GEMATA, brand-new spray finishing plants and drying systems

At GEMATA, new challenges are always right around the corner. In 2022, the firm based in Trissino, world leader in the making of finishing plants for leather, bonded leather and synthetic materials, is ready to take on the international tanning market by providing several innovations. GEMATA has acted as a pioneer when it comes to the design and production of numerous technologies, partly patented and sold worldwide: competitors have often resorted to the very same ideas, resulting in slightly different models or solutions. In the last couple of years, characterized by both an economic slowdown due to Covid-19 emergency and by the chance to dedicate more time to R&D activities, GEMATA has kept on investing significant resources in various sectors, including spray plants and dryers – fields in which the company boasts an undisputed, global leadership, thanks to well-established quality and to cutting-edge equipment. Not to mention the ability to provide the customers with the best solutions, according to specific requirements. “As for spray systems,” explained Gianni Maitan, “we have been at the forefront since the early 2000s. Our expertise concerns the whole system: for this reason, our customers often turn to us for the complete solution, that is, high-efficiency roller machine, spray plant as well as drying tunnel. We were the very first one to launch said technology, often copied by others, a detail we take comfort in, because it means we have chosen the right path. We were the pioneers in the development and presentation of infrared drying too, the latter a breakthrough system.”

What are the key benefits of this system? First of all, it does neither create nor move dust that, otherwise, might settle on leather surface, especially on the first cells where the product is still wet. Secondly, it ensures top-notch quality standards, especially when it comes to the automotive sector: in order to avoid the risk of discarding part of the product, not even a speck of dust can go unnoticed. There is also an economic advantage, given that, by using the infrared technology at the end of the cycle, the level of electricity consumption is far lower compared to either a steam or a gas boilers. We have recently upgraded the IR tunnels by implementing in the last cells, where the chemical is already dry, a hot air recirculation system managed by an inverter, so as to further improve the tunnel’s efficiency rate.

Can you give us more the details about the functioning of infrared technology? The system features timed, easily programmable sensors that switch off IR lamps when, for a default period of time, leathers do not pass through the tunnel. Such a feat results in a marked reduction in energy consumption. IR lamps affect the chemical applied on the surface material, without heating up or drying the whole leather, thus standing out compared to other systems. As in the case, for example, of steam and gas tunnels, that resort to hot air: the latter warms up the entire hide, without establishing with precision the surface temperature; Radiofrequency and microwave systems, on the other hand, “pull out” moisture from the whole thickness of leather. Thanks to our technology, we can thoroughly check the surface temperature on every cell, with the chance to self-adjust the lamps’ power according to the required temperature, so as to optimize drying operations. With the IR heating system, we can keep leather soft, because the material is neither dehydrated not dried up, and said benefit can be applied to both roller coating and to spray finishing; furthermore, it contributes to higher energy efficiency as well as it speeds up the catalysis of chemicals compared to other traditional drying technologies.

What are the reasons behind your global leadership in this sector? Since the firm’s establishment, we have been dealing with spray technologies, no once can dispute our experience and efficiency, thanks also to our ability to guarantee rapid assistance worldwide. Our “immediate response” network is unparalleled: in addition to on-site maintenance technicians, we can rely on rely on a technical department featuring fifteen people, able to provide customized solutions to customers all over the world. When it comes to picking the right partner for the purchase of machinery, customers should definitely take into account service quality and efficiency: after all, machine downtime can have negative consequences for the leather sector.

