Baptism of fire - Kaeser Kompressoren

Few people these days realise that one
of the first ever “chemical plants” once
stood in Marktredwitz. Founded by
Wolfgang Caspar Fikentscher in 1788,
the “Marktredwitz Chemical Plant”
(Chemische Fabrik Marktredwitz, CFM)
sought to turn base materials into gold
– an endeavour rooted in the history of
alchemy.
Ferdinand Didier (1801-1867), a native
of Huguenot descent acquired a brickworks
and a lime kiln in 1834 near the
then Prussian (now Polish) town of Stettin
(Szczecin), from which he formed the
“F. Didier Fire Clay Works in Podejuch”
(Chamottefarbrik F. Didier in Podejuch),
thereby becoming one of the first refractory
brick manufacturers in Germany.
The Marktredwitz Works, which date
back to 1899, set what would later become
Didier Werke AG on the path to a
share in the industrial exploitation of the
region’s abundant natural resources.
The works, located a little outside the
town centre, still produce refractories for
highly specialised applications: Feeders
used in steelworks for the precise channelling
and distribution of liquid steel,
valves with high-temperature-proof orifices
for the precise dosing of the infernal
liquid, distillation trays for the distillation
of zinc, and so on.
In a corridor in the archaic-looking factory,
the wooden moulds arranged and
numbered in rows on shelves tell the
long history of the tradition and deeprooted
know how at Didier.
Prepared with compressed air
The creation of blanks for the abovementioned
distillation trays is a good example
of one of the most compressedair-intensive
applications at Didier,
where this energy source is of course
completely indispensible. The clang of
the rammer which, guided by a knowing
hand, simultaneously homogenises and
moulds the material which is to be fired,
reveals its raw driving power.
Compressed air is also ever-present in
the pressing hall, where ceiling-high hydraulic
presses exert pressures of up to
2000 tonnes on the ceramic raw material,
shaping it so forcefully that it will be
able withstand extreme high temperatures
in use. The machines in the compressed
air station are called on again
to control the presses’ handling robots
which remove the parts and assemble
them for finishing. Likewise below
material silos where the mixing unit’s
large hoppers wait to precisely fill the
automatically controlled trucks, a small
army of compressed-air-powered shock
blowers keep all the material-ways free
and clear. This is where most of the
compressed air delivered by the four
Kaeser BSD 72 rotary screw compressors
is put to use, as shock blowers are
big compressed air consumers. This
area of operations demands absolute
reliability, as Didier cannot tolerate any
holdups in material supply – ultimately
the products are part of precisely calculated
supply chains and, due to the
extremely aggressive environment in
which they are used, have very short
shelf-lives of only a few days.
Highly specialised industrial ceramics
Baptism of fire
High precision for a short life:
the ceramic control elements used
with white-hot liquid steel have a
service life of just a few days
Pottery and weaving – two industries descended from ancient cultural skills that are shaping the
Upper Franconia and Upper Palatinate areas of north-eastern Bavaria even to this day. The Didier
works in Marktredwitz serves to demonstrate the fusion of “old industry” and high-tech. Here, with
the help of a new compressed air station from Kaeser Kompressoren, they produce components
vital to the manufacture of steel and other metals.
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Fire and sand
In order to live up to their fire-resistant
reputation, ceramics must first go
through fire themselves. Above gas
flames in tunnel or hood kilns, the soft
raw material has to be subjected to temperatures
of up to 1600 °C in order to be
transformed into a high-strength “body.”
And of course, compressed air comes
into play again here, where it used to
raise and precisely maintain combustion
temperatures. Kaeser Kompressoren’s
screw compressors even have
a role to play in the finishing process,
supplying energy to a large sandblasting
station and an automatic lapping
machine.
More compressed air,
more heat recovery
Following a recent air demand analysis
(ADA), a new compressed air station
was installed that was designