Spray flame

Catalytic methanation processes include (/) fixed or fluidized catalyst-bed reactors where temperature rise is controlled by heat exchange or by direct cooling using product gas recycle (2) through wall-cooled reactor where temperature is controlled by heat removal through the walls of catalyst-filled tubes (J) tube-wall reactors where a nickel—aluminum alloy is flame-sprayed and treated to form a Raney-nickel catalyst bonded to the reactor tube heat-exchange surface and (4) slurry or Hquid-phase (oil) methanation. 

Thermal or Flame Spray Process. The earliest experiments in metal spray used molten metal fed to a spray apparatus, where it was dispersed by a high speed air jet into tiny droplets and simultaneously blown onto the surface of the part to be covered. The metal solidified on contact. Modem processes use a more convenient source than premelted metal. Spray heads using a flame or an electrical arc to melt metal wires or powders directly are much more convenient. These are the only types used on a large scale in the United States. 

Flame spray metallising is widely used for the protection of metal against corrosion, especially for in situ protection of stmctural members. The principal metal used for spraying of plastics is sine. Aluminum and copper are also used. If the distance from the part is too great, the zinc solidifies before it touches the part and adhesion is extremely poor. If the molten zinc oxidizes, conductivity and adhesion are poor. If the distance is too short, the zinc is too hot and the plastic warps or degrades. These coatings are not as dense as electrically deposited coatings because of numerous pores, oxide inclusions, and discontinuities where particles have incompletely coalesced. 

Whereas many of these technologies are not really new, they have never had the regulatory and economic justification for their use in metallizing. Each of these general methods has many variants. Some may be directed to waste treatment, some to recycle, and some to reclaim. An example is filtration, used to prevent release to air of zinc particles from flame spraying, microfiltration of cleaners to extend hfe, in combination with chemical precipitation to remove metal particles from wastewater, and many other uses. 

Powder Coating. Nylon-11 and nylon-12 are used in powder form for anticorrosion coating of metals. Dip coating and electrostatic and flame spraying are used. Dip coating, which involves immersing a preheated article into fluidi2ed nylon powder, is most suitable for automation. 

Flame spraying is no longer the most widely used melt-spraying process. In the power-feed method, powders of relatively uniform size (<44 fim (325 mesh)) are fed at a controlled rate into the flame. The torch, which can be held by hand, is aimed a few cm from the surface. The particles remain in the flame envelope until impingement. Particle velocity is typically 46 m/s, and the particles become at least partially molten. Upon impingement, the particles cool rapidly and soHdify to form a relatively porous, but coherent, polycrystalline layer. In the rod-feed system, the flame impinges on the tip of a rod made of the material to be sprayed. As the rod becomes molten, droplets of material leave the rod with the flame. The rod is fed into the flame at a rate commensurate with melt removal. The torch is held at a distance of ca 8 cm from the object to be coated particle velocities are ca 185 m/s. 

The expander turbine is designed to minimize the erosive effect of the catalyst particles stiU remaining in the flue gas. The design ensures a uniform distribution of the catalyst particles around the 360° aimulus of the flow path, optimizes the gas flow through both the stationary and rotary blades, and uses modem plasma and flame-spray coatings of the rotor and starter blades for further erosion protection (67). 

Although the above applications consume over 90% of the polyethylene produced there are a number of other important end-uses. Filament for ropes, fishing nets and fabrics are an important outlet for high-density polyethylene powdered polymers are used for dip coating, flame spraying, rotational moulding and other outlets, whilst fabricated sheet is important in chemical plant. 

Zinc, aluminum, nickel alloys, cobalt alloys and tungsten carbide are applied for sprayed coatings, which are slightly porous. Flame-sprayed zinc coatings are used for corrosion protection of steel and provide similar properties for galvanized coatings. 

Flame sprayed molybdenum articles have poor corrosion resistance, no doubt owing to the porosity of the coating. However, modern plasma spraying techniques produce a dense coating and this should lead to more widespread use of clad materials such as molybdenum clad steel where the clad product should have the same corrosion resistance as the solid material. 

Rhodium-platinum alloys containing up to 40% Rh are used in the form of wire or ribbon in electrical resistance windings for furnaces to operate continuously at temperatures up to 1 750°C. Such windings are usually completely embedded in a layer of high-grade alumina cement or flame-sprayed alumina to prevent volatilisation losses from the metal due to the free circulation of air over its surface. Furnaces of this type are widely employed for steel analysis, ash fusions and other high-temperature analytical procedures. 

Fischer, K. P., Thomason, W. H. and Finnegan, J. E., Electrochemical Performance of Flame Sprayed Aluminium Coatings of Steel in Water , Paper No. 360, Corrosion/87, San Fransisco, USA, March (1987)... 

In recent years, there has been interest in using zinc as a power-impressed anode for the cathodic protection of steel in concrete. The zinc is flame sprayed onto a grit blasted concrete surface to a final film thickness of approximately 250 m. A primary anode is necessary. Early systems used brass plates as the primary anode, but more recent systems used platinised titanium or niobium wire anodes as the primary current conductor. 

Corrosion Tests of Flame Sprayed Coated Steel-19 Year Report, American Welding Society. Miami (1974)... 

Copper coatings are usually applied by electrodeposition (Section 12.1), although for more limited purposes electroless or immersion deposits are used. Less frequently, copper may also be applied by flame spraying. ... 

General. The flame-sprayed Raney nickel catalyst was used in exexperiments HGR-10, HGR-12, and HGR-14, the pelleted precipitated catalyst in experiment HGR-13. Reactor conditions as a function of... 

Flame-Sprayed Raney Nickel Plates vs. Pellets of Precipitated Catalyst in a Packed Bed. Experiments HGR-13 and HGR-14 demonstrated that the performance of the plates sprayed with Raney nickel catalyst was significantly better than that of the precipitated nickel catalyst pellets. The sprayed plates yielded higher production of methane per pound of catalyst, longer catalyst life or lower rate of deactivation, lower CO concentration in the product gas, and lower pressure drop across the catalyst bed. 

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