May 2024 | The international refractory manufacturer Rath Group has developed a customized lightweight lining for the tunnel kiln car of a European brick company. The lightweight lining makes a significant contribution to energy savings and thus helps to reduce the CO2 footprint.
Like many other industrial sectors that use high-temperature processes, the brick industry faces major challenges when it comes to energy and environmental issues: Among other things, energy must be saved and the CO2 footprint reduced. The optimal refractory lining for high-temperature furnaces is a key factor in this respect. Rath Group demonstrated that equipping a newly designed tunnel kiln car, which itself absorbs minimal furnace heat, with lighter refractory materials can lead to energy savings of up to 70% in specific energy consumption without altering the process parameters or the dimensions of the furnace.
“When it comes to saving energy, having the right refractory lining is crucial, especially for manufacturing processes in the brick industry. It’s been proven that the optimal refractory lining contributes significantly to energy savings. It’s a topic that RATH has been working on intensively for some time now,” says Alexander Jüttner, Head of Sales Ceramics & Special Furnaces, Rath Group.
Benefits of Lightweight lining
High-temperature furnaces are increasingly being lined with lightweight or ultra-lightweight refractory linings. This has a number of important advantages: In addition to much lower heat losses, these linings offer greatly simplified repair procedures. As a result, downtimes are significantly reduced, and repair and maintenance work can be carried out more easily. In addition, energy consumption is also significantly reduced. This is demonstrated by the lightweight lining of a tunnel kiln car that Rath has developed for a company in the European brick industry.
“With this newly designed tunnel kiln car, which absorbs very little process heat, we have been able to show that equipping it with lighter refractory materials can lead to savings of up to 70 % in its specific energy consumption, without changing the process parameters or the dimensions of the furnace”, explains Alexander Jüttner.
Rath Group offers many refractory lining options thanks to its comprehensive and versatile product range. Whether it’s dense bricks, concretes, insulating bricks or components made from high-temperature wool, the company’s application engineers always develop a customized concept that brings the greatest benefits to the customer.
Analysis in five steps
Reduce energy consumption by customizing the refractory lining: That’s where Rath ECOREF® comes in. Using this analysis and concept approach, our engineering experts determine the best refractory lining for any given application – based on the corresponding technological, ecological and business objectives and depending on numerous distinct process and plant parameters.
It takes five steps to determine the most suitable lining concept. This involves an extensive analysis of the system and operating parameters. What is particularly relevant is whether a system is operated periodically or continuously, how often the system is used and what its dimensions, operating temperature and temperature profile are. The operating process that is carried out with the system, which materials are heated and the atmosphere in which this takes place are also taken into account. The result of the analysis: concrete savings potentials, defined in kilowatt hours.
“Energy savings are always due to an interaction of many factors. Rath ECOREF® can make a significant contribution to achieving a good overall result here,” summarizes Alexander Jüttner.
Expert for refractory linings in the ceramics industry
For more than 130 years, the Rath Group has been producing outstanding refractory linings for industrial hightemperature applications – including the ceramics industry.
In this industry, too, Rath Group is not only a full-range supplier of refractory products, but has comprehensive engineering and consulting expertise and offers worldwide project management for industrial furnace projects.
Whether chamber furnace, bogie hearth furnace, pusher plate furnace, roller furnace, tunnel or bell-type furnace – the group covers the complete spectrum when it comes to ceramic furnace systems.
About Rath Group
Rath specializes in refractory technology with a broad product range of refractory materials for application temperatures of up to 1800 °C. Headquartered in Vienna, the company has established itself internationally as a renowned supplier of refractory solutions, with around 600 employees and sales representatives in several countries worldwide. The Rath Group manufactures a wide range of innovative, high-quality refractory products at a total of seven production sites in Europe (Austria, Hungary, Germany) and the USA. Among the products are dense bricks, unshaped products, lightweight refractory bricks, pre-cast blocks as well as high-temperature insulation wool and vacuum-formed parts. For many years, the Rath Group has also been developing innovative hot gas filter elements that enable industrial companies to efficiently filter exhaust gases and pollutants. In addition to supplying standard materials, the group provides support in the form of complete solutions and a comprehensive range of services – from planning, assembly and site supervision to maintenance and repair.
