School of Chemical Mechanical

And

Material engineering

INTERNSHIPE REPORT

Group members

1) Beza Neway

2) Ameha Ayalew

3) Feruza Nuredin

1
 Table of content
Content page no
1. Acknowledgment………………………………….2
2. Chapter one
1.1) Introduction
Back ground of the company………………….3
1.1) Products of the company………………………3
1.2) Customers of the company……………………4
1.3) Organizational structure………………………5
2. Chapter two
2.1) Production process……………………………10
2.2) Process flow…………………………………..20
3. Chapter three
3.1) Silica sand beneficiation………………………20
3.2) negative effect of blinding……………………26
3.3) recommendation………………………………34
4. Chapter four
4.1) Overall benefits of internship………………..34
5. Reference…………………………………………….37

2
 Acknowledgment
First and foremost, we would like to acknowledge God who helps us and being with throughout
our endeavor. Then we would like to give a great thanks to the head of raw material
preparation Ato Mohammed Akmel and w/rt Tigist zerihun for their assistance, consistent guide
and council. And also we would like to gratitude all employers of AAB&GSC for their well wish
for helping us and providing any information that we ask .

3
 Chapter one
1.1) Back ground of the company
Addis Ababa Bottle& Glass Share Company was established in 1973.It is the first glass bottle
manufacturing company in Ethiopia. The company is located in the western part of Addis Ababa
some 8.5 km from the center along the road to Ambo. This location with a very high access to
the market is a tangible resource verifying the competitive advantage of the company. At present
the company has built another production line in order to increase its productivity and satisfy the
customer need. Using raw materials which are locally available except some chemical are
imported from Europe the two production lines share the same raw material preparation site that
prepare the raw material for the production process.

The factory has been producing bottles for the beverage and cosmetic industries jam jars and
squash bottles for canned food production, and glass containers directly to users. Now a day,
because of the increasing demand in beverage &cosmetic industries AAB&GSC take their order
to manufacture the glass bottle.

Vision

Providing suitable glass container for the existing and new industries in order to establish
industrial and financial strength. And also the company strives to be competitor in exporting by
supplying preferable products.

Mission

Producing suitable or high quality glass container for packing customer’s product and providing
drinking vessels for the society at large by using modern technology and highest input. In
addition the factory exports by substituting imported products as well as upgrading foreign
exchange.

1.2) Products of the company

 Bottle for Soft drinks (Coca Cola, Pepsi, Fanta)
 Beer Bottles (St. George, Meta, Bedele , Dashen , Harersofy)
 Bottle for Alcohol & Liquor (Balezaf, Vino)
 Wine Bottle (Gudar both large and small)
 Mineral water Bottles (Ambo water)
 Jam Jar
 Brielle

4
Those products may differ in color according to the customers need such as:-

 Amber

 Green

 Light green

 Flint

1.3) Customers of the company

 BJI Factory
 Ambo Mineral Water Factory
 Meta Beer Factory
 Coca-Cola Company
 Awash wine Teji Factory
 Cosmetics Factory such as Zenith

5
 1.4) Organizational structure of the company

Board of directors

Board of directors is appointed to act on behalf of the shareholders to run the company. It is in
charge of handling policy issues, approving strategic plan &follow up the activities of the
general manager.

6
Internal Audit/controller

One of its roles is monitoring any kind of transaction that takes place in the company including
the raw material and selling. It also inspects on raw material purchase and product selling. It
discusses on any problem that might have been caused due to discrepancies with the concerned
authorities to provide solution on time. It makes sure that the policy of government, like
transparency on operation, on producing industries is functional and practiced

CEO/GM

The general manager is accountable to the board of director and do tasks including planning,
executing, monitoring and controlling as a manager to whole operational activities of the
company. The legal advice advises legal issue regarding with the company that the general
manager make decision of it and including the policies they are assuring. Under the general
manager, there are different line departments and support service units. Which are:-

 DGM-operation

 DGM-Finance and Commerce

 DGM-Support

 DGM-Corporate planning and project administration

1) DGM-operation

It is accountable to the general manager that has mainly two division, production department and
technique department with its technical advisor that advice the technical part in this division.

Production department

This division main task is controlling of the processes involved from raw material preparation to
product manufacturing. There are four divisions below this department:-

I. Quality assurance

This division mainly do on quality control, inspection of the product by physical analysis and
visual inspection, check whether or not the product is produced keeping the given standard.

II. Line production division

Controlling the production flow processes going on properly and the product being produced
without any problem the responsibility will be taken by this division .This division has three
main sections that:-

7
 a) Furnace:-Here weighed raw material from batch house is transported to the furnace so
regulating the temperature, controlling the batch size will be the task of this section.

b) Forming:-As a section forming has a task to give the appropriate shape for the molten.
This task is performed using the IS machine.

c) Decoration:-Decoration is the section where the bottle trade mark is printed.

III. Raw material preparation division

The raw materials that are needed for the manufacturing of glass bottle are prepared in this site
controlled by this division.

Technique department

In this division the maintenance and the modification (as needed) of machines will be performed.

Electrical division

The maintenance of electrical parts of motor, generator, electrical installation, coil change and
other electrical maintenances in the company are carried out.

Mechanical division

In this division all machine maintenances (the mechanical part) will be performed. This division
is divided in to three sections:-

1. Mechanical maintenance

In this section all machine maintenance will be performed for example the motors, conveyors,
pumps, dryer… every machine in all section are maintained by this section excluding the IS
machine because it has its own section they also do machine modification.

2. Mold and work shop

The main task of this section is welding of mold and blank for the appropriate job

Change not only for job change but also when there is ware out of mold and blank. They
maintain the mold by welding using ethanol powder do also the spare parts modification.