What are the distinctive traits of the spraying systems developed by GEMATA? The spray plants, both the SPRAYSTAR model with rotary booths and the SPRAYSTORM booth, feature our electronic components, equipped with innovative leather analysis systems. The automatic colour change process, together with the simultaneous cleansing of all guns, require less than twenty seconds. Moreover, we have developed a no-stop gun cleansing solution, thanks to which each arm is provided with two guns: one set of guns keeps spraying without stopping, while the other set is cleaned when passing in front of the blast chiller. As for the transport of leathers to the spray booth, the limit of classic solutions lies in the fact that strings can break, especially when one tries to “remove” excess product once dried. In order to solve this issue, we have conceived systems for the automatic cleansing of strings right after coating operations, when they are still wet: we have been dealing with this operation for approximately ten years and we have exported it worldwide. This technology allows the string to enter the lower side of the drying tunnel and to re-enter the booth, ensuring the immediate cleansing as well as a double benefit: to avoid dust resulting from wire scraping and to increase its durability. Noteworthy our highly efficient intake and fume abatement system, an addition that has led to a significant reduction in emissions in the atmosphere, with results that exceed the parameters set by the current regulations. Another interesting detail lies in the fact that our booths can be provided with a power supply system that employs air suctioned from outside the finishing, heated and filtered in order to keep the booth in overpressure: in other words, the air suctioned by the abatement system is released once again in the booth, thus avoiding the presence of dust in the spraying area. Worth mentioning also the distribution shaft, placed on the upper side of the booth, outside, so as to eliminate an element that might catch the dust. The booth design is truly innovative: it is made in stainless steel, featuring working width available in different sizes – 1800, 2200, 2600, 3000, 3400 and 3800 mm -, it is shaped like an octagon in order to prevent smoke stagnation in the corners, while the six doors placed on the front side allow easy access to spray guns and to slides designed to channel the water curtain- For this reason, our technology is incredibly durable, yet fairly more expensive compared to a normal rectangular spray booth.

You have recently launched a new technology on the market: what is this about? We called it SPRAYSTORM and it is a spraying system featuring twelve gunholding arms, whose movements are independent from one another and perpendicular to the advance of leathers. In the SPRAYSTORM model, when moving, guns outline diamond shapes, while, in the rotary booths, they perform circular arcs: the strategic advantage ensured by this solution concerns the ability to evenly distribute the chemical over the whole leather surface. As a matter of fact, in rotary booths, when the gun’s rotation speed goes in the same direction of leathers’ movement, guns spray a higher amount of chemical product, while applying a lower quantity on the other side SPRAYSTORM can be equipped with up to twelve arms in the model featuring a 3400 mm working width, and each gun can be supplied with a different colour as well as with a varied amount of product, in order to get peculiar effects on the material: an unattainable result for rotary booths.

As for the issue concerning fumes emissions in the environment, how have you managed to solve it? Another innovation featured by our spray technologies concerns precisely fumes abatement. In the past, we used the system of solid objects in motion, that is, the traditional spheres that, by rotating mid-height in the drum, manage to catch solid particulate that moves upward, water sprays that keep the balls clean, and labyrinths conceived to stop water particles before they could reach the outlet. When it comes to the new abatement systems, besides markedly increasing the overall surface of solid bodies, we have also added a dry filtering system, with automatic filter replacement, in order to succeed in capturing even the thinnest solid particulate at the end of the last stage. This solution manages to halve the amount solid particulate by reducing the size of individual particles as well. Moreover, we provide a device for the semi-automatic replacement of the filter, once the latter’s filtering capacity is over.

Can you give us other examples of solutions designed to eliminate dust in GEMATA spray plants? With regard to the automotive sector, we provide leather transport solutions that have earned some recognition especially in the USA. A solution designed and upgraded together with a renowned customer. It entails the installation of a leather handling system equipped not with a wire conveyor, but rather with a plastic net featuring large meshes. The latter moves thanks to two lateral chains that carry it crosswise, supported by cardboard tubes. With a 24-hour continuous-cycle work, the chemical product settles on the links of the net, it dries inside the tunnel up until it becomes an increasingly thicker sheath placed on the surface of the mesh. At the end of the week, the employee removes said dry substance by rolling it up, thus restoring mesh. Since it is used 24 hours a day, the net is replaced every two months. The key benefit ensured by this solution lies in the elimination of dust resulting from the wire scraping, an operation carried out to cleanse strings by removing the dry chemical, as well in saving water, thanks to the string washing system devised to take off the wet chemical product. www.gemata.it

Gianni Maitan – Ceo – Gemata SpA

Gemata fumes abatement ECO-SCRUBBER

1 Sucking hood
2 Fumes entrance
3 Centrifuge fan
4 Fan motor
5 Circulation pump
6 Lower nozzle for the liquid
7 Air-liquid flow
8 Sphere filter
9 Drops condensator
10 Depurated air exit
11 Dry filters
12 Differential pressure transducer

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