The Zirconium Beneficiation Plant is a multipurpose zirconium chemical production plant. The plant is designed and constructed to the clients’ specifications for the production of various zirconium based chemicals including ZBC, AZST and ZOC. The products are all derived from various feed sources to produce products that meet with the clients specific requirements. The plant comprises agitated reactor vessels, each with heating and cooling elements for temperature control during production, a filtration station, raw material feed solution storage tanks as well as product storage tanks. The plant required various utilities including a boiler, cooling water circuit, air compressor and a demineralised water plant.
The scrubber column at the Zirconium Processing Plant is designed to extract acid fumes from various reactors and vessels in the processing plant where acid fumes are liberated and must be managed. The scrubber is a packed bed column with a circulating caustic solution. The acid bearing fumes are drawn from the vessels and through the column by an induced draught fan at a volumetric flow rate of approximately 5000 m3/hr. The clean scrubbed fumes are vented to atmosphere via a stack. The caustic scrubbing solution flows counter current to the gas flow ensuring maximum contact with the solution and increasing the cleaning efficiency.