Qdos dosing pumps improve production ‘uptime’ at aluminium coating plant

Aluminium powder coating specialist, France Alu Color, has reportedly reduced its costs for chemicals and further improved the reliability and safety of its surface treatment processes after adopting Qdos dosing/metering pumps from Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG), generating payback on the investment within one year.

At the company's plant in Marcilloles, some 50km south of Lyon, France Alu Color coats around 1,850,000m² (5000 tonnes) of aluminium every year, which equates to around 8500m² per day. The plant has one of the most modern vertical powder coating lines in France and operates under the Qualicoat product certification scheme.

Problems were being experienced relating to siphoning, clogged valves, and a lack of necessary precision to dose the injected chemicals. The only way to keep production moving was to regularly maintain the pumps, with all the time, costs and safety issues (due to potential chemical contact) this incurs. As a consequence, the company contacted Watson-Marlow, which recommended a trial of its Qdos30 model.

Qdos pumps were installed on the vertical powder coating line to dose specific chemicals at three essential points in the plant's surface treatment process. The siphoning problems ceased, meaning there were no longer any issues relating to excessive chemical consumption.

After using the pumps for one year, France Alu Color reports it has only changed a single pumphead. Today, France Alu Color has eight Qdos30 dosing pumps across two facilities.