APPLICATION OF PARABOLIC SOLAR HEATER FOR REDUCING

PROCESSING COST AT ALUMINIUM ANODIZING PLANT

Shantanu Welekar†
Priyadarshini College of Engineering, India.

ABSTRACT
This paper deals with how an improvement in productivity can be achieved in
anodizing of aluminium by reducing processing cost by using parabolic trough solar
collector. The paper describes the case study of an aluminium anodizing plant,
which suffers from high production cost due to high gas consumption involved in
etching and sealing process in anodizing. The paper shows how quality
improvement group/project team achieves the cost savings by analysing energy
consumption at different processes in the plant. Project team finds out maximum
consumption of gas (energy) in the etching and sealing process of aluminium
anodizing. To bring down this gas consumption, project group suggest various
alternatives and comes out with a parabolic solar heating trough for heating of acid
and water for etching and sealing process of aluminium. By installing solar parabolic
trough, the paper establishes that the gas consumption is reduced, productivity is
increased, and maintenance is reduced.

KEYWORDS
Aluminium anodizing, quality improvement group, cost savings, solar parabolic
heater.

INTODUCTION
Arunudoy industry is an aluminium anodizing plant situated in MIDC, Nagpur in
central India. The schematic below (Figure 1: Aluminium Anodizing Process) explains
the process flow at Arunudoy Industries. Anodizing of the aluminium product is
carried out following a demand push approach. The company caters to the supply
of aluminium window panels and other applications requiring an anodized surface
finish. With an increasing number of competitors and existing high processing cost,
profit margins kept on declining, due to which the anodizing plants were forced to
look and adopt cheaper and nonpolluting technologies to reduce processing cost
and comply with tight government norms. Most of the plants installed renewable
energy sources to bring down operating costs. In this industry, a solar parabolic
trough is used as a heater for etching and sealing of aluminium process along with
conventional LPG (liquid petroleum gas) burners. The solar heater helped in the
initial heating of acid up to 40°c; as a result, a lot of gas was saved for initial heating
which brought down processing costs by up to 15 to 18 %.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF ORGANIZATION

Plant name - Arunudoy Industry MIDC Buti Bori, Nagpur

Phone - 07103-645026
E-mail - [email protected]
Production - Anodizing of Aluminium Products. Arunuday industry is in aluminium
Anodising Industry situated In 5-star zone, MIDC Buti Bori in Nagpur, Maharashtra,
India.

ANODIZING PROCESS

The process flow diagram of aluminium Anodizing is as below:

Aluminium Finished
raw Polishing Cleaning Etching Desmut Anodising Coloring Sealing anodized
materal product

Figure 1: Aluminium Anodizing Process

Polishing: Buffing wheels or mops are used to remove any minor scuffing or dyeline
from the surface by mechanically polishing the surface of aluminium when it arrives
from mills. Polishing removes major surface irregularities, which usually cannot be
removed by cleaning. In order to get uniform chemical etching on the specimen,
polishing and cleaning is very essential. Even after polishing, rolled, cast or extruded
aluminium surface can be spoiled and may contain:

 Grease and other carbonaceous deposits.

 Traces of oil based lubricants from die casting, forging, and rolling.
 Heavy oxide films after heat treatment.
 Moreover, other contaminations like polishing compounds or sanding grits.

Cleaning process is carried out to remove the above contaminants. The specimen
shall be free from all these contaminants as these interfere in uniform application of
chemical etchant on the surface of specimen. The specimens are cleaned in a
caustic soda of 15 to 20% concentration for 3.5 mins at room temperature followed
by degreasing process by GARDD clean 70RL,3 to 4% for 10 to 15 mins at 65-70°c
and finally by rinsing process by DM Water of PH of 6 for 3 minutes at room
temperature.
Figure 2: Cleaning tanks, Polisher machine, and polished aluminium bars at
Arunoday Industries (clockwise).

