Production rose 25 per cent this year at Saudi Perlite Industries Company, the firm reported.

It produced 4,250 tonnes in 2009 against 4,000 tonnes in the previous year and expectations are that output could touch 4,500 tonnes this year, said the company’s technical manager Hasan Calacala.

Some 10 to 15 per cent of the output was exported to neighbouring Gulf states, he said.

Saudi Perlite, a branch of Al Mojel Trading and Contracting Company, has production capacity of 12,000 tonnes annually at its Riyadh plant.

Another factory in Jeddah can produce 8,000 tonnes per year.

The company markets the product as a facilitator of cost-effective building insulation.

“The simple strategy is to incorporate perlite in the building system,” said Calacala.

The company markets expanded perlite under the following trade names: Insulite (for building and insulation); Looslite (for walls insulation); Cryolite (for industries) and Agrilite (for agriculture).

The Riyadh plant has two units of stationary expanders capable of producing 840 cu m of expanded perlite annually.

The company has also acquired a mobile expander to satisfy customers in the air separation industry. The expander is capable of producing cryogenic-grade expanded perlite at the rate of 8 cu m per hour. Machinery attachments such as external and internal vibrators help compact the perlite insulation.

Saudi Perlite’s onsite customers in Saudi Arabia include National Industrial Gases Company, Natpet, Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company, Sipchem, and Al Sharq. One of the UAE customers is Emirates Steel Company, Abu Dhabi.

Onsite expansion is intensified quality production and follows internationally accepted specifi- cation requirements of Linde of Germany, Air Liquide of Italy and Chart of the US, said Calacala.