CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
HISTORY
MISSION
VISION
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
QUALITY
PRODUCTS AND ITS APPLICATIONS
PLANTS IN KMML
CONCLUSION













INTRODUCTION
The Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML) Kollam, Kerala, India is one
of the pioneers in the field of mineral sand industry in India. KMML is a fully owned
Kerala Government Enterprise. There are about 2000 employees in the company at
present who are helping KMML grow.KMML is the only integrated titanium dioxide
facility having mining, mineral separation, synthetic rutile and pigment-production
plants producing world's finest ilmenite, rutile, zircon, sillimenite, synthetic rutile and
rutile grade titanium dioxide pigment. Its an eco-friendly & socially committed
company.
The Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML) is the worlds first fully
integrated Titanium Dioxide plant. Since its inception, KMML has made an indelible
mark in the fields of mining, mineral processing and manufacturing. With the state of
art factories at Sangaramangalam and Kovilthottam, KMML has won national acclaim
for its impressive performance. KMML is the Indias first and only manufacturer of
Rutile Grade Titanium dioxide by chloride route. The products are marketed under the
brand name KEMOX. KEMOX RC 822 is a multiple application pigment, which is in
great demand in the world market. KMML also produces other grades of Titanium
Dioxide pigments like RC 800 PG, RC 800, RC 802, RC 813, RC 822 and RC 808.
Our product range include Titanium Tetra Chloride, Ilmenite, Rutile, Leucoxene and
Sillimanite from the basic raw materials for the variety of industrial uses. Minerals
like Zircon and Monazite are used in the development of Nuclear Technology.
KMML also manufactures Iron oxide bricks used for building purpose. The
production of these bricks from waste Iron oxide is an in-house development.

Close access to one of the worlds richest beaches helps KMML retain its
leadership. KMMLs Titanium pigments are reputed for their high degree of gloss, tint
retention capacities and ease of dispersion. These qualities give KMML a formidable
identity in the industry KMML is certified ISO 9002 in the year 2000 for
implementing world class quality standards.







HISTORY
The history of kmml dates back to the year 1909. It was in this very year Mr shooberg
discovered ilmenite along the coasts of neendakara. Further explorations revealed that the
coastal belt from neendakara to cherthala is blessed with worlds largest mineral deposits of
around 400 million tonnes. In 1934 an entrepreneur from Ceylon F X Perira set up a factory
with the available techniques for mining the sand and exported it. F. X. Perira and Sons
(Travancore) Pvt. Ltd was the name of that firm. During 1956 this concern was taken over by
the state government and was placed under the control of its industries department. The unit
was converted as a limited company with effect from 1.4.1972. in the name of The Kerala
Minerals and Metals Ltd. The company bought the technologies from America and England
& it took nearly six years for its implementation. The plant faced many problems and it
produced only half of its installed capacity. The company was at the verge of a closure in
1991. The year 1992 witnessed a phase change and the company slowly began to makeup its
losses due to the collective efforts of all its employees and also with the incorporation of
some indigenously developed techniques. Supported combustion technology &inconel
technology were some of the techniques that were incorporated.
Now Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML) is the worlds first fully integrated
Titanium Dioxide plant. It exports products to more than 45 countries. KMML is an ISO
14001 certified company. It Follows EMS& OHSAS system and is very much an
environmental friendly company.
MISSION
a) To become the nodal agency for promoting and establishing mineral based
industries in the State to ensure value addition and effective and controlled
exploitation of the mineral reserves.
b)

To develop adequate supply base for the services and utility for development
of the mineral based industries.
c) To create more awareness about Corporate Social Responsibilities for
chemical industries in the State.
d) To become the leader in controlling Green House Gas Emissions so as to


promote the concept of Green Earth.

VISION
The vision of KMML is to be a world class producer of mineral sand based value added
products.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

KMML is well aware of the commitment to the society. a healthy environment is inevitable
for the sustained development .KMML uses modern equipment for monitoring ambient air
quality . A centralised effluent neutralisation plant takes care of liquid effluents generated.
KMML has also introduced a number of social welfare schemes for the good of the
people.
These include:
1)
Drinking water supply for the surrounding villages through a 25 km pipeline
network.
2)
Conducting Medical Camps / Hygiene / Health Programs for the public in
association with charitable organizations.
3)
Offering Financial Assistance to local Schools & Clubs for the purchase of
Books, furniture, Sports Goods etc.
4) Supporting rural electrification







QUALITY

KMML has been certified ISO 9001 : 2000 in the year 2003 as a recognition of
practicing quality. The objective of the firm is to delight the customers with world class
products and prompt service at competitive price. The quality objectives are:




1. Customer driven, continuous improvement.
2. Encouraging innovation and technology updation.
3. Training and empowering the work force.
4. Caring for requirements of the society.
5. Compliance with documented quality system.

