42T helped a manufacturing client maintain production throughput during a business-critical raw material transition by identifying the cause of moisture-driven process variability and defining practical engineering solutions to improve dewatering performance.
Key outcomes
Identified the root cause of manufacturing variability, explaining why the new material retained significantly more moisture after the initial dewatering process than the previous source.
Established practical engineering options to improve dewatering performance and enable the process to handle material with higher water content without reducing throughput.
Adapted cross-industry research into a practical mechanical intervention that removed around a quarter of the excess moisture in laboratory testing, with negligible additional energy demand.
Turned technical findings into decision-ready recommendations, helping the client compare solution routes by performance, CapEx, OpEx, energy use and implementation risk.
The challenge
The client needed to maintain high-throughput production while transitioning to a new raw material source. Although the material streams appeared to have similar properties, the new source retained more moisture after the initial dewatering step, leading to production challenges that reduced throughput.
The existing process had been designed around the original material stream, which reliably dewatered to below the 10% moisture tolerance of the downstream process. The new material was arriving at approximately 14% moisture. This created a 4–6 percentage-point gap between the material’s moisture content and the level the existing process could handle at full throughput.
Achieving full throughput was critical to ensure the downstream manufacturing process was fully utilised. The client approached 42T to identify the cause of process variability and define practical engineering options that could reduce retained moisture, achieve full throughput and avoid unnecessary infrastructure investment.
42T’s solution
42T worked closely with the client’s engineering team to investigate why the new material retained more moisture after the initial dewatering process. Combining site observations, process data, fundamental analysis and laboratory testing, the team identified the root cause and the areas of the process with the greatest potential for improvement.
With the root cause understood, 42T investigated options across the process. A low-CapEx mechanical intervention reduced retained moisture by around 1.2 percentage points in laboratory testing, with negligible additional energy demand. Further analysis indicated that modifications to the existing heating system could allow material containing around 2–3 percentage points more moisture to be processed at full throughput.
The findings were translated into decision-ready recommendations, helping the client compare process optimisation options by performance, CapEx, OpEx, energy use and implementation risk. The solutions could be implemented individually or combined, giving the client a flexible route forward without defaulting to major new infrastructure.
“We enabled the client to be confident of moving from the current source of raw material to a new source for its product. Furthermore, as our first project with this client, we built trust and credibility that will lead to further projects in the near future.”
Why 42T?
Root-cause expertise
Uncovering the underlying causes of complex technical and manufacturing problems.
Cross-disciplinary engineering
Combining material, process, thermal and manufacturing expertise within a single team.
Practical process optimisation
Turning technical insight into costed, actionable engineering options.
Peter leads business development and strategy across 42T’s innovation and product development programmes, combining deep technical expertise with strong commercial insight.
Simon is Head of Innovation at 42T and a Chartered Mechanical Engineer. He thrives on solving complex, cross-disciplinary challenges, with particular expertise in thermofluidics and systems-level thinking.
