A Fully Automated System With Pneumatic Conveying, Bulk Bag Filling and 50 LB. Valve Bag Packaging Systems

Plant Location: Micaville, NC

Contact: Chris Gentry, Engineering Manager

Material Handled: Feldspar

Here's what TQC had to say about working with Magnum Systems.

About The Quartz Corp

The Quartz Corp is a premier supplier of high-purity quartz, feldspar and mica. Their mission is to provide industries of tomorrow with an ultra-pure raw material, directly supporting the creation of renewable energy and innovative technologies. 

The high-purity quartz mined and processed by The Quartz Corp is one of the purest on earth due in part to the unique geology of Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Spruce Pine pegmatites were shaped through mountains formed over 350 million years ago. When ancient North America and Africa slammed into each other, the collision eventually created Pangea, with the Appalachian Mountains at the continent's heart. Thanks to this mountain range, The Quartz Corp begins its process with prized minerals. Coupled with their world-class purification techniques, they provide a product that helps power solar, semiconductor, lighting and fiber optic industries. With few natural grain-bound impurities, their raw material can be refined to purity levels of 99.999% SiO2.

Milled feldspar is a naturally occurring mineral with properties that make it an exceptional functional filler and extender in various ceramic and industrial applications. Minspar, the Quartz Corp’s high-purity feldspar products, are widely used in paints, coatings, adhesives, caulks, sealants, plastics, elastomers, engineered stone, ceramics, glass, abrasives and polishes. The company operates in a niche industry that demands an unconventional approach. Their innovative approach to mining has become a primary driver of their success, and not just because they want to push the limits of their purification process. Every production step requires a level of customization that can’t be copied or bought. 

Material recovery is crucial to The Quartz Corp’s process; their accountability to their communities and the environment is equally important. Meticulous quality control mechanisms allow them to set bold targets to achieve ever greater levels of purity while letting as little product as possible go to waste. Developing a new automated system was one key strategy to eliminate waste during feldspar production, resulting in a project with Magnum Systems. 

Increasing Feldspar Production Would Involve:

• A fully automated system with pneumatic conveying, bulk bag filling and 50 lb valve bag packaging systems.
• The system equipment can stand up to abrasive materials.
• The ability to pneumatically transfer 10 different materials for loading into bulk bags of 2000 lb and 50 lb and for 10 different bulk densities and particle sizes using only two dense phase systems, one for each silo.
• The capability to transfer to either the bulk bag station or the 50 lb bag station without allowing either station to be short of product.

The Quartz Corp Partners with Magnum Systems for a Total Solution

Magnum Systems’ design and project management teams worked closely with The Quartz Corp’s team to deliver a PD truck-to-pallet solution ahead of schedule and under budget.

“Magnum provided a total solution for us from the start of the plant to the warehouse, (as well as) all the equipment and all the engineering needed to complete our process,” said Chris Gentry, plant manager at The Quartz Corp. “Magnum was with us step by step, revision through revision, ensuring us they could fill our needs as a company.”

Our teams fine-tuned the valve air packer and bulk bag station to fill at the rate The Quartz Corp team desired and required to exceed their goal rate.

Gentry further explained, “We wanted to provide our world-class customers with a world-class product and, to do that, we needed a world-class operation that allowed us to be more efficient with operations, more environmentally friendly, consistent throughout the process, reducing waste and just overall good employee morale.”

The IBC-3000 bulk bag fills up to 3,000 lb at a rate of up to 30 BPH, while using a robot palletizer, the 50 lb valve bag line results in 12+ bags per minute, and material is also able to be transferred to both valve bag and bulk bag stations. At The Quartz Corp team’s request, we implemented automation for processes ranging from empty valve bag placement to robot palletizing.

Equipment Summary:

Dry Bulk Storage

• Two storage silos for receiving materials via PD Truck, each complete with bin vents for air filtration, level indication, and bin activators to aid in material discharge from the silos.

Pneumatic Conveying

• In each of the silo skirts, a pressure-dense phase pneumatic conveying system transfers the materials to one of the two surge hoppers in the bag-filling area. The dense phase was selected as the preferred convey method to reduce system wear and tear due to the abrasiveness of the product.

Packaging Systems:

Valve Bag Filling

• A surge hopper with level indication, bin discharger and rotary airlock for feed control.
• Three Model A valve bag fillers with robotic bag placing for packing of 50 lb bags.
• The conveyor system includes small bag conveyors, a bag labeler, a check-weigh conveyor, an empty pallet dispenser, a robotic palletizer and a stretch wrapper.

Bulk Bag Filling (IBC-3000)

• A surge hopper with level indication, bin discharger and rotary airlock for feed control.
• An IBC-3000 bulk bag filler for weighing up to 3,000 lb bulk bags.
• The conveying system includes an empty pallet dispenser, slip sheet dispenser, full pallet chain conveyors, check-weigh conveyor, metal detection conveyor and a robotic palletizer.

Being There for The Quartz Corp Before, During and After

After the Magnum team got The Quartz Corp custom system up and running, we continued to be there for them.

“The relationships we built during the process with the engineering group, and then the service group, really gave us the confidence that we were not alone,” Gentry said. “We had somebody there that was going to take care of us and make sure we succeeded.”

Building authentic partnerships is something Magnum Systems highly values. We don’t see it as a one-and-done project with our customers. We hope to help them improve and add to systems as technology advances, especially for customers with whom we share the same company values.

“I expect us to use this project as a stepping stone in the future. We feel like we have the best employees and workforce in the world,” said Gentry. “We’re not looking to replace employees with automation but rather create a cleaner, safer and more diverse workforce.”

View Josh Condry, TQC, comment on working with Magnum Systems.

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