3. IS MACHINE

It stands for individual section is divided in to operation and maintenance. The operator operates
the machine and follows up the production flow.

8
 2) DGM-Finance and Commerce

This division is mainly concerned with accounting, auditing and cost, budgeting analysis
including the commercialization of the product. The general tasks of this division are:-pay check
for raw material suppliers, make pay roll for workers salary, control the finance transaction
among the supplier, customers and the company, oversee the cost creditor from the company’s
account, cover expenses of costly spare parts and raw materials, purchase raw materials and
control their discharge from store. There are four divisions:-

 General account division

 Cost and Budget control account division

 Sales and Customer service division

 Property administration division

3) DGM-Support

a) Human resource division

Hiring and firing of employees with their proper allocation that is the right place to the right
person is executed in this division of the company. Time keeper is the sub-division of human
resource controlling the employees in and out time.

b) Administration and general service division

This department distributes safety materials, cleaning accessories, working clothes and shoes,
stationeries…Etc. provides the necessary materials for the workers and also for the company if
there is any scarcity this department reports to the administrators and provide the materials
needed.

c) Procurement division

All things that need to be purchased for the company like raw materials, machineries, spare parts,
equipment, and tools and so on are purchased by this division as requested. The method of
purchasing can be of different type depending on the cost of the item needed.

d) Logistic division

The materials that are purchased by the procurement division are transported by logistics.

4) DGM-Corporate planning and project administration

It has two sub divisions planning and project management and system improvement division.

9
 a. Planning and project management

These divisions do the plan of the production weekly, monthly& annually including any kind of
project implemented in the company will be managed by this division. It consists of the project
design and follows up experts, planning and monitoring experts and librarian.

b. System improvement division

There are ICT experts that perform tasks of network and system administration, network
maintenance, computer maintenance, ICT activity such as web opening. Occupation safety and
environment experts are also included in environmental safety, waste chemical removal, disposal
of hazardous chemicals.

10
 Chapter two
2.1) Production process
In general there are four sections in the production line of glass.
i. Raw Material Preparation (Batch preparation)
ii. Furnace section
iii. Forming section
iv. Decoration section
i. Raw material preparation
Raw materials are selected according to the purity of materials and granulometric size.
The major raw materials used in the glass manufacturing process include Silica Sand, Soda ash,
Lime stone, Feldspar, Sodium Sulphate and sodium nitrate. Along with the major raw materials
coloring materials like pet coke, iron pyrite, iron chromite is used.
The main raw materials required in the production of glass are:-
1. Silica sand
2. Limestone
3. Cullet (scrap glass)
4. Soda ash
 Silica Sand preparation
To remove some color bearing impurities (clay) and oversize silica from the crystalline silica
the following processes performed.
The silica went through drying process which makes it suitable for sieve analysis in order to
separate the oversize sand and this process carried out by two steps.
 On the drainage are with the help of sun light
 By rotary dryer which uses fuel for burning
Before entering screening process there is a magnetic separator which caught metallic impurities
that found in the dried silica and then there is a screening process that accomplished by passing
the dried silica through a sieve, thus determine the oversize and coarse grade silica. Before being
delivered to the batch house the silica is temporarily placed in its store.

11
 Limestone and marble preparation
The limestone came from quarry at large size so before taken into the process, it must be
manually crushed to the appropriate size by humans (if it is marble) .After that it is filled to the
hopper of the jaw crusher by the loader. The output from the jaw crusher is fed to the rod mill for
final size reduction Limestone or marble (lower grain size) is fed directly to the rod mill which is
then pumped to the hydro cyclone for solid-liquid mixture separation with the aid of mechanical
classifier. After this both raw materials undergoes similar process as silica sand preparation.

 Cullet preparation
Cullet, or broken glasses (recycled glass), is used as a batch material to reduce cost of
production, enhance glass melting and other particulate matter that often accompanies a batch
made exclusively from raw materials.. Manually culets of the same color are stored together the
different colors are: - flint, Green, Amber light green, etc……
Then to remove impurities manually like labeling the culets are washed and crushed to proper
size before being sent to the batch house.
 Soda ash
Soda ash facilitates the melting process of the batch in the furnace. The company purchases the
soda ash from Abijata soda ash Factory and external soda which is called Magadi import from
Kenya.
 Additives
Some of the additives used in container glass production are selenium oxide, cobalt oxide, iron
pyrite, iron chromites, sodium nitrate, sodium sulphate, and pet coke.
The most common recommended batch making materials for flint, amber and green glasses are:
Flint batch making raw material:-These raw materials are silica sand, marble, soda ash,
selenium, cobalt oxide, and manganese oxide and flint cullet.
Amber batch making raw materials:- Amber batch making materials include sand, limestone,
soda ash, pyrite, pet cake and amber cullet.
Green batch making raw materials:-Green batch making raw materials include sand,
limestone, soda ash, nitrate, salt cake, chrome oxide, and green cullet.

12
 Processing marble
Manual crushing (loader) Jaw crushing conveyor & elevator hopper conveyor
Rod mill Pump Hydro cyclone (through classifier) screw conveyor Drainage
area loader Hopper conveyor Drier conveyor Magnetic separator
conveyor sieve storage area
Processing limestone
Hopper conveyor Rod mill pump Hydro cyclone Rod mill Hydro cyclone
(through classifier) screw conveyor Drain age area loader Hopper conveyor
Drier conveyor Magnetic separator Conveyor sieve storage area

Processing silica sand

Drainage area loader Hopper conveyor drier conveyor Magnetic separator
conveyor sieve storage area
Processing cullet
Loader Hopper washing Storage area loader Hopper crushing storage area

