ABSTRACT

This paper deals with how an improvement in productivity can be achieved in

anodizing of aluminum by reducing processing cost by using parabolic trough solar
collector. The paper describes the case study of an aluminum anodizing plant, which
suffers from high production cost of anodizing of aluminum bars due to high gas
consumptions for heating sulphuric acid for etching process. The paper shows how
quality improvement group/project team achieves the cost savings by analyzing
energy consumption at different processes in the plant. Project team finds out
maximum consumption of gas in the etching process of aluminum anodizing. To
bring down this gas consumption, project group suggest various alternatives and
come out with a parabolic solar heating trough for heating of acid. By installing solar
parabolic trough, the paper establishes that the gas consumption is reduced,
productivity is increased, and maintenance is reduced.

KEYWORDS

Aluminum anodizing, quality improvement group, cost savings, solar parabolic

heater.

INTODUCTION
Arunudoy industry is an aluminum anodizing plant situated in central India at MIDC,
Nagpur. The schematic below explains the process flow at Arunudoy Industries.
Anodizing of the aluminum product is carried out following a demand push
approach. The company caters to the supply of aluminum 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 manufacturers were forced to look and adopt cheaper and nonpolluting
technologies to reduce manufacturing cost and comply with tight government
norms. Most of the manufacturers installed renewable energy sources to bring down
operating costs. In this industry, a solar parabolic trough is used as a heater for
anodizing and sealing of aluminum process along with conventional LPG (liquid
petroleum gas) burners. The solar heater helped in the initial heating of acid up to
40 degrees; as a result, 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 - ArunudayIndustry@sily.com
Production - Anodizing of Aluminum Products. Arunuday industry is in aluminum
Anodising Industry situated In 5-star zone, MIDC Buti Bori in Nagpur, Maharashtra,
India.

ANODIZING PROCESS

The process flow diagram of aluminum Anodizing is as below:

Aluminium Finished
Colorisatio
raw Polishing Cleaning Etching Desmut Anodising anodized
n
materal product

Figure 1: Aluminum Anodizing Process

Cleaning: cleaning of aluminum is done by rinsing and spraying of water on

aluminum bars, which removes deposited impurities. Correct and adequate cleaning
of the aluminum bars prior to anodizing is essential if the finished product is to have
a uniform and attractive appearance. When aluminum arrives from the rolling,
casting or extrusion mills it may be soiled in one or more of the following ways:

 Carbonaceous deposits from the surface of forgings and die-castings.

 Traces of oil-based lubricants.
 Traces of polishing compounds or sanding grits.
 Oxide films from heat treatment.

Cleaning these 'soils' from the surface may prove difficult, especially if the
requirements of the work do not allow etching of the surface. Most cleaning solutions
used are detergent based [1].
Figure 2: Cleaning tanks at Arunoday Industries.

Etching: Etching of aluminum is done by dipping Aluminum in diluted sulphuric Acid

at about 60-70 Degree Celsius. Etching is the actual immersion of the part into the
chemical bath. The time spent after immersion in chemical 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

Etch rates vary based on a number of factors, including the concentration &
composition of the solution, material to be etched and temperature conditions.
Aluminum is commonly etched at the rate of around 0.178 cm/hr. The depth of
etching increases when higher etching temperatures are used. The highest depth
of etching is obtained at c.50-degree Celsius [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 40 or 20
degree Celsius [3], It is also observed that etching period should be kept longer to
make the etching more stable.

Desmutting: It is a process of etching alloy additions left on a surface after

degreasing and etching aluminum. Additions form a Layer on the surface must be
removed for the anodizing to happen.
Figure 3:

Anodizing: Anodizing is a process for producing decorative and protective films on

articles made of aluminum and its alloys. The article is made the anode of an
electrolytic cell with aqueous sulfuric acid as electrolyte where the following overall
oxidation reaction occurs.

