sPeCIAL ArABAL - ALUMINIUM-Nachrichten – ALU-WEB.DE

teChNOLOGy
Shipped all over the world from the Eifel region
Köllemann Gmbh – market leader for petcoke preheaters
Köllemann GmbH from Germany is engaged
in every industrial sector where
there is a need for bulk solids to be
conveyed, heated and cooled
in a continuous process. For
the aluminium industry, the
company designs and builds
petcoke preheaters, which are
used in the production of anodes. Köllemann
preheaters are among the largest
on the market. They are designed to
ensure optimal mixing of the petcoke,
with minimal deviations in temperature
and a long service life that requires little
maintenance.
Köllemann GmbH was founded in the 1960s
and is based in Adenau, Germany, near the famous
Nürburgring motor-racing circuit. Originally
owner-managed, the company is now in
the hands of financial investors. It has been
under new technical and commercial management
since the middle of last year, although
core personnel engaged in design and manufacturing
are still with the company. “The
change of management has given the company
a new impetus,” explains Guido Fiedler, head
of Development and Design. “We are working
intensively to further improve our working
procedures and to adopt a more proactive
approach to marketing our products.”
The company is active in all sectors where
there is a need for a combination of conveying,
heating and cooling of bulk solids in a continuous
process. Important keywords here are
the dosing, sealing, metering, mixing, heating,
conveying and feeding of bulk solids.
Köllemann’s standard portfolio covers rotary
valves, screw heat exchangers, petcoke
preheaters and contact dryers. The company
Hollow flights
Tube with annular gap
Double-walled trough
Product level
is ASME and ISO 9001 certified; pressure vessels
are manufactured in accordance with AD
2000 regulations.
The company supplies its machines worldwide
to a number of raw materials processing
sectors, such as the chemical, petrochemical,
cement and metal industries and the power
sector, as well as for wastewater treatment
plants, to name but a few.
“We want to intensify
contact with end-users”
For the aluminium industry, Köllemann designs
and manufactures the petcoke preheaters,
used in anode-making. The preheater
heats up the petcoke and mixes it thoroughly
to a homogenous mass. This mixture is subsequently
blended in a kneader with hot pitch
and anode butts to produce green anodes. This
is a continuous conveying process.
The preheaters use screw flights as the main
heat-transfer surface; these are based on the
hollow-flight principle. Thermal oil acts as the
heat transfer medium and flows through the
hollow flights. “With our largest units we can
heat up to 60 tonnes of petcoke an hour to a
temperature of 220 °C,” says project manager
Matthias Ginster. Four worm shafts are used.
The heat-exchanging surface is 300
square metres or more and the units
weigh some 80 tonnes.
Köllemann regards itself as the undisputed
market leader for petcoke preheaters:
“We supply some three-quarters
of the global preheater market,”
says Mr Ginster. “Nevertheless, we
rarely deal directly with plant operators.
This is because we don’t usually supply
to the end-user, but to the supplier of the
plant that makes the kneaders for the anode
paste. From a process engineering point
of view, kneader and preheater operate as a
single unit.”
Köllemann is a hidden champion, so to
Köllemann preheaters
are of modular design, with
easy access for maintenance
speak. However, in future the company wants
to get more involved in the market and deal
directly with end-users. “We want to boost our
business still further and grow. To achieve this,
we want to intensify contact with end-users
and become more involved in the marketing
of our preheaters. We think that it will also
be beneficial for the operators of our plant
to have closer contact with our company, for
example in order to obtain direct support without
having to take a roundabout route via the
supplier of the kneaders,” says Mr Fiedler.
When asked what differentiates Köllemann
machines from those of its competitors, Mr
Ginster replies: “Our machines are particularly
durable, require little maintenance and
are easily accessible. The whole unit is a modular
construction.” All preheaters supplied by
Köllemann are constructed in accordance with
the customer’s specification, starting with the
machine size, connections and other productrelated
aspects. “On request we can supply
turnkey machines with the pipework already
completely installed. Our designs are based in
principle on the German industry standard.
This means we only ever use planetary gears
for petcoke preheaters that have a service life
that is at least equal to that of the machine itself.
If customers want drive systems or measuring
equipment from specific manufacturers,
they can have these as well.”
Köllemann guarantees the supply of spare
parts for many decades. The company still has
details of machines it supplied in the 1960s,
from the days when nobody had even dreamt
of PCs and CAD.
special design features of coke preheaters
There are three identical Köllemann preheaters
in the anode plant at Emirates Aluminium
(Emal): two preheaters have an hourly capacity
of 40 tonnes and a third unit operates as a
cooler, cooling the anode butts after they have
been crushed into small pieces.
© Köllemann
56 ALUMINIUM · 9/2013