Batch house
The batch house contains the raw materials and the machine, which uses to process works. The
raw materials are marble stone, cullet, sand, soda ash & chemicals, which uses for different
color. Different machines which uses in batch house are hopper, jaw crusher, conveyor, rod mill,
classifier, drier, automatic balance & mixer. The batch house calibrates the raw materials
concentration and amount before sending to the furnace. The raw materials is weighted by using
automatics scale or manual scale to appropriate proportion for the batch and sent to batch mixer.
ii. FURNACE SECTION
The raw materials pass to screw charger before reaching the furnace. The charger uniformly
distributes the glass materials in the furnace. after all this happens ,the furnace starts to melt the
input raw materials .it uses electric energy and heavy oil to melt the materials .there are 12
electrodes to do on six sides . Those electrodes are adjusted so as to get the required degree
centigrade that can be melt the raw materials .all the adjustment is done and control by furnace
control panel. The furnace also use water and air cooled. The furnace cooling water is cooled by

13
simple heat exchanger cooler at atmospheric temperature ( ) and the cold water is again
pumped in to the simple heat exchanger cooler for circulation.
.
When the intimately mixed batch is charged into the hot furnace, a series of chemical reactions
and physical process takes place between the materials in a particular order at the appropriate
temperature. The melting process comprises heating, primary melting, fining and
homogenization and conditioning steps. Each step of the melting process is discussed briefly
Heating
The conventional and most common way of providing heat to melt glass is by burning fossil
fuels above a bath of batch material, which is continuously fed into, and then withdrawn from the
furnace in a molten condition. The temperature necessary for melting and refining the glass
depends on the precise formulation, but is between 13000C and 15500C. At these temperatures
heat transfer is dominated by radiation, in particular from the furnace crown, which is heated by
the flames to up to 16500C, and also from the flames themselves. In each furnace design heat
input is arranged to induce re-circulating convective currents within the melted batch materials to
ensure consistent homogeneity of the finished glass fed to the forming process. The mass of
molten glass contained in the furnace held constant, and the mean residence time is of the order
of 24 hours of production for container furnaces.

Primary Melting
Due to the low thermal conductivity of the batch materials the melting process is initially quite
slow allowing time for the numerous chemical and physical processes to occur. As the materials
heat up the moisture evaporates, some of the raw materials decompose and the gases trapped in
the raw materials escape. The first reaction (de-carbonization) occurred around 5000C. The raw
materials begin to melt between 7500C and 12000C. First the sand begins to dissolve under the
influence of fluxing agents. The silica from the sand combines with sodium oxide from the soda
ash and with other batch materials from the silicates. At the same time large amounts of gases
escape through the decomposition of the hydrates, carbonates, nitrates and sulfates, giving off
water, carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and oxides of sulfur. The glass melt finally becomes
transparent and the melting phase is completed. The volume of the melt is about 35-50% of the
virgin batch material due to the loss of gases and the elimination of interstitial spaces.

Fining and Homogenization

The glass melt must be completely homogenized and free of bubbles it can be form the
products. This involves the complete dissolution and even distribution of all components and the
elimination of all bubbles by refining.
During the melting process gas bubbles are formed mainly from carbon dioxide given off by the
decomposition of the carbonate materials (principally soda ash and limestone) and too much
lesser extent from air trapped in the raw material. These bubbles must be eliminated from the
glass melt as they potential cause defects in the finished affecting mechanical strength and

14
appearance. The upward movement of bubbles contributes to the physical mixing of melt and
necessary to obtain the homogenous material with optimal physical properties. The bubbles rise
at speeds determined by their size and the viscosity of the glass. Large bubbles rise quickly and
contribute to mixing, while small bubbles move slowly at speeds that may be small with respect
to the larger scale conviction currents in the furnace and are thus more difficult to eliminate.
Small bubbles remaining in the finished glass are termed “seeds”. Carbon dioxide and
components of air have limited solubility in the glass melt and it is usually necessary to use
chemical fining agents to effectively eliminate the small bubbles generated by the melting
process.
The general principle of chemical fining it’s to add materials which when in the melt will
release gases with the appropriate solubility in the glass. Depending on the solubility of the gas
in the glass melt (which is generally temperature dependent) the bubbles may increase in size
and rise to the surface or be completely reabsorbed. Small bubbles have a high surface to volume
ratio, which enables better exchange between the gases contained in the bubbles and the glass.
The most frequently used fining agent in the glass industry is sodium sulphate. At approximately
14500C (12000C if reducing agents are present) the sodium sulphate decomposes to give sodium
oxide (which is incorporated into the glass), gaseous oxides of sulfur and oxygen. The oxygen
bubbles combine or absorb other gases, particularly carbon dioxide and air, thereby increasing in
size and rising to the surface. The gaseous oxides of sulfur absorbed into the glass or join the
furnace waste gas stream.
In flat gases and container glass production sodium sulphate is by far the most common fining
agent. The predominance of sodium sulphate as the fining agent is due to its parallel action as an
oxidizing agent for adjusting the redox state of the coloring elements in the glass. It is also the
least expensive effective fining or mass product glass. Other fining agents include carbon
materials and oxides of arsenic and the antimony. These are more expensive, have associated
environmental and health issues, and tend to be used mainly for production of special glass.
Sodium nitrate can also be used as a fining/oxidizing agent particularly if a high degree of
oxidation is required. Calcium sulphate and various nitrates are sometimes used for colored flat
glass.
The maximum crown temperatures encountered in glass furnace are: container glass 16000C, flat
glass0C, special glass16500C continuous filament 16500C, and glass wool 14000C.

Conditioning
A conditioning phase at lower temperatures follows the primary melting and fining stages.
During this process, all remaining soluble bubbles are reabsorbed into the melt. At the same
time, the melt cools slowly to a working temperature between 9000C and 13500C.

