its design represents a combination of the expertise and experience of the industry itself, hit company, Annett and Darling, and the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand, who were world leaders in scouring

research and development and who supplied the basic concept and technology for the plant. In terms of modern technology, the plant incorporated mini scouring bowls only 2m long instead of the traditional bowls up to 7m long. Whereas the old bowls had a capacity of about 11,250 litres of scouring liquor, the smaller bowls had a capacity of about 2500 litres, or less than a quarter of their older counterparts. As the liquor had to be hot all of the time, the use of a smaller volume meant that there was a significant energy saving, Mr Welham said.

Apart from the fact that a modern plant occupied less space, the comprehensive scouring system involved continuous recovery of wool grease and about double the recovery rate previously achieved. This meant the percentage of grease remaining in the effluent was reduced, so that secondary treatment of the .effluent became less onerous, he said. In the new plant, greasy wool coming in for scouring is elevated into four concrete-lined bins, each holds the equivalent of about 125 bales of greasy wool. The wool is fed into a feed hopper by a tractor with a front-end loader, passes into a double-drum opener which tears it apart, and then into a fivedrum stepped opener, which removes foreign matter which includes seed, dag chip, gravel, and sand. Still another feed hopper includes a weigh belt, which weighs the wool passing over it and it feeds the wool into the scour in accordance with the rate at which it has been set to do so, Mr Welham said. The scouring room, with its twin trains, is completely separate from the dry processing areas and as well as being air conditioned and insulated _ is built of materials which are not subject to corrosion. The new scouring train comprises three hot bowls, three cold-rinse bowls and a final hot-rinse bowl, which results in wool passing on to the dryer at a lower moisture content and

therefore, reducing the amount of drying needed.

It is a seven-bowl unit whereas the older modified and updated train has six bowls, including three hot mini bowls, two conventional cold-rinse bowls, and a final hot-rinse mini bowl. From the new train the scoured wool passes on to a six-drum suction dryer while the older train is served by a five-drum , suction dryer. Under an integrated heat recovery system, very high-humidity hot air exhausted from the two dryers and also from the scouring room passes through a heat recovery unit, which provides hot, dry air aagin for use by the dryers and warm air for the scouring room under cold conditions.

Overlooking the dryers and the scouring trains is a control room which has been made out of the two end sections of a modular fibre glass house which can be relocated if necessary.

The control room contains a centralised control system and monitoring equipment. A feature of its equipment is a colourful “mimic” panel which depicts the operation of the plant with lights flashing.

The equipment monitors the moisture content of the wool emerging from the dryers, and should the moisture content fall outside the tolerances, it sounds an alarm. Also, wool coming out of the dryers can be inspected and sampled for checking its moisture content against

the monitor. Another piece of equipment monitors the weigh belt. The wool from the dryers passes through yet another opening machine before being blown up into the pressing room, while lower grade wools such as dags, pieces, and bellies, go through a Morley shaker to remove contaminants.

Before it is finally inspected and then sent to a high-density press of Italian manufacture, the wool passes through a Shirley wheel to separate air from the wool and remove any remaining dust.

The more modem Italian press is made in New Zealand under licence by Mair Industrial Marketing, for whom C.W.F. Hamilton, Ltd, are now making five. From a new scoured wool store the wool can be loaded into containers. The facilities there include a crane for lifting containers on to or off railway waggons or road transport. The Kaputone scour is run by Kaputone Wool Scour, Ltd, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mair and Company, which has owned the Kaputone scour since the early 19605. Mair is also involved in scouring in other parts of the country, being partners with John Marshall and Company, of Christchurch, the Southland Frozen Meat Company in the Clifton wool scour at Invercargill, and joint owners with the New Zealand Co-operative Wool Marketing Association of the Auckland scour of Auckland Co - operative Wool Processors, Ltd.