Nickel Pan Filter Cartridge Upgrade | Reduced Downtime and Maintenance Costs

Client: Kwinana Nickel Refinery (KNR)
Application: Nickel Pan Filter Cartridge Upgrade to Prevent Passing Nickel Powder.
Industry: Mining & Minerals (Nickel Refining)

Nickel refineries use vacuum pan filters at the end of the process to dewater and wash precipitated nickel powder before it is sent for downstream handling. At the Kwinana Nickel Refinery (KNR) in Western Australia, these pan filters were approximately 1 metre in diameter. They were initially used with cloth filter segments held in place with caulking, similar to cloth arrangements used in other industries.

ActionLaser worked with KNR on a solution that;

•  Eliminated cloth tearing and vacuum-side damage
• Used a 90-micron laser screen filtration surface
•  Created a fast mechanical cartridge change-out
• Simplified maintenance and descaling logistics
• Was scalable to larger nickel filters
•  Proved to aid in refinery expansion: cartridge concept adopted on a third pan filter with identical performance.

The key problem with cloth filtration systems in nickel refining processes is frequent cloth tearing. When cloth failed, nickel particles were pulled through to the vacuum side, causing major maintenance headaches, including erosion and damage to vacuum pumps and pipework. The refinery needed a filtration surface that was sized to prevent the passing of nickel powder, could withstand service without tearing, and was designed for efficient cleaning and change-out.

ActionLaser worked with local specialist engineering company Madco (now part of Orontide) to develop a practical retrofit solution. Together, they designed a mechanically-fixed “sandwich cartridge”: a thick stainless backing plate, a matching top plate, and an ActionLaser 90-micron laser screen clamped between them. The cartridge was installed using a simple wedge-lock system, with no bolts or screws, making it fast to remove and replace.

This solution eliminated cloth tearing and prevented nickel fines from reaching the vacuum system. The screens ran for weeks between descalings, and because change-outs were so easy, KNR kept spare cartridge sets on-site and sent used sets off for descaling and refurbishment, significantly extending service life.

Eliminating cloth filtration eliminates cloth tearing and vacuum-side damage, preventing nickel powder bypass that causes pump and pipeline erosion. Replacing this system with a 90-micron laser-screen filtration surface created a durable, stable screen suited to nickel powder dewatering and washing, with no powder loss. The wedge-lock, bolt-free design aided efficiency and reduced downtime by allowing fast mechanical cartridge change-out.

The result was a major reliability improvement and a dramatic reduction in maintenance burden. The success was strong enough that when KNR expanded, a third identical pan filter was built and fitted with the same cartridge system. Although KNR later shut down in early 2025, the solution remains a proven model for other nickel and cobalt refineries, including those with Pan Filters up to 2.5m in diameter.