Continuous calcium carbonate slurry process

Claim 1

A CONTINUOUS PROCESS FOR PREPARING A HIGH SOLIDS, LOW VISCOSITY SLURRY OF CALCIUM CARBONATE, WHICH COMPRISES: ESTABILISHING WITHIN A BODY OF AQUEOUS SLURRY CONTAINING ABOUT 70-78 PERCENT BY WEILGHT OF CALCIUM CARBONATE AND ABOUT 0.4-2.0 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF DISPERSANT, AT LEAST ONE HYDRAULIC ATTRITION ZONE, IMPARTING, THEREBY, INTENSE TURBULENCE, HIGH KINETIC ENERGY AND A VELOCITY OF AT LEAST ABOUT 1500 FEET/MINUTE TO THE SLURRY IN SAID ZONE RELATIVE TO THE BODY OF SLURRY, ADDING ABOUT 70-78 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF CALCIUM CARBONATE, ABOUT 0.4-2.0 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF DISPLERSANT AND ABOUT 22-30 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF WATER SIMULTANEOUSLY TO SAID ZONE AND CONTINUOUSLY REMOVING THEREFROM A HIGH SOLIDS, LOW VISCOSITY SLURRY OF CALCIUM CARBONATE, SAID PROCESS BEING CARRIED OUT AT ABOUT AMBIENT TEMPERATURES AND AT SUCH RATE AS TO MAINTAIN THE BODY OF SLURRY AT APPROXIMATELY CONSTANT VOLUME, SAID CALCIUM CARBONATE BEING CHARACTERIZED IN THAT IT IS A FINELY DIVIDED, RELATIVELY NONAGGREGATED CALCIUM CARBONATE HAVING AN APPARENT PARTICLE SIZE WITHIN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 0.05-0.30 MICRON AS DETERMINED BY ELECTRON MICROGRAPHS, AND SAID DISPERSANT CONSISTING OF A HOMOGENEOUS MIXTURE OF (A) FROM ABOUT 81-88 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF SODIUM PHOSPHATE GLASS HAVING A MOLAR RATIO OF SODIUM OXIDE/PHOPHOROUS PENTOXIDE OF FROM ABOUT 0.9/1 TO ABOUT 1.5/1, (B) FROM ABOUT 10% TO ABOUT 15% BY WEIGHT OF ZINC OXIDE AND (C) FROM ABOUT 0.5-8.0 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF A COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF THE SALT AND HYDROXIDE OF AN ALKALI-METAL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF POTASSIUM AND LITHIUM, WHEREIN THE CONCENTRATION OF SAID DISPERSANT IS BASED UPON THE DRY WEIGHT OF CALCIUM CARBONATE.