Etching: Etching of aluminium is done by dipping Aluminium in diluted sulphuric

acid at about 30°c. The aluminium specimen is dipped in a sulfuric acid bath where
the time spent after immersion in the bath determines the depth of the resultant
etching.

The time is calculated by the formula, 𝑬 = 𝑺/𝒕

Where, E=Rate of etching, S=Depth of cut required and t=Total immersion time

The material to be etched, concentration and composition of the solution,

temperature conditions decides the etch rates. Aluminium is commonly etched at
the rate of around 0.178 cm/hr[1]. The depth of etching increases when higher
etching temperatures are used. The highest depth of etching is obtained at c.50°c
[2]. This is due to the chemical activation of the etchant at high temperatures; the

etchant becomes more active for etching at these temperatures. Best surface quality
was obtained at either 20 or 40°c [2], It is also observed that etching period should
be kept longer to make the etching more stable.
Figure 3: Etching tanks

Desmutting: The Alkaline cleaning solution for aluminium such as caustic soda
(NaOH) reacts with aluminium and the alloying elements (aluminium is mostly not
in pure form and has alloying elements in it) to form complex oxides, aluminium
hydroxides and other complex intermetallic compounds which are not soluble in the
etching solution and remains on the surface in form of smut. Desmutting is a
process to remove this smut from the surface for proper anodizing to happen.
Aluminum is dipped into a desmut solution GARDOBOND 7161 of concentration
(1.5 to 2%) for 3.5 min at room temperature to remove the insoluble components of
the aluminum which remain on the surface after etching, rinsed and is then taken
for anodizing.

Anodizing: Aluminium reacts with oxygen to form aluminium oxide layer on its
surface but its thickness is not sufficient (0.01μm) to provide adequate corrosion
resistance [3]. Anodizing is a passivation process to increase the thickness of the
natural oxide layer on the surface of the metal. Anodizing of aluminium is done
where the aluminium specimen itself acts as an anode in an electrolytic solution. In
an electrolytic cell with aqueous sulfuric acid as electrolyte and Aluminium specimen
as anode with passage of electric current the following overall oxidation reaction
occurs.

2𝐴𝑙 + 3𝐻2 𝑂 → 𝐴𝑙2 𝑂3 + 6𝐻 + + 6𝑒 −

With the passage of electric current, the sulfuric acid decomposes to form positively
charged hydrogen ions where they are reduced as hydrogen gas at cathode. At the
same time, negatively charged hydroxide and oxide anions are formed which moves
toward the anode. At the anode with the passage of current through the aluminium,
the positively charge aluminium ions are formed which reacts with oxide ions to form
aluminium oxide. A dense even layer of oxide of about 0.08μm thick is formed
rapidly, which is called as a barrier layer, followed much more slowly with a more
porous layer of 25μm thick. The thickness of the anodic film is determined by the
time in the anodizing tank, usually between 15 to 30 minutes. The quality of the
anodic film is dependent on the temperature and concentration of the electrolyte
and the current density applied. Post the formation of barrier layer the anodic film is
of a very porous hexagonal structure. The pores allows the positive aluminium ions
to react with negative oxide ions to further form oxide layer, the pores can also
expose the surface to corrosion and hence must be sealed.

The anodizing process can be carried out using different electrolytic media and
concentration depending upon the surface quality required. Usually a sulfuric acid
bath of 10% at 18°c for 15-30 mins at 14-18 Volts with a current density of 1-2A/dm2
produces thickness of 5-17μm with colorless transparent film which is hard but
unsuitable for coloring [4].

A commercial chromic acid bath of 5-10% concentration at 40°c for 60 minutes from
0-50V with a current density of 0.3A/dm2 produces film thickness of 4-7μm of gray
to iridescent color which has good chemical resistance but poor abrasion resistance;
suitable for parts with narrow cavities [4].

At Arunoday industries a DC (direct current 18V and 2,500A) is passed between the
aluminum that is made the anode (positive terminal), the electrolyte and a cathode
followed by rinsing process by demineralized water.

