Desiccant dehumidification empowers round-the-year blasting, painting, and coating processes

Atul Bansal, Chief Operating Officer, Technical Drying Services

- Mr Atul Bansal

Looking at the damaging effects of humidity across industries, it remains to be a huge matter of concern in critical sectors of power plants and refineries. Severely meddling with the various operations, it can incur a huge loss to the company. Where the industry is already involved in complex and crucial processes, the presence of humidity can sabotage the entire performance of the plant by rendering the already tough tasks difficult to accomplish.

Considering that blasting, painting, and coating form an intricate part of the power plant and oil refinery operations, it becomes imperative to exercise climate control throughout the processes. Moreover, being carried out in confined spaces inherently escalates the risks of the processes. As a result, even the slightest trace of moisture can invariably plague the efficiency of the various operations. Understanding that blasting is the very step for enabling painting and coating, the presence of humidity can severely intervene with the surface preparation and jeopardize the following coating and other processes.

The perils of humidity can be understood from the instance of condensation formation on the surface when the blasted surface is exposed to moisture prior to painting. It can render the coating incapable of adhering to the surface properly. Therefore, surface preparation determines effective and quality coating and painting on the surface. Proper surface preparation plays a crucial role in securing thorough adhesion of the coating to the substrate. Conducting painting on a condensed surface can lead to blistering and delamination on the surface.