PRODUCTS
KMML always maintains high standards of perfection. Achieving technical
excellence in every phase of production. Catering to strict guidelines, KMML offers a wide
range of products for quality conscious customers. The products go into the manufacture of
a variety of products used in every day life. Dress materials, facial creams, tablets,
newsprints, wood paints, emulsions, enamels, plastics, tooth paste, rubber products,
cosmetics, and printing ink All contain titanium dioxide.


PRODUCTS & ITS APPLICATIONS
Titanium Dioxide Pigment (Rutile) : Paints, Printing inks, Plastic, Paper, Rubber
Textiles, Ceramics

Titanium Tetra Chloride : Rutile grade Titanium Dioxide Pigment, Titanium Sponge /
Metal, Titanium salts, Butyl Titanate, Titanium Oxychlorides.

Ilmenite : Synthetic Rutile, Welding Electrodes, Titanium Tetra Chloride, Titanium
Dioxide Pigment, Ferro Titanium Alloys,
Titanium Salt.

Rutile : Welding Electrodes, Titanium Dioxide Pigment Titanium Components,
Titanium Tetrachloride, Titanium Metal/Sponge.

Leucoxene : Welding Electrodes, Titanium Tetrachloride Titanium Dioxide Pigment,
Titanium Components.




Zircon : Ceramics, Zirconium, Chemical, Foundaries, Zirconium Metals, Refractories,
Nuclear Technology.

Sillimanite : High temperature refractory, Ceramic industry

Monazite : Rare Earth Industry, Nuclear Technology.

Iron Oxide Bricks : As building material.

In KMML the titanium dioxide pigment is produced based on the chloride technology. This
process consists of the following steps

1) Reduction and leaching of the raw ilmenite containing 55-60% TiO2 to obtain beneficiated
ilmenite of 90-92%.
2) Conversion of beneficiated ilmenite into TiO2 pigment.
3) Regeneration of spent HCl acid for the safe economy and pollution prevention.

PLANTS IN KMML
The different plants in KMML are

MINERAL SEPARATION UNIT
The mineral separation plant was originally established in 1932 in the private sector. Several
machineries were added in the course of time. This plant situated by the side of open mines
does the separation of the minerals from the beach sands of Chavara. The raw sand is first
concentrated in spiral separators to enrich the heavy mineral content. The wet concentrate is
then dried in a fluidized bed dryer and then fed to the dry separation plant. Different minerals
are separated by magnetic separators and HT separators. The plant also separates Rutile and
Zircon from the sands.
Ilmenite beneficiation Plant
In this plant the raw ilmenite which contains 55-60% TiO2 is beneficiated to 90-92%
TiO2. It consists of mainly 3 sections


Roster section
Digester section
Calcinator section
The beneficiated titanium dioxide is the raw material for the pigment production plant. The
first step in the Ilmenite beneficiation is the roasting of raw Ilmenite. From this the raw
Ilmenite is mixed with petroleum coke and heated to 850
o
C in a rotary Kiln. Then the ferric
oxide, present in the raw Ilmenite is subjected to a temperature of 850
o
C and is reduced into
ferrous Ilmenite. The reduced Ilmenite is then cooled and sent into the digesters where it is
leached with 20% hydrochloric acid. This removes the most of the iron impurities present in
the Ilmenite. The spent leach liquor is then sent to storage tanks. The leached Ilmenite after
washing and filtering is calcined to get beneficiated Ilmenite.
Roster
The raw ilmenite that is stored in the storehouse is transferred to the hopper with the help of a
bucket elevator conveyor. From the hopper the ilmenite is supplied at a constant rate to a belt
conveyor, which gets mixed up with petroleum coke, which is also supplied from another
hopper at a ratio of ilmenite to petroleum coke, 1:9. This mixture is fed to the roster (a rotary
kiln) where reduction takes place due to high temperature and restricted air flow. The ferric
oxide gets converted into ferrous oxide. Now this is cooled suddenly in order to prevent the
backward reaction using a water-cooled shell and tube cooler (a rotary kiln).
The reactions taking place are