2𝐴𝑙 + 3𝐻2𝑂 → 𝐴𝑙2𝑂3 + 6𝐻 + + 6𝑒 −

A dense even layer of oxide about 0.08 μm thick is formed rapidly, followed much
more slowly with a more porous layer up to 25μm thick. Before anodizing the surface
of the article must be thoroughly cleaned, normally using a detergent based process,
and etched with a solution of sodium hydroxide. After anodizing the surface may be
colored with a dye or by an electrolytic method using appropriate metal cations and
then sealed by placing in boiling water, the pores in the oxide layer being closed off
Figure 4:

Coloration: Coloring involves the absorption of a colored dye into the pores of the
oxide coating which becomes fixed after the sealing process has been completed.
Dyestuffs which can bond to the oxide or metal ions in the anodized layer have
better color properties.

The electrolytic coloring is the most important method of coloring anodized

aluminum today. It produces attractive finishes of very great color and heat fastness
and is easy to perform. The anodized work is dipped in a tank containing colored
ions of other metals. Although the Constitution of the solutions is patent, typical
examples of the processes are given below
Figure 5:

Composition Concentration/ g L Voltage Time Color

Cuso4 20
10
15V-ac Bronze black
H3bo3 25 min
(NH4)SO4 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

Sealing: Sealing is the process in which the pores at the surface of the oxide layer
are closed off. It is effected by placing the anodized object in boiling water for a 15
- 20 minute period. In this time the water reacts with the aluminum oxide to produce
the mineral Boehmite

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

Boehmite is a hard, transparent material with a greater volume than the aluminum
oxide. As it forms, it closes off the openings of the pores. As expected, the durability
of the anodized surface, especially in regard to chemical corrosion is greatly
influenced by the effectiveness of the sealing. If the duration of the sealing is too
short the pores, although constricted, remain open for corrosion agents to be in
close proximity to the aluminum surface. Corrosion studies have shown that
anodized aluminum, which has been sealed for 15 minutes or more, has greatly
increased resistance to pitting by chemical corrosion agents such as H+ and Cl.

POWER/GAS/CONSUMPTION IN VARIOUS STAGES

Cleaning: Assuming electric motor is running 8 hours a day, if the motor is fully
loaded it will provide a output power of 3 HP = (3*0.746)=224 KW
Electrical input power = output power/efficiency*100
Assuming 90% efficiency, input power = 224KW/90*100 = 249KW
Units consumed = power in KW * no. of hours
Units consumed = 249*8=19.92 units

Etching & sealing: For etching & sealing of aluminum, diluted sulphuric acid
is heated at about 60-70 degree Celsius by LPG burners.

Power consumption for Desmutting, Anodizing and coloration: According to

the industrial source, power consumption for above process is 648 KWH
Units consumed = power in KW* no. of hours
Units consumed = 6.48*8 hours = 51.48 units

The above chart shows the total cost of processing in Rs, above chart shows
maximum consumption is in etching & sealing process that too by the acid heating
process by LPG gas lots of gas is consumed for heating of acid for etching & sealing
process.

Following tables gives gas consumption chart

Figure 6
Month Aug–16 Sep-16 Oct-16 Nov-16 Dec-16 Jan-17
Total Aval-Hrs
Per Month 234 234 234 234 234 234
Idle Hrs
10 13 9 9 9 14
 Actual
Available Hrs 224 225 225 225 223 211
Running Hrs
160 164 169 178 182 186
Total
Consumption
Of Gas In kg.
1,120 1,148 1,183 1,246 1,274 1,302
(7kg/running
Hrs)
Rate Of Gas
Rs/kg 90 90 90 90 90 90
Consumption
Cost During
The Month In 1,00,800 1,03,320 1,06,470 1,12,140 1,14,660 1,17,180
Rs.

From above table and data, we came to conclusion that maximum cost is in pre-
treatment unit to heat the acid up to 60 degree Celsius. Hence, our plan is to
minimize the gas consumption to improve the productivity of plant.