15
 In batch melting, these steps occur in sequence, but in continuous furnace the melting phases
occur simultaneously in different locations within the tank. The batch is fed at one end of the
tank and flows through different zones in the tank for hearth whether primary melting, fining,
and conditioning occur. The refining process is in continuous furnace is far more delicate.
Glass does mot flow through the tank in a straight line from the batch feeder to the throat where
the glass reaches the working temperature for processing. It is diverted following thermal
currents. The batch pile, or the cold mixture of raw materials, is not only melted at the surface,
but also from the underside by the molten glass bath. Relatively cold, bubbly glass forms below
the bottom layer of batch material and sinks to the bottom of the tank. Appropriate convection
currents must be bring this material to the surface, since fining occurs in tank furnaces primarily
at the surface of the melt, where bubbles need to rise only a short distance to escape.
If thermal currents flow too fast, they inhibit fining by bringing the glass to the conditioning
zone too soon. Guiding walls or weirs can be built into the inner tank structure to create ideal
glass flow paths.

iii. FORMING SECTION

Forming is a process of shaping the molten glass into different types of glass products by using
forming machine. In Addis Ababa Bottle & Glass S.C forming machine which are functional for
the production of bottle. I.S(Individual section) forming machine. I.S forming machine which is
functional is used to manufacture different of bottles, like, Ambo, soft drink bottels, Beer, etc.
…..Its operating Mechanism is controlled by computer Program.

Annealing
Annealing is heat treatment operations which removes or reduce the stress accumulation on the
glass product immediately after forming machine by passing through an annealing lehr with a
predetermined temperature gradient.

16
 The process involves the raising of glass body of the annealing temperature for a time sufficient
to relieve existing stains and stabilize the glass, then cooling a glass at a rate sufficiently slow so
that the residual stress will not reappear when the glass temperature has reached equilibrium. At
the temperature of annealing point, the existing stresses will be reduced to satisfactory
company’s limit in a matter of minutes. In practice, it is sometimes found desirable to use an
annealing temperature differing slightly from that of annealing point.

iv. Decoration section

This section performs trade mark and advertisement printing on the bottle with a maximum
of three different colors which fixed the screen on the decoration machine and finally sent to the
product store.
 QUALITY CONTROL
The Quality control is a product which is accomplished by different control mechanisms like:
i. Chemical analysis on the incoming raw material
ii. Process control and set standards e.g. Bottles, weight, capacity
iii. Final product control
Chemical analysis: - on the incoming raw materials is done to check the active chemical
composition of the raw materials required for process.
Process control: - is a controlling mechanism on process parameters such as temperature,
pressure, feed flow rate, level control etc.
The objective of process control are to confirm that at any particular stage the quality is
satisfactory & to detect any trends to standard work as easily as possible so that corrective action
can be taken before the products actually become reject able.
Product control: - is done on products emerging from the annealing lehr either by manual or an
automatic inspection or, more frequent a combination of both product control is also done on
products after forming machine for some parameter like density verticality test etc…..
The quality control section of Addis Ababa Bottle & Glass S.C. performs the following tests.
- Pressure test is done by filling the product with water and put it under pressure (maximum
permissible) this test is very important for carbonated beverage containers.
- Thermal shock test is done by putting the product for a temperature gradient. This test ensures
the product will pass apostatizing operation of bottling industries.
- Stress check up on products by using a polar scope

17
 Dimensional test
- Vertically test – checks the horizontal deviation of the center of the product from a vertical line
through the center of the base.
- Height test :- checks the standard height of the product
Weight test
- Capacity: - attest which checks the standard volume capacity of a product by emptying the
contents of a product in to a standard measure and compare it with the specific graduation on the
measuring vessel.
- Batch preparation: - test that is done in a mixer to prepare the required formulation of the raw
material before sending to the furnace hoper (i.e. moisture content).
Chemical analysis
- Alkalinity test on soda ash as of sodium carbonate content in addition to the above test the
section perform moisture content test on pet cock, sieve analysis test on soda ash, limestone
silica also air drying.

18
 2.2) Process flow

Silica Lime Soda other Cullet

sand stone ash

Batch
preparation Cullet washer

Melting&
refining Cullet crusher

Conditioning

Forming

Annealing

Internal
recycling
Finishing

Glass internal recycling

product

19
20
 Chapter three
3.1) Silica sand beneficiation
Literature review
Silica is a name given to a group of minerals composed of one atom of silicon and two atoms of
oxygen resulting in a chemical formula SO2. Both silicon and oxygen are the most abundant
elements in the earth crust silicon are found commonly in the crystalline state and rarely in
amorphous state resulting from weathering and plant fossilization.

Silica sand is the chief raw material for glass making. It is hard and chemically inert and has high
melting point attributable to the strength of bond between atoms, mainly the non-reactive
properties makes it an indispensable ingredients in the production of glass making.

For a particular source of sand to be suitable for glass making, It must not only contain a very
high proportion of silica and also should not contain more than strictly limited amount of certain
metallic elements. The quality of glass depends primarily on the quality of raw materials used.

There are two methods of upgrading of silica sand. Firstly, the undersized and oversized which
might lead to inhomogeneity, in the glass melt must be removed and become approximately
uniform size. The second, the color bearing impurities must be reduced to an acceptable level.

The major color bearing which encountered great difficulties for glass manufacturer iron which
is the most common impurity specially for clear and flint glass, chromium minerals which may
melt if fine enough and will color the glass, chromite will not melt and cause flows in the glass
leading to fractures, aluminum, magnesium, calcium and alkalis (sodium and potassium) levels
affect the melting properties and should be kept at consistent levels.