2C +O2 -->2CO
2CO +O2 -->2CO2
Fe2O3 +CO -->2FeO +CO2

Roster specifications

1. Shell material - CS
2. Outside diameter - 2130 mm
3. Length - 33 meters
4. Thickness of shell - 2 0 mm


5. Thickness of refractory cashable - 150 mm
6. Inside temperature - 9500 C
7. Outside temperature - 1000 C
8. Length of burner - 8 m
9. Fuel used - furnace oil
10. Fuel for initial ignition - L P G
11. Speed of roster - 1 rpm (0.2 to 2 rpm)

Roaster cooler specifications

1. Shell material - C S
2. Shell thickness - 20 mm
3. Length - 12 meter
4. Internal diameter - 1.2 meter
5. Type of cooling - water type. Shell and tube type
6. Number of tubes - 24 tubes
Digester
In the digester the leaching of the benificated ilmenite takes place in the presence of HCl.
Leaching takes place in a large spherical container which is lined with acid resistant bricks
and all the metal parts which are exposed to direct contact with acid is protected with rubber
lining. 20% HCl is added to the digester along with the benificated ilmenite and is rotated for
about 18 hours. During this time 2 leaching and 1 washing takes place, which are of 6 hours
interval each. In the first half it is rotated in one direction and then in the second half in the
opposite direction. After washing the acid ilmenite mixture is dumped to a launder, from
where it is pumped to a vacuum belt filter using a rubber lined pump. In vacuum filter
moister is removed and the material is sent to the calcinator using a belt conveyor.

The reactions taking place are

FeO +2HCl -->FeCl3 +H2O
Fe2O3 +6HCl -->2FeCl3 +3H2O



The specifications are

1) Shell material - CS
2) Speed - 1 rpm
3) Motor power - 50 Hp
4) Inside temperature - 9500 C
5) Lining - 10 mm thick butyl rubber +152 mm thick acid resistant bricks
Calciner
This is for drying the leached ilmenite. Due to the temperature the volatile materials get
vapourised and the vapour is passed through a scrubber to remove the acid vapours and the
left gasses are given out. The calcinated ilmenite is cooled down using an air cooler. The final
product is stored in the storehouse.

Specification

The dimensions are the same as that of the roster due to the ease in the maintenance and for
ordering the parts.
Inside temperature - 5500 C

Acid Regeneration Plant
This is used to recover the acid water, which is sent out from the digester unit. It is built for
reducing the pollution. Due to the ARP only a make up of 20% of acid is required. ARP
comprises of 2 identical and independent streams plus common equipment. Spent leach
liquor from the storage is pumped by spent liquor feed pump through the course liquid filter
passed to the pre concentration recycle tank. The spent leach liquor from the pre-
concentrated is processed in a spray roster in which the liquid spray entering the furnace is
heated by fuel oil, decomposes to metal oxides and HCl. The HCl vapor is first cooled, pre
concentrated and then absorbed in the wash water generated in the IBP to get 80% HCl which
is recycled back to IBP.

2FeCl2 +2H2O +1/2O2 ->Fe2O3 +4HCl
2FeCL3 +3H2O ->Fe2O3 +6HCl


Pigment Production Plant
Pigment production plant consists of 5 units.
1. U 100
2. U 200
3. U 300
4. U 400
5. U 500

U-100
The unit is used for supplying the benificated ilmenite and petroleum coke to U-200 for
chlorination. The benificated ilmenite and petroleum coke from storage are conveyed to
hopper by belt conveyors. From hopper the same are fed to blowpots and blowpots convey
them to chlorinator pneumatically. First the blow port pressure is made atmospheric then the
ilmenite is filled upto the maximum level which is sensed with the help of a transducer.
When the maximum level is reached the air is supplied and the pressure is made 6 kg. Now
with the help of a valve the raw material is transferred at high pressure to chlorinators for a
small time interval predetermined by the operator. When the minimum level is reached, the
exit valve is opened after the pressure is made atmospheric.

