Author Description

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Nigeria is experiencing significant construction and infrastructure growth, as the economy is growing past in the last few years. The fast-economic growth propelled Nigeria from a country with a GDP of $88 billion in about two decades ago to a country with a GDP of $446.543 billion in 2019. This economic boom is currently driving the country towards industrialization, the paints and coatings industry is quickly becoming a strategic growth market. The white pigment that is extensively used in the production of paint is titanium dioxide, which is mostly imported from other countries. Kaolin, which is available locally, is widely used in the production of paints, catalysts, refractory items and ceramics. The calcined kaolin can serve as a substitute to titanium dioxide, and this will save a significant amount of Nigerian foreign exchange for titanium oxide importation. In this report, we proposed the utilization of kaolin for the production of its calcined products which can be used as white pigment in paints. The design and development of a fluidized bed calciner for kaolin calcination with a capacity of 1 ton/hr is presented with brief background, process selection, process flow diagram (PFD), materials and energy balance, process simulation and piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&ID) by using the Advanced System for Process Engineering (ASPEN) Plus version V11. The major unit operations in the process are crusher, pulverizer, solid separators, heat exchangers and fluidized bedcalciner. The actualization of this technology will demonstrate technical viability for kaolin utilization in paint production and technology domestication in Nigeria.