Those impurities are not always undesirable small amount of iron are sometimes necessary to
develop a certain glass color. During melting, these impurities often influence heat radiation in to
the glass, and during forming, they affect the heat loss to the mold or environment. Iron()
sulfide(FeS) and Iron pyrite(FeS2) produce amber colored glass. Green glass uses sodium
dichromate or iron chromite. Especially iron() gives the glass a green color therefore these iron()
ion used as a chemical decoration, the iron oxidized to its weakly colored trivalent state by
increasing the oxygen fugacity of the melt, usually by adding oxygen producing compounds such
as As2O5(arsenates) Sb2O5(antimonates), KNO3 ,NaNO3,Na2SO4 and CeO2. From these we can
realize that the redox state, determined by the oxygen fugacity of the melt, determines the color
of the glass, because dissolved oxygen has a strong influence on the redox state of polyvalent ion
such as iron, chromium sulfur in the melt. The color of the glass is very much dependent on the
oxidation state of these ions.

21
In order to get a desired silica sand, there are different methods that are commonly applied to
beneficiate it such as washing to remove fine fractions, screening to remove oversize and coarser
particles, physical cleaning of sand particles by attrition, removal of contaminants by gravity
separation, flotation or magnetic separation.

AAB&GSC have its own silica quarry around Derba in the Mugger valley. And earlier the
company uses washing, screening process and magnetic separation to beneficiate the silica but
now the company uses screening and magnetic separation process. The reason for the
compulsion to leave the washing process is that the amount of impurities found in the silica
sand doesn’t have that much effect on the product reversely the alumina that are carried by the
silica grains as a surface.

Staining used as condemn and it gives strength for the making glasses and tolerate the company
to minimize the amount of trickle (reject) cullet. Magnetic separation method used to trap
metallic contaminants which are not desirable in glass manufacturing sand such as Iron oxide,
Chromite and Titanium oxide by using magnetic separation.

Screening method accomplished by passing materials either in the dry or wet state through a
screen. AAB&GSC marches drying process and makes the silica suitable for screen analysis.
Generally we have two methods of drying silica sand

 the slower method and

 the rapid method,

The slower method is allowing the sand to settle through coils of steam pipes but this method
needs more time than the rapid method.

Rapid method is effected by rotary dryer. In this company the drying process performed by two
steps first on the drainage area with the help of sunlight and second by using rapid method.

The rotary dryer consists of relatively long cylindrical shell mounted on rollers and drive at low
speed. The shell is supported at small angle to the horizontal so the silica which came from
storage area fed in at the higher end will travel through the dryer under gravity and hot gases
used as a drying medium feed in either at the upper end of the dryer to give co-current flow or at
discharge end of the machine to give counter current flow.

The shell of a rotary dryer is usually constructed by welding rolled plate, thick enough for the
transmission of the torque required to cause rotation, and to support its own weight and weight of
silica in the dryer. The shell is usually supported on large tires which run on wide rollers. In
counter current the gases are often exhausted by a fan, there is a slight vacuum in the dryer. So
the rate of heat transfer is minimum at the feed end, a great deal space is taken up with heating
the silica. But in co-current flow the rate is maximum since the wet silica and the inlet gas travel
in the same direction. It rises to rapid surface drying and AAB&GSC uses co-current flow in the

22
drying process. And it is advantageous for the company. Since the drying action arise from direct
contact with hot gases, some form of lifter is essential to distribute the material in the gas stream.
This may take the form of flights. Those flights lift the silica sand and shower it across the gas
stream. Therefore the presence of flights in the dryer have a great effect on the amount of gases
consumed for drying process. Barely AAB&GSC dryer have had only 20 flights and consume a
large amount of fuel and now it have 100 flights. As a result the amount of fuel consumed is
lower than the previous time.

Fuel reading before and after the addition of flights

Before After
Tone/day Fuel Tone/day Fuel
consumption(L) consumption(L)
32 329 64 448
72 628 48 545
48 430 80 658
32 330 64 355
Average fuel required to dry one tone of a silica sand before the addition of the flights was 9.35
liters. But after the flights are added it reduces to 7.8liters. it reduces by 1.55l/ton or 22.94
l/hopper. As we see from this result the flight has a great role in determining the fuel
consumption.

Silica sand in process

magneti screenin
transpor place in
c g batch
ted from storage dryed
separati operatio house
quarry area
on n

23
From the whole process of silica we select the screening operation. This process determines the
amount of fuel that have to be used, life time of the furnace and also the quality of the produced
glass. Even though it has a great role, it doesn’t get the appropriate attention before. The screen
in AAB&GSC is very old and it passes through different maintenance it loses its first
appearance. It have different problem that will be discussed below. Solving those problems will
have a great role on improving the fuel efficiency which is the current main problem of the
company.

Purpose of mechanical screening

During operations it is necessary or convenient at various stages in the processing to separate
the material in to particular lots designated by a certain size dimension .This is done by
screening.

Screening is a process that uses a media such as mesh or perforated plate to separate a
material based on particle size. While screening is often the most accurate, economical, and
common separation technique, also it can be the separation of a mixture of solid particles of
various sizes in to two or more fractions by means of a screening surface.

Sieving is a simple technique for separating particles of different size. Coarse particles are
separated or broken up by grinding against one another and screen openings. Depending up on
the types of particles to be separated, sieves with different types of holes are used. They also
used to separate stones from sand.

Industrial screens are made from metal bars, woven wire cloth, silk bolting cloth, perforated or
slotted metal plates .many varieties and types of screens are available for different purpose but
we will discuss few representative types.

The screening operation is industrially carried out in order to:

(1) Prevent and incompletely crushed material (over size) from entering in to other unit
operation.

(2) remove the fines from a finished product prior to shipping

(3) Produce a commercial or process grade material to meet specific particle size limits.

(4) To grade particles in to quantities of a specified size

(5) To have a correctly sized product from on operation

24
(6) Is used to make a final separation to produce saleable products based on a grade or a size
range.