WORKING
To reduce this heating cost a solar concentrator parabolic trough is used to heat the
dilute acid to optimum temperature [60-70degree] and circulate it to etching tank for
the etching process.
Figure 7: parabolic solar reflector

In central India, almost 300 days are sunny days having an average temperature
of 36 degrees. The Solar radiation is concentrated on vacuum sealed tubes which
absorbs radiation and heats the acid to about 90 degree Celsius, which is pumped
into etching tank which, raises the temperature of etching tank to near about 35 to
45 degree Celsius at the start and then temperature is further raised by LPG gas
burners to about 60-70 degree. Due to this initial heating, lots of gas is saved which
ultimately increases saving and increases productivity.
Figure 8

The fig. shows a parabolic trough of length. The trough is oriented in East-West
direction with latitude angle of degree. The solar radiations are concentrated on
absorber tube in the tube heat exchanger, which increases the oil temperature to
about 145 degrees. Acid is passed to heat exchanger to sufficient flow rate so that
approximately 60-degree temperature is maintained at outlet of heat exchanger
which is sufficient for etching, because of acid attack glass pipes are used for
plumbing and heat exchanger to avoid corrosion effects
Figure 9

The above Fig shows Heat exchanger in which outer tube is filled with heating oil
from parabolic trough collectors and inner tube sulphuric acids is passed from
etching tank. The concentrating parabolic trought concentrate solar radiations on
absorber tubes which absorb solar radiations and heats sulphuric acid at about 80
degrees, this low-density high-temperature acid is then circulated to etching tank by
thermosyphon process.

Figure 10

After the successful installation of parabolic trought collector and plumbing.

Following observations are
made for the gas consumption of etching process.

Figure 11
Gas consumption before and after modification

Figure 12
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)
Feb 90 93,240 Jan 90 89,550
1,036 995
Feb 90 91,800 Feb 90 79,200
1,020 880
Mar 90 93,240 Mar 90 71,100
1,036 790
Apr 90 92,610 Apr 90 71,730
1,029 797
May 90 92,250 May 90 71,550
1,025 795
Jun 90 92,880 Jun 90 74,700
1,032 830
Jul 90 92,160 Jul 90 91,350
1,024 1,015
Aug 90 93,060 Aug 90 81,900
1,034 910
Sep 90 92,520 Sep 90 84,150
1,028 935
Oct 90 92,880 Oct 90 79,200
1,032 880
Nov 90 93,420 Nov 90 80,100
1,038 890
Dec 90 92,970 Dec 90 85,500
1,033 950
Installation Expenditure

Modification of Etching Tank i.e. plumbing and outlet hole

Figure 13
Etching tank modification 7,300
Material cost 12,240
Man power cost 15,600
Total 35,140

Total cost adding (A+B)= 98,196

Fabrication of Parabolic trough collector

Figure 14
Evaluated tube 24,000
Material Sheet, angels, paints and nut bolts 14,000
Man power cost 25,056
Total 63,000

Cost & production/day details

Total gas consumption in Rs. after modification = 143190/

Total Expenses for Modification = 98,196
Total gas consumption in Rs. before modification

Total Saving in 3 Months = 144810/

Total saving in one month = 48270/
Total cost of modification is taken out in 2 months.

RESULTS

1. After using solar parabolic collector along with gas burner the productivity of
industry is increased by___________.
2. There is saving of daily cost of LPG gas.
3. Plant and machine running successfully.
4. Maintenance cost is reduced
5. Till dated profitability of Rs __________
REFERENCES

[1] https://nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/metals/8E.pdf
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technology 199(2008):337-340.
[3] Chambers, B., 2000. Etching of aluminum alloys by ferric ion. Met.Finish. 98, 26–
28.
Chattergee, B., Thomas, R.W., 1976. Chemical etching ofaluminium in caustic
soda solutions. Trans. Inst. Met. Finish.54, 17–24.
Denns, T.A., 1996. Composition for etching aluminum alloys, USPatent no.:
5,587,103, 9 pp.
Dini, J.W., 1984. Fundamentals of chemical milling. AmericanMachinist (Special
Report: 768), pp. 13–128.

Chemical etching of aluminium (PDF Download Available). Available from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223083860_Chemical_etching_of_alumi
nium [accessed Jul 22, 2017].
[2]https://nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/metals/8E.pdf .