The high-grade bentonite increases in volume several times when coming in contact with water. This absorption property makes it an ideal product for the premium cat litter the company processes with the resulting fines sold for drilling mud and specialty mixes. Marketed under the Wyoming Sunmade brand name, the company packages retail cat litter and wholesale bentonite for any size or type of project from small ponds to multi-million-gallon reservoirs, containment ponds and lagoons.
After the bentonite is air dried from the 17-25-percent mined moisture content, it is hauled to the processing plant. “The 25-ton haul cart had vibrators that would only partially unload the material,” explains Otto Schlosser, a third-generation family member, “Further vibration would make it hang-up and we would have to shovel it. We added 10 Solimar aerators and they work really great to alleviate the problem.”
Processing grinds the material in a hammermill that passes a 1/4-inch grate for cat litter and an “ultra-fine powder” is left for drilling mud that is used to grout geothermal heat loop installations. The mix provides an efficient heat exchange with the earth by increasing the thermal conductivity. “The powder is a troubled material that was incredibly difficult to unload from a fines bin we use for unloading into trucks,” Otto explains, “The fluidizers work so well that now we can load a pneumatic bulk trailer like water. Needless to say we were all very surprised.” Solimar engineers designed a 52-fluidizer array that uses a controller to sequence the aeration. “The Solimar system completely clears the hopper. What used to be a nightmare is now a non-issue.”