(7) is used to separate wanted elements from unwanted material or for characterizing the
particle size distribution of a sample, typically using a woven screen such as a mesh or net or
metal; and

(8) to have a correctly sized feed to an operation.

Sizing is done by screens and is usually done dry, but can also be done wet; though there is no
mixing of the two and damp feed will not screen as well. The purpose of the screen is to hold
back the particles as over size which are too large to pass through the screen openings, and to
allow to pass as under size all those particles small enough to drop through, making a
separation of (+) particles remaining and (-) particles passing through.

Screening of silica sand

Silica sand mostly consists of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Silica sand is the primary component of all
types of standard and specialty glass. It provides the essential SiO2 component of glass
formulation and its chemical purity is the primary determinant of colour, clarity and
strength. Industrial sand is used to produce flat glass for building and automotive use, container
glass for foods and beverages, and tableware. In its pulverized form, ground silica is required for
production of fiber glass insulation and reinforcing glass fibers. Specialty glass applications
include test tubes and other scientific tools, incandescent and fluorescent lamps, television and
computer CRT monitors.

After washing and fine screening silica sand is used in glass industry for the production of flat
and round glass and in the foundry industry for mold making. Sand containing less than 0.023%
iron is suitable for the production of translucent (white) glass. For this mostly very fine silica
sand of a particle size between 0.1 and 0.4 mm and a humidity of less than 5% is used.

Besides this silica sand is used for the production of ceramics and fiber glass, in the chemical
industry and in abrasives, as molding sand as well as non-plastic material resp. filler.

In ceramic industry silica sand as non-plastic material reduces the drying loss but at the same
time downgrades the ductility of the ceramics and it becomes brittle. Mostly silica sand is used
as very fine sand with a high purity to avoid unwanted discoloring.

Fiber glass is used as glass fiber cable for data transmission and for the production fiber
reinforced plastics by spinning of glass fine fibers with a defined diameter.

25
Factors which can affect Screening
Screen area
 Material(feed curve, moisture content, bulk density, material type , particle shape, %
half size, % under size)
 Media (media material, hole shape/size, open area)
 Machine ( machine type, inclination , movement, speed, direction, width/length)
 Duty (separation size, fraction length , accuracy , wet or dry, capacity)

The screening process however is complicated by the fact that in practice a layer of particles are
charged on to a screen and the probability of particles at the bottom of the layer and against
the screen surface passing through the screen will be greater than those at the top of the layer.
Also the particle size distribution on the screen is not uniform.

Two factors are in operation first, due to uneven stratification of the particle layers on the
screen surface, under size particles may not reach the screen surface due to excessive bed
depth. Secondly, the probability of passing when the under size particles do reach the surface.

A screen is said to behave perfectly if, in a mixture of different size of silica, a particle size of
silica which is less than the screen aperture is separated from the mixture.

Screening performance is affected by many factors, the important of which are particle shape.
Particles can be various shape; granular, spherical, cylindrical, etc. Regular shapes such as
spherical often allow for relatively sharp separations. Screening of irregular shapes (e.g
elongated, sliver –like, plate-like, generally produce in accurate separations since the particles
enter the screen openings at many different angles.

Particle shape can also cause screen blinding, in which particles of silica slightly larger than the
screen openings plug the openings. Crystalline particles and spherical particles are particularly
prone to blinding.

Blinding is when there is a decrease in the open area of a screen due to coating or plugging. We
are going to focus on plug blinding as it is become more prevalent due to the increase in
recycling. Plug blinding occurs when you are screening material that contains particles with
irregular shapes similar to candy corn where the point can fall in to a screen opening and then
gets stuck or plug the opening which prevents fine materials from passing. Eventually the
screen section can lose its screening effectiveness as more of these particles plug in to the

26
screen openings. Since this material wedge in to the screen opening, the vibration energy used
to screen the material is not always sufficient to knock them out of the openings.

3.2) Negative effects of blinding

The main purpose of drying of silica sand is that to pass the screening operation without
blinding the screen which requires a lot of fuel. The drying process is used to dry the wet silica
sand below the moisture content of five percent. Below this moisture content particles of silica
sand can pass the screen without any interference or blinding. Currently we are using 7.8 litters
of fuel to dry 1 ton of silica sand it will increase depending on the probability of blinding of the
screen.

Proper usage;
5.12lit = per1 ton of silica

75.776 lit = for 14.8 ton

Currently usage;
7.8 lit = per 1 ton of silica

115.44 lit= per14.8 ton

115.44-75.776= 39.664 lit/hopper

This means we use additional fuel of 39.664 lit per hopper.

If 1 lit of fuel = 14.41 birr

39.664lit= ?

(39.664 X 14.41) /1 =571.558 birr/hopper

This means we have 571.558 birr loose per hopper. Depending on the amount of blinding the
usage of the fuel and also the loose of money for fuel will increase with increasing of blinding.

Blinding of a screen can cause many problems from that;

 The life time of the furnace will be shorter( effect of over size)
 Time required for melting will increase
 Fuel consumption will increase to melt the oversize particles

27
  Electrical power consumption will increase
 Financial crisis will occur

Screening problems
Problem Cause

Off-spec end production to  Hole or tear in screen

many oversize particles
Off-spec end production too
many fines
Screen blinding
material by pass
 Large screen opening
 Screen opening to
small
 Severely blinded
screen
 Screen overloaded
 Wire diameter too
heavy
 Screen overloaded
 Adhesive property of
material

Fuel required for drying a given tone of silica sand

The latent heat of vaporization of water at 100ºc is 2257KJ/Kg. This implies that 1Kg of water
needs 2257KJ of energy to evaporate and we know that from screening principle if a given
material has a moisture content of 5% or less it can undergo screening operation without blinding
the screen.