Figure 4: Anodizing tanks

Coloration: Coloring or dyeing involves filling the pores of anodized aluminium
before sealing. Dyestuffs bonds to the oxide layer of the anodized aluminium.

Electrolytic coloring is the most common method for coloring of the anodized
aluminium. After sulfuric acid anodizing, the specimen is rinsed thoroughly and is
dipped into an acidic electrolyte bath containing dissolved metallic salts. In
electrolytic coloring an alternating electric current is passed at about 18V for 45
minutes to form golden color on aluminum. It is the most important method for
coloring anodized aluminum today. It produces attractive finish and heat fastness
and is easy to perform. The anodized work is dipped in a tank containing colored
salts for electrolysis process; generally, there are 15 to 20 color salts available in
market.

Table 1: Metallic salts for coloring anodized aluminium.[3]

Composition Concentration/ g L Voltage Time Color

CuSo4 20
10
15V-ac Bronze black
H3Bo3 25 min
(NH4)2SO4 15
NiSo4,H3BO3 30-170 15-30 V 30min Bronze
SnSo4 5-20 15-30 2-10
Bronze black
H2So4 5-50 V-ac min

Figure 5: Coloring samples

Sealing: After anodizing process, the thick porous layer of aluminium oxide is
formed. Air and water can penetrate through the pores to the substrate of
aluminium and initiate corrosion if not sealed. Sealing process involves keeping the
anodized aluminium in a hot (96-100°c) deionized water for 15-30 minutes and a
hydrated aluminium oxide called as Boehmite is formed in the pores.

𝐴𝑙2𝑂3. 𝐻2𝑂 𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑙𝑂. 𝑂𝐻: 𝐴𝑙2𝑂3 + 𝐻2𝑂 → 2𝐴𝑙𝑂. 𝑂𝐻

Boehmite is a hard, transparent material with a greater volume than the aluminium
oxide and it seals the pores. As a result, the chances of corrosion are reduced. The
durability of the surface is affected by the quality of sealing and if the duration of the
sealing is short, the pores may remain open with the surface being exposed to
corrosive agents.

Nickel acetate is commonly used along with water at 98-100°c for 15-30 minutes to
produce good corrosion resistant colorless seal. Nickel acetate helps in precipitation
of nickel hydroxide in the pores [4].

POWER & GAS CONSUMPTION IN VARIOUS STAGES

After studying the above steps involved in anodizing of aluminium we calculated the
energy consumption at each stage in Rs/month to point out the scope for efficiency
improvement and cost reduction.

Polishing and Cleaning: There are two 7HP motors to do the polishing, working
for approximately 8 hours. If the buffing wheel motors are fully loaded the output
power will be 14HP and units consumed will be = (14*0.746) = 10.44KW
Electrical input power = output power/efficiency*100
Assuming 90% efficiency, input power = 10.44KW/90*100 = 11.6KW
Units consumed = power in KW * no. of hours/day*no. of days/month
Units consumed = 11.6*8*26=2,413 units/month
Assuming Rs. 13 per unit total cost per month is Rs.31, 369/-.

Power consumption for, Anodizing: According to the industrial source, power

consumption for above process is 2,500 amp current and 17 volts.
Wattage is 2,500*17=42.5KW
Units consumed = Power in KW* no. of hours
Units consumed = 42.5*4 hours = 170KWH (Assuming 4 hours of effective time
used for anodizing)
Assuming Rs.13 per unit as the power cost for 1 month total cost comes out to be
= 170*26*13=57,460/-
Etching & sealing: For etching, diluted sulphuric acid is heated at about 30°c
and for sealing of aluminum; water is heated at about 100°c by LPG burners.
Following tables gives gas consumption chart

Table 2: Gas consumption cost per month for etching and Sealing process.
Month Jul–15 Aug–15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15
Total Aval-Hrs/
Month 208 208 208 208 208 208
Idle Hrs/Month
62 60 61 61 60 60
Running
Hrs/Month 146 148 147 147 148 148
Total
Consumption Of
Gas In kg. 1,024 1,034 1,028 1,032 1,038 1,033
(7kg/running Hrs)
Rate Of Gas Rs/kg
90 90 90 90 90 90
Consumption Cost
During The Month
92,160 93,060 92,520 92,880 93,420 92,970
In Rs.

