Adding value to dust

Cleaning in some of the industries is restricted because even the dust collected has an economic value. Especially in industries like gold processing and diamond cutting units, the dust that settles on the floor needs to be collected, processed and reused for making jewellery. Mumbai-based SuperTech Equipment has recently introduced a vacuum cleaner for gold processing units. The gold dust that is generated during the gold grinding process can easily be collected using this vacuum machine. The machine does not require any maintenance and is able to recover a substantial amount of gold dust.

Set up in 1998, SuperTech Equipment, for the last 10 years, has mainly been manufacturing flux recovery machines and industrial vacuum cleaners. The partners S.V. Banakar and G.A. Kulkarni, both Mechinical Engineers, have been making customised and standard equipment to suit the needs of various industries.

“We started off manufacturing flux recovery machines for the electricals and electronics industry. This recovered flux powder can be reused. Flux is basically the substance that is used to help fuse metals together. A lot of the flux gets wasted during the welding process itself and it is expensive. A kilogram of flux would cost as much as 150! The flux recovery machine we supply to the L&T unit in Hazira in Gujarat recovers as much as 50kg of flux in just an eight hour shift. Since the recovered flux is free of dust and other impurities, it can be reused directly and does not need to be preheated all over again,” says Banakar.

SuperTech manufactures all equipment indigenously at its Thane facility. “We manufacture approximately 10-15 machines in a month depending on the demand. The vacuum cleaners are usually manufactured with standard specifications, except in cases like L&T where the equipment is custom-designed with imported substitutes to meet their specifications.” SuperTech exports equipment to the Middle East and South Africa.

Apart from the flux recovery machines, SuperTech also manufactures heavy duty industrial vacuum cleaners, dust collectors, fume extractors, floor cleaning equipment and custom built dust extractors. These special vacuum cleaners are used in auto service stations for the internal cleaning of cars.

“These user-friendly machines do not require much maintenance and we have a strong after sales team of technicians to attend to emergencies,” adds Banakar.

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