Dicalite 104
Two varieties of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) are made at Dicalite’s Basalt, NV location – Natural and Calcined. Processing of natural diatomaceous earth to meet customer specifications is as much of an art as it is a science. The natural diatomaceous earth products featured in this section are manufactured to meet individual customer needs across numerous industries including Construction, Agriculture, Filtration, and Additives and Functional Fillers. Once the ore is carefully selected, processing starts with size reduction; the ore is dispersed with proprietary technology liberating the Melosira, Stephanodiscus, and Eunotia diatoms from clumped aggregates. Crushed ore is then conveyed to a storage bin for feeding into the plant. Further processing involves dispersing the ore by milling and then drying out the moisture content. Separators and classifiers are then used to further size the end products. Most of Dicalite’s natural DE products’ Median Particle Diameter (MPD) range from 10 – 20µm (micron). However, finer products (<10µm) such as Dicalite 104, are available to meet a tighter micron specification. Dicalite’s Basalt, NV facility has benefited from various capital investments since 2018, resulting in noteworthy increases to capacity and thus efficiencies across numerous plant components. These improvements have yielded many certifications such as OMRI certified, registration with the FDA in the food facility registration module, compliance with Halal / Kosher requirements, and maintaining FSMA compliance where applicable to our type of production, specifically the preventative controls and accountability aspects.