Table 3: Summary of costs at various processing steps of anodizing

Consumption in
Process units or Kg of gas Consumption in Rs. per month.
per month
Polishing and Cleaning 2,413 units 31,369
Anodizing 4,420 units 57,460
Etching & Sealing 1,032 kg gas (Avg) 92,835 (Avg)

From above table and data, we came to conclusion that maximum cost is in etching
and sealing process of aluminum to heat the acid to 30°c and water up to100°c
respectively. Hence, our plan is to minimize the gas consumption to improve the
productivity of plant. To minimize gas consumption a parabolic solar trough is
designed and fabricated to preheat the water at about 70 to 80°c. The temperature
is then increased by LPG gas burners to about 100°c. The preheating saves the
LPG gas consumption, which reduces production cost. We have focused on water
heating and installed the solar parabolic heater only for water heating required in
sealing process. We did not install solar parabolic heater for acid preheating as acid
flow leads to corrosion and maintenance issues for the heater tank and pipes.

WORKINGS

To reduce this heating cost of water for sealing process a solar concentrator
parabolic trough is used to heat the water to optimum temperature of 70 to 80°c and
circulated it to sealing tank for the sealing process.

Figure 6: Solar Parabolic heater fabrication

In central India, almost 300 days are sunny days having an average temperature
of c. 36°c. To trap this solar energy the solar radiations are concentrated on
vacuum-sealed tubes, which absorb radiation and heat the water to about 70 to
80°c. The heated water is pumped into sealing tank, rising the temperature of tank
and then temperature is further raised by LPG gas burners to about 100°c. Due to
this initial heating, lots of gas is saved which ultimately increases saving and
increases productivity.
Parabolic reflector is the vital part of parabolic solar reflector assembly. It can be
fabricated by flat sheet metals (GI sheet) with fine surface finish having buffing or
mirror surface finishing, so that maximum amount of solar radiations can
concentrate at focal line. An evacuated tube is placed on focal line to absorb
concentrated heat radiations. A provision is made for adjusting evacuated tube so
that it should adjust itself exactly on focal line for maximum energy absorption. Due
to the exact location of evacuated tube, solar radiations are trapped inside tube due
to greenhouse effect, which reduces heat loss, and increase temperature. A
provision is also made to tilt the parabolic trough to align with latitude angle.

Principle of working: Sunrays are concentrated at focal line, where evacuated tube
is placed. The radiation is absorbed and transfer to water in the form of heat. As
water is heated at about 100°c its density goes on reducing due to which natural
circulation of water takes place due to density differences, this process is called
thermosiphon process. After some time, temperature of sealing tank reaches to 80-
85°c, which is further increased by gas burners up to 100°c at which hydration of
aluminum oxide takes place, and which in turn, initiates the sealing process.
After the successful installation of parabolic trough collector and plumbing and
fabrication of pipes, we note the temperature of water over period of one day.

Table 4: Temperature profile at the absorber pipe of the solar heater

Ambient Time Temperature of water in
Temperature °c Absorber pipe
32oc 9:00 am 45oc
32oc 10:00 am 88oc
34oc 11:00 am 92oc
35oc 12:00 am 97oc
34oc 1:00 pm 100oc
33oc 2:00 pm 100oc
32oc 3:00 pm 98oc
30oc 4:00 pm 92oc
Gas consumption before and after modification

