Project Location: Tucuman Province, Argentina
Target Product: Architectural Latex Paint (under 2,000 cps)
Annual Capacity: Approximately 15,000 Metric Tons per Year
Project Time: 2024-2025
Customer Challenge
The customer required a fully automated water-based paint plant with precise weighing, dust-free powder handling, and centralized control. Key technical challenges included:
- High-precision additive dosing via load cells on hydraulic lifting tanks, where rigid pipe connections transmit mechanical stress
- Separate high-speed dispersion and low-speed letdown stages for consistent paint quality
- Integration of automatic pail filling and powder bagging into a single production flow
POLYC Solution
POLYC MACHINE engineered a complete turnkey production line with:
- Core Mixing: 2x High-Speed Dispersers + 3x Low-Speed Mixing Tanks
- Control System: Central Siemens PLC with touchscreen automation
- Feeding: Bag dump station with integrated dust collector
- Weighing: Load cells with elastic expansion joints to eliminate mechanical stress
- Pumping & Filtration: Pneumatic transfer pumps with duplex filters
- Packaging: Automatic pail liquid filling and powder bagging line
- Structure: Heavy-duty steel mezzanine platform for multi-level production
Results
The fully automated line was successfully installed and commissioned in Tucuman, Argentina. The customer achieved consistent batch quality, reduced labor requirements, and met the target annual capacity of 15,000 metric tons.
Industry Context
Argentina's architectural coatings market has experienced steady growth driven by construction activity and infrastructure investment in the Tucuman region. Water-based latex paint production requires precise control over pigment dispersion, binder incorporation, and viscosity stability to meet local quality standards for coverage, scrub resistance, and color consistency.
Technical Highlights
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Annual Capacity | 15,000 MT/year |
| Product Viscosity | Under 2,000 cps |
| Dispersion Stage | 2x High-Speed Dispersers |
| Letdown Stage | 3x Low-Speed Mixing Tanks |
| Control System | Siemens PLC with touchscreen HMI |
| Packaging | Automatic pail filling + powder bagging |
Engineering Approach
The line was designed around a multi-level mezzanine layout that uses gravity for material transfer between stages, reducing pump requirements and energy consumption. The high-speed dispersion stage operates at tip speeds of 18-24 m/s for efficient pigment wetting, while the low-speed letdown tanks maintain gentle agitation to prevent shear damage to the binder system. Load cells with elastic expansion joints compensate for thermal expansion and mechanical stress, ensuring dosing accuracy within ±0.1% of target weight.
Related Equipment
Learn more about the core equipment used in this line: High-Speed Disperser, Paint & Coating Production Line, and Basket Mill for smaller batch colorant production.
Recommended equipment
Single Shaft High Speed Disperser (Dissolver) is the relevant POLYC MACHINE configuration for this application.