1Kg of water =2257KJ

0.05Kg of water =112.85KJ

One liter of naphtha creates 44000KJ/Kg of energy. From this to create 112.85KJ of energy
needs 0.00256 liters of naphtha.

The dryer hopper can hold 14.8ton of silica sand from which if we assume 15% (2220kg) is
water the fuel required to evaporate the 10%(1480kg) and remain 5% of water from the silica
is75.776liters.by this amount of fuel we can dry 14.8ton (5.12l/ton) of silica without sticking of
silica in the surface of the dryer cylinder and without blinding the screen during the screening
operation.

28
 Selection of screen size and type
Screening is defined as a mechanical process which accomplishes a separation of particles on the
bases of size and their acceptance to rejection by a screening surface. The basic method of
operation of a screen is very simple. The screen presents a barrier to the passage of oversize
material while it readily passes under size material. It is only necessary to ensure that each
particle has an opportunity to pass through the screen. Screens can be stationary or the screen can
vibrate which increase the rate of presentation of each particle and assists in moving over size
material over and away from the screening surface.

Because of the need to produce a material to a rigid specification the vibrating screen has taken
on more prominence than other screens. The proper type and a sufficient quantity to
economically produce the size and tonnages needed can mean the success or the failure of an
operation.

The existing spacing of the screen

0.56m

3.51m 0.8m

1.02m

29
 Fig; existing screen placement

Design of new screen

The performance of any screening machine can be expressed in two variables capacity and
efficiency of the screen.

Screen capacity:-is specified at tons of feed per hour per square meter of screen.

Screen efficiency (effectiveness):-is a measure of the success of a screen in closely separating

material A&B. if the screen functioned perfectly, all of material A would be in the over flow and
all of material B would be in the under flow. The overall chance of passage of a given particle is
a function of the number of times the particle strikes the screen surface and probability of
passage during a single contact.

If a screen is over loaded the number of contact will become small and the chance of passage on
contact is reduced by the interference of the other particle.

The effectiveness of a screen depends on the length of the screen and on the number of contacts
between particle and screen surface.

30
The two most important design features of screen are:-

 Surface and aperture

 Types of screen

1. Surface and aperture:-at a fixed screen capacity efficiency is likely to decrease as

aperture size decrease. The aperture size needed for sizing of a sand is 0.7mm so we will
use this aperture to the new screen.
2. Types of screen:-there are many types of screens, but they can be reduced to five types.
 Stationary and straight
 Stationary and curved
 Vibrating straight
 Vibrating curved
 Cylindrical and revolved

From the five above vibrating curved is preferable. The vibration of the screen will protect the
screen from blinding and it accelerates the movement of particles through the screen. The curve
(angle of the screen) gives adequate speeds of materials and a low thickness of feed material at
the inlet and fines are screened immediately at the first section of the screen.

There are four types of screen angles.

 Single inclination
 Double inclination
 Triple inclination and
 Multiple inclination
Benefits of multiple inclinations are:-
 Improved efficiency in sizing materials due to formation of a thin bed
depth
 Smaller foot print
 Low energy requirement for an equivalent through put on a conventional
deck screen
 Higher feed rate for an equivalent deck area

Banana screening method and banana screen

Banana screening method is proposed by French scholar E.Burslein in 1960s based on the
theory of particles motion on the screen surface. The basic principle is that the screen surface
is partitioned according function. At the feed end large thrown index and high rate of
material flow are used to make the material layers thin and segregate quickly. At the middle
ordinary thrown index and high material flow rate are applied to prompt segregated materials

31
 to penetrate through the screen aperture. At the discharge end the thrown index and rate of
material flow reduces to the standard of normal screening machine, so the screen surface
material can stay longer and fully penetrate through the screen compared to normal
screening method.

Banana screening method has the following advantages

 The thickness of material layers on screen plate is uniform by using the banana
screening method. The probability of small particles contacted with the screen surface
is significantly increased, which can improve the ability of particles for penetrating
though the screen aperture.
 Different throwing intensities are adopted for different sections of the screen plate to
strengthen the screening process.
 The particles velocity on screen surface is increased, which can purify the screen
surface to a certain degree. Accordingly the screen surface can keep clean and reduce
hole blocking (blinding phenomenon).

Compared with traditional screen machines the main difference are that multi-deck screen plate
with different inclination angle is adopted which changes from steep at the feed end to flat at the
discharge end.

Since the main problem of the current screen is blinding we can solve it by:-

 Increasing the vibration of the vibrator by increasing its amplitude and frequency
 Using balls at the back of the screen so when the screen vibrates it will clear the screen
when it bounces between the two layers
 Using wires that are extended above the screen so it will reduce the silica which is
adhesively attached with itself.

Using that information we can design an effective screen for screening of silica sand for glass
manufacturing process.

32
 Key geometrical and vibrational parameters of the
Screen model
ITEM PARAMETERS

Screen deck size(length × width) 3.51m×1m

Aperture size 0.71mm
Screen deck number 3
Inclination of each deck(º) 5º,15º,18º
Vibration motion Vertical motion
Vibration amplitude (A/mm) × 2
Vibration frequency(f/Hz) 14.95

To determine the size of screen use the formula:-

Area= TF-oversize/A×B×C×D×E×F where-TF=total feed to screen

Oversize=amount of feed larger than the deck opening A, B, C, D, E, F=factors obtained
from table

From a sieve analysis:-

Sieve 850 500 300 180 150 106 <106

opening(µm)
Trial1 1.02 0.73 0.43 15.43 31.93 37.71 12.75
Trial2 2.42 0.5 0.6 18.3 33.6 36.6 7.98
Trial3 2.54 0.03 0.21 22.28 32.04 35.5 7.40
Trial3 2.1 0.3 0.3 13.6 31.2 41.7 10.8
Trial4 1.01 0.3 0.6 13.62 27.98 38.19 18.48
Trial5 1.97 0.68 0.36 20.53 32.45 35.56 8.54

The average oversize=2.212g

TF=100g

Desired efficiency=94%

Amount of feed finer than the required size=13.19g

33
A=1.01 B=1.13 C=1.00 D=50 F=1(top) F=0.90(second) F=0.7(third)

Area1= 1.17m2 area2=1.17 m2 area3=1.17m2 total area= 3.52m2

Material balance on the screen

Mf=10ton/hr. MP
Screen

Mf=Mp + Mr Mr Mf- feed mass flow rate

Mp-product mass flow rate

Mr- mass flow rate for removal

10ton/hr. =MP + 0.221ton/hr.

