Press Release

More Efficient Metal Production with Briquetting

Melting loose chips means accepting a range of disadvantages. Preventing this is relatively simple, thanks to high-end briquetting technology.

Foundries melt down input materials of different qualities. Ingots/ pig iron or cupola are included as well as lumpy scrap metal and chips which accrue during milling and turning. Chips should not, however, be fed into the oven in loose form, but should rather be briquetted first. There are various different reasons for this. Warehousing and logistics are thus simplified significantly and the charging effort is reduced thanks to extreme volume reduction.

Another factor is even more important, however:cooling lubricants often adhere to the chips. Average residual moisture values range between 10 and 15 %. This circumstance proves to be very problematic when it comes to melting. With high-performance briquetting presses – like the ones produced by Ruf Mechanical Engineering – the moisture value can be reduced to under 3 % for aluminum and under 2 % for cast iron. For this reason, and because briquettes sink in the molten metal, the burn-off loss of the compressed chips in the furnace is significantly lower. By implication, the metal yield is higher.

Furthermore, power consumption as well as melting times are reduced – both of which are important factors for efficiency improvement in melting plants. Foundries also value the fact that they can melt down metallurgically familiar material again in briquette form, instead of having to sell it in loose form for a low price. This way, high material procurement costs are saved. Foundries can, however, only achieve such results if the correct briquetting technology is being applied and the quality of the machine is adequate.

With the RUF 15/4000/70 Ruf Mechanical Engineering presents a possibly suitable system at this year's GIFA. The advantage of the system is that it is equally suitable for aluminum, copper and numerous other metals.

This article is based on a press release by Ruf Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG.

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