COLOURING PLANTS

Colouring plants are production facilities in which paints, varnishes, resins and similar liquid products are brought to the required shade using pigment pastes or liquid colourants. Makfen designs and installs colouring plants complete with the production equipment and all other system components required, based on the client’s requirements and international standards.

Process Steps in a Colouring Plant

In a typical colouring plant the process consists of several main steps:

• Colourant preparation: Pigments are pre-dispersed with binder and additives in dissolvers or agitated tanks, milled to the required fineness, and the finished pastes are held in storage tanks.
• Base preparation: The white or clear base to be tinted is prepared in agitated production tanks.
• Dosing and mixing: Colourants are added to the base according to the recipe by precision weighing or volumetric dosing, and mixed until a uniform colour is obtained.
• Colour checking and correction: A sample is compared with the reference colour and, if necessary, the shade is corrected with small additional doses.
• Filtration and filling: The approved product is filtered and transferred to the filling line or storage tanks.

Design and Turnkey Installation

While manufacturing the system equipment designed specifically for the required capacity, Makfen also provides technical support to its project partners on process management and on selecting equipment to suit the formulation. In plants with frequent colour changes, easy cleaning of tanks and lines, prevention of cross-contamination between colours and reduction of wash waste are key design parameters. Environmental impact is also taken into account in the design.

The Makfen team carries out turnkey plant installation covering project design, manufacturing, erection, instrumentation, piping, insulation, electrical installation, performance testing and commissioning.

Colouring Plant Equipment

• Colourant (pigment paste) preparation tanks with dissolvers
• Colourant and base storage tanks
• Agitated tinting and production tanks
• Gravimetric or volumetric colourant dosing systems
• Pumps, filters and transfer lines suited to product viscosity
• Ex-proof motors and equipment for solvent-based products
• PLC control panel for recipe and dosing management
• Operating and maintenance documentation and material certificates

Contact Makfen for information and a quotation on colouring plants.