Table 5: Gas Consumption before and after installation of solar heater

Before Modification After Modification
Gas Rate of Gas Rate of
Consumption Consumption
2015 used gas 2016 used gas
in (Rs) in (Rs.)
(kg) (Rs./kg) (kg) (Rs./kg)
Jan 1,036 90 93,240 Jan 995 90 89,550
Feb 1,020 90 91,800 Feb 880 90 79,200
Mar 1,036 90 93,240 Mar 790 90 71,100
Apr 1,029 90 92,610 Apr 797 90 71,730
May 1,025 90 92,250 May 795 90 71,550
Jun 1,032 90 92,880 Jun 830 90 74,700
Jul 1,024 90 92,160 Jul 1,015 90 91,350
Aug 1,034 90 93,060 Aug 910 90 81,900
Sep 1,028 90 92,520 Sep 935 90 84,150
Oct 1,032 90 92,880 Oct 880 90 79,200
Nov 1,038 90 93,420 Nov 890 90 80,100
Dec 1,033 90 92,970 Dec 950 90 85,500
Installation Expenditure

Table 6: Cost for modification of sealing tank i.e. plumbing and outlet pipes
Sealing tank modification 7,300
Material cost 12,240
Man power cost 15,600
Total (Rs.) 35,140

Table 7: Cost for fabrication of parabolic trough collector

Evacuation tube 24,000
GI material Sheet, angels, paints and nut bolts 14,000
Man power cost 25,056
Total (Rs.) 63,056

Total Installation cost = 98,196

Cost saving calculations:

Total gas consumption in Rs. before modification = 11, 13,030/-

Total gas consumption in Rs. after modification = 9, 60,030 /-
Total Saving in 12 Months = 1, 53,000/-
Total saving in one month = 12,750/-
Total Expenses for Modification = 98,196/-
Total cost of modification is taken out in 8 months.

Conclusion

1. After using solar parabolic collector along with gas burner, the gas consumption
is decreased by approximately 14%.
2. Overall plant and machinery maintenance is marginally reduced because of use
of unconventional solar energy.

REFERENCES

[1] Fishlock, David (8 December 1960). "New Ways of Cutting Metal".

[2] Chemical etching of aluminium, O. C¸ akır Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Dicle University,21280 Diyarbakir, Turkey
www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec.
[3] https://nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/metals/8E.pdf
[4] ASM Handbook, Volume 5: Surface Engineering, Milton F. Stevenson, Jr.,
Anoplate Corporation.
https://materialsdata.nist.gov/dspace/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11115/221/Anodizing.
pdf?sequence=1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Praises and thanks to the God, the Almighty, for his showers of blessings throughout
my research work to complete the research successfully. I would like to express my
deep and sincere gratitude to my research supervisor, Dr. R.L Himte B.E., M.Tech.,
Ph.D., SM IEEE, Professor and Head, Mechanical Engineering, Priyadarshini
institute of Engineering and Technology, for giving me the opportunity to do research
and providing invaluable guidance throughout this research. He has taught me the
methodology to carry out the research and to present the research works as clearly
as possible. It was a great privilege and honor to work and study under his guidance.
I am extremely grateful to my parents for their love, prayers, caring and sacrifices
for educating and preparing me for my future. I am very much thankful to my wife
and my son for their love, understanding, prayers, and continuing support to
complete this research work. In addition, I express my thanks to my brother, for his
support. I would like to say thanks to my friends and research colleagues, Prof. M.S
Dhande, Prof. A.V Gadge, Prof.Poonam Bajpai for their constant encouragement. I
express my special thanks to Mr. Avinash Ingle, Centre for Information Technology
and Engineering, for his genuine support throughout this research work. I am
extending my thanks to the M.Tech. Students of Production Engineering,
Yashwantrao Chavan College of engineering for their support during my research
work. I thank the management of Institute for their support to do this work. Finally,
my thanks go to all the people who have supported me to complete the research
work directly or indirectly.

BIODATA

Mr. Shantanu Welekar

Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Priyadarshini Institute of Engineering and Technology.
Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. Phone: 9561079135.
E-mail: [email protected]
Education: B.Tech. (Mechanical Engineering), YCCE Nagpur. M.Tech. (Production
Engineering), YCCE Nagpur.

Professional Experiences: Assistant Professor, June 2014- Present, Department

of Mechanical Engineering at Priyadarshini Institute Of Engineering And
Technology, Nagpur.