U-200
In the chlorinator the benificated ilmenite and petroleum coke mixture is fired and when the
temperature is reached 8000 c chlorine is added

TiO2 +2Cl2 -->TiCl4 +O2

The 8-10% impurities present in the mixture also reacts with the chlorine in the chlorinator
and forms their corresponding chlorides, which are mainly in the solid form and TiCl4, which
is known as; tickle is in the Vapour State. This mixture is supplied to a cyclone separator in
which the mixture is supplied tangentially. From there it enters a condenser. The heavy
particle settles at the bottom and light particle escapes through the top to the condenser. In
this liquid tickle is sprayed from top and some of the gaseous tickle get cooled and is carried
to the surge tank.



The remaining vapour is passed through water-cooled condenser and to a knock out pot to
condense and now the remaining vapour to the refrigerated condenser and to the knock out
pot attached to it. The condensed tickle is taken into the surge tank. The remaining vapour is
given out and before that the gas is passed through acid scrubber to recover acid and then to
lime scrubber where lime is sprayed to neutralise and given out through the vent stock to the
atmosphere.

The crude tickle stored in the surge tank is taken to the treatment reactor and then boiled;
here pure tickle is obtained as the product. The tickle from the cyclone separator contains
vanadium chloride, which is the only impurity that is present. It reacts with the treating oil,
which is supplied to the treating reactor and forms a solid substance. Now the pure tickle is
separated by distillation. Tickle is a colorless liquid. When this comes in contact with
moisture it reacts violently producing white fumes of HCl and TiO2.

U-300 (Oxidation)
In this the tickle is converted back into TiO2 by oxidation. Aluminium chloride is added
along with the tickle and is vaporized in a glass lined kettle vaporiser and then sent to the
oxidation chamber where it reacts with oxygen to form TiO2 and chlorine. The aluminium
chloride is added to form coating on the TiO2.

TiCl4 +O2 -->TiO2 +2Cl2

From the oxidation chamber the TiO2 is carried with the help of scouring sand. The chlorine
evolved is used in chlorinator. The TiO2 is made a paste by mixing with water and send to U-
400.
U-400
The titanium dioxide of size 0.5 microns and in the form of slurry from the oxidation unit
storage tank is pumped into the treatment and finishing unit. This is sent to a sand mill to
grind for removing any agglomeration and to control the particle size. After screening the
slurry is pumped to a treatment tank and various chemicals such as sodium aluminates and
sodium silicate are added to change certain properties according to the grade of the titanium


dioxide that is required. The time of treatment also depends upon the grade.

The treated slurry is sent to a vacuum drum filter. There are two stages for it, washing and
drying. After surface treatment the slurry is filtered and then washed to remove salts. In the
drying stage, most of the water is removed. This is now send to the tunnel drier where all the
moisture is removed. Then in the microniser, using super heated steam it is made into 0.25
micron size (finished product). The micronised pigment is pneumatically conveyed to
bagging hoppers from where it is bagged in a fully automatic bagging machine which does
the bagging, palletizing and stretch wrapping ready to dispatch to various customers.
After surface treatment the slurry is filtered and then washed to remove salts. The cake will
be then fed to the dryer and then to the micro-ioniser where the pigment is de-agglomerated
to the optimum particle size.

U-500
This is basically a chemical storage section which supplies various chemicals required for the
treating section like: - caustic soda, sulphuric acid, sodium silicate, zirconium orthosulphate
etc.
AUXILIARY UNITS
The main auxiliary units of KMML consist of steam, compressed air, and water. Two boilers
having a capacity of 33 tones/hr supply steam and one package boiler of capacity 8 tones/hr.
the demineralised water is heated in the water tube boiler to get stream. The boiler is fired by
furnace oil. In the two boilers installed the design of the plant is such that only one boiler can
be run at a time. The package boiler is of fire tube type in which the fuel used is furnace oil.
The compressed air for plant and instrument is supplied at a pressure of 8kg/cm2. There are 5
tube well pumps supplying water for the plant and domestic uses, after treatment of the water
in the water treatment plant for the removal of the impurities that may be present. Apart from
these there is an air separation plant in which O2 and N2 are separated from air. The oxygen
is required for the oxidation in U 300 and nitrogen for padding of various tanks.
CONCLUSION
In KMML we had a first hand experience to a world class industry. There we did see the
proud faces of employees who has transformed a company facing closure to a company
running in profit.