Case Study Graziani Marmi plant

Plant Data

Answering the needs: Graziani Marmi

Graziani Marmi is one of the world’s most important players in the marble and granite sector in Massa and Carrara, owning many quarries in the sector, such as the prestigious Campanili and Tecchione quarries famous for their impressiveness and the excellent quality of the materials; Graziani chose Matec to invest in a new purification plant, removing the one installed in the 1990s.

This continuous growth and expansion of the Graziani Marmi company led to the need to solve the problem of water and energy consumption and sludge disposal due to the processing of the various extracted materials. At this point, it was important for the company to put its trust in a local partner, Matec Industries, who prepared a solution that would recover the water used in the process and reintroduce it into the marble cutting and polishing processing cycle.

Marble = Quality

The marble market, one of the most important in Tuscany, is frequented by international personalities who are attentive to quality and beauty; the cutting procedures used to process white marble are diamond wire saws and frame saws. Both solutions require a great deal of water, which is needed to cool the components subject to overheating and to wash the slabs from cutting residues.

It is absolutely essential that this water is 100% free of fine/ultrafine material, which could cause ‘burning’ of the marble cut, compromising the final quality of the slab.

Matec’s solution for Graziani Marmi plant

To meet the customer’s needs, Matec decided to propose a classic but functional and well-proven solution, a sludge and wastewater treatment plant with a filter press. The plant consists of several key components starting with the Aquae 630×630 filter press with 30 plates, designed to separate solids from liquid suspensions, we then have an Alfa Centrifugal Pump, responsible for transferring liquids through the centrifugal force generated by a moving rotor.

The 1,000-litre Bifang Sludge Homogenisation Tank contributes to the mixing and homogenisation of sludge from the treatment process while the Static Vertical Decanter Silo, with a capacity of 60,000 litres and made of AISI304, facilitates the separation of heavier solids from water through the decantation process.

Bifloc 1000 automatic system manages the amount of flocculant in the treatment process and at the same time two tanks, a 10,000-litre tank for dirty water and a 25,000-litre tank for clear water, are used for temporary storage. Alfa Pompe branded centrifugal pumps and booster pumps for clear water are essential for the transfer of fluids in the system.

Result achieved in the plant

Thanks to this fully automatic, high-performance, low-energy plant, we are able to reuse up to 97% of the water resulting from the processing cycle.

The production of solid waste stands at 3 tonnes/hour for each filtration cycle; each cycle lasts about 12 minutes and allows us in the best conditions to have about 5 cycles/hour. This material that started out as waste, thanks to the low moisture content (less than 20%) in the cakes, is instead transformed into a new resource, resold in various business areas related to the construction and cosmetics industries.