Mp=9.779ton/hr.

Mf*xf=MP*xp+Mr*xr
Xf = (Mp*xp+Mr*xr)/Mf
Xf =0.95
Conclusion
From our project we can analyze that the type and the capacity of the
screen that exist in a company have a great effect on the fuel that the
company consumed for drying. And at present this fuel consumption
covers a large financial cost of the factory.

34
 3.3) Recommendation
- Replacing the current screen by new screen
- Improving the frequency and amplitude of the vibrator
- Controlling the fuel usage of the dryer

Chapter four
Overall benefits of internship
During this internship program, we gained different benefits that helps us to relate the theoretical
knowledge with practical and also helps us to gain experiences and to improve our
communication skills. An internship offers a chance to learn and discover different elements that
may interest in any area. Some benefits of internships are:

Improving practical skills

 An internship can be seen as the pinnacle of our undergraduate education and give us the
chance to use the skills we have learned in the classroom in a real-world setting. It’s a
chance to prove the worth of our q from qualifications and to show that we can perform
in the role we have been given.
 An internship provides the opportunity to gain hands on work experience that we just
can’t get in the classroom. Depending on the fact I get many things from internship

35
 especially on the course of maintenance. During this internship period, we are gained
different practical skill. We spend most of our working time on the protection of the
health of the machines.
 So that we able to improve our preventive and maintenance skills. This can be performed
by inspecting the operating machine, identifying, and estimating the problem and the
operating period of the parts of the machines, and also we see at that interval should be
the maintenance activities takes place for the parts of the machines. During this period,
we are also worked in the workshop room of the company. In this workshop room
different types of formation and maintenance activities takes place, such as formation and
maintenance of shafts, bolts and other parts of the machines.

Upgrading theoretical skills

During this period of internship we are also, upgrade our theoretical knowledge by relating the
theoretical knowledge with practical. For example, we see the condition when the machines fail.
At what conditions the machines requires maintenances activities, this can be done by identifying
which we learn in theoretically. In addition, we see so many machine parts and their application
area that we know before in theoretically.

Improving interpersonal communication skills

This internship program also helps for improving interpersonal communication skills. There also
so many opportunities for improving interpersonal communication skill during the working
period in the company. The worker of company are interested to answer whatever questions that
we want to ask and also their good facial expression which invite us to talk with them more. This
is the main means, which helps us to improve our interpersonal communication skills. this
opportunity helps us to know how to introduce our self, how to ask information and when and
where to get it.

Improving team playing skill

The other thing that we gained from this internship during is how to improve our team playing
skills. During this period, we improve our listening and analyzing before saying or putting
something on the topics of the negotiation and also we improve our creativities of the new idea

36
on the topics and the ability to make a decision. Internship is making us a great way to meet
people in our field. Even if you have experience, knowing people never hurts. An internship
allows us to meet people who might help us land a job later on and give us the contacts in the
industry we are trying to break into.

Improving leadership skills

The main point we gained during this internship for improving our leadership skills is to have a
confidence in the position we have and the ability to make a decision on the issues that concerns
us. Getting experience is a great way to build our confidence after we have done an internship. if
an interviewer asks if we know how to do something. During this period we gained the way of
improving our leadership skills by the help of our supervisor by means of observing how he
leads his workers and how he solves a problem comes from the workers.

Work ethics & related issues

In this internship during we understand the work ethics related issues. In this duration we
understand we have to work hard in addition to working hard it is also to work smart. This means
learning the most efficient way to complete tasks and finding ways to save time while
completing daily assignments. This also important to care about our job and complete all
projects. Doing more than is expected on the job is a good way to show management that we
utilize good time management skills and don’t’ waste valuable company time attending to
personal issues not related to the job. This ways are:

 Being dependability and responsibility

 Possessing a positive attitude
 Honesty and integrity

Improving entrepreneurship skills

This company helps us to improve our internship skills. Personal vision and a mission by means
of putting us on top and observing as we are the creator of solution for problems. This helps us to work
hard and to find and analysis a solution for problems of the company. Like improving the way of
removing the dust which produced from the drier during drying the washed sand which is polluting the

37
communities living in the condominium house and students which nearby1 school. This helps us to
improve our entrepreneurship skill.

Conclusion
Internship program provide us many knowledge and experiences in many ways like:-The spirit
of working together and cooperativeness ,Communication & interaction with colleague ,Gave us
the chance to change theoretical knowledge to practical or real knowledge The ability of making
decisions and taking responsibility ,The skill of giving a solution for specific Problems and
Develop our self-confidence and professionalism.

Recommendation
As internship program gave an opportunity to change the student to change theoretical
knowledge into practical or real world and exposes the student to exercise the real world life, we
strongly recommended to be continue in a manner that it achieves its goal.

Reference

1. Process design for chemical engineering (4thedition)

2. Thermodynamic property
3. Mineral process hand book
4. Coulsen and Richardson chemical engineering
5. Basics in mineral processing
6. Hand book of glass production

38