White Paper On Granite Production

 

Introduction:

            The use and application of natural stone in the form of granite dates back to centuries. Today in the brink of the twenty first century, the use of granite in the rapidly developing urban areas has increased greatly and is still continuing. The High-rise Buildings, Housing Complexes, Super Malls and Other Govermental & non-Govermental Buildings make use of granite for  both their interiors and exteriors. The construction sector has thus increased the market & demand for the Granite.

 

The Growth of the Granite Industry:

            The increased demand for granite in the construction sector has forced a rapid growth in the granite production in the last two decades. A commodity, which was once limited to the elite and wealthy, has now become a part of the common peoples' use. This was possible because of the supply of granite from the new granite industries that sprang up very fast within the same period.

 

Granite Production:

            At present, almost every metropolitan city in the developing or the developed countries has some granite producers around. These producers are the force behind a healthy growth in that sector. The production and marketing sector for granite did get good attention and at present quite a number of granite production equipment manufacturer / supplier can be found. The European market in this respect has dominated, as they were the pioneers in this field. Especially Italy comes ahead in the list. The Asian countries have now joined the race.

 

Problems Facing The Granite Industry:

            Though the Granite Production (technology) and marketing took full advantage of the present advancement in science & technology to incorporate the latest, effective & efficient methods, but due attention was not given to the maintenance sector. As always been the practice, the maintenance sector suffers from low budget allocation to cut production cost by an institution where the decision makers do not recognise or understand the importance and the effect of maintenance to boost productivity. It is importance to understand the difference between "Production Maintenance" & "General Maintenance", lower budget allocation for general maintenance may be allowed at difficult times, but a cut in the production maintenance is unwise and leads to a variety of problems starting from the cutting of blocks upto the finished and polished granite slabs / tiles.

 

Some Common Problems:

            The granite industries involved in cutting, polishing and finishing have some common problems. Most problematic of them are related to stains on the finished products arising out of various factors such as contamination, use of steel pellets, treatments for the machinery, water quality, the quality of granite itself, the environmental factors and many others related to them. The stains on the finished products have a profound effect on production cost and as a whole on the financial side as the stained products cannot be marketed or has to be disposed of at a lower price. Sometimes the pile up of such non-marketable stained products becomes a problem to the company. The company sometimes incur heavy losses due to the same.

 

The Solution:

            The extensive research & development in the corrosion process in the recent years have come out with extensive data on various aspects of corrosion which is clearly understood by the industrial maintenance chemists, who are constantly working to understand things better. The problems of the granite industries have not been overlooking and some solutions are in the offing. There are now treatments available to prevent and remove stains developed during the production or finishing process. The LifeChem Technical Team has worked on this and now is in a position to offer some definite solutions to the granite industry.

 

The LifeChem Granite Products        :

 

Code

Product Name

Application & Use

1

LC 300

Granite Stain Remover (For White Porous Materials)

Treatment for removal stains on finished products due to contamination etc.

2

LC 301

Water Repelling Granite Coat

Innert treatment to prevent water & other staining & stain forming liquids to penetrate the surface.

3

LC 302

Stain Prevention Treatment System 1 For White Granite Types

First treatment applied directly after cleaning & washing of the block from the Gang Saw.

4

LC 303

Stain Prevention Treatment System 2 For White Granite Types

Second treatment applied directly after cleaning & washing of the block from the Gang Saw.

5

LC 304

Stain Prevention Treatment System 3 For White Granite Types

Treatment applied directly after Polishing

 

Precaution is Better Than Cure:

            We, the LifeChem Team believe that pre-treatment of the granite at various stages of production will reduce the risk of getting stains even on some difficult type of granites. Some specific types of granites have the reputation of being stained immediately after production, within a span of 5-10 days. It is thus very helpful and wise to have treatments incorporated into the production process to avoid such problems.

            If there is a sickness it has to be treated, and the LifeChem Granite Stain Remover set of treatments just does the job to remove difficult stains without affecting much to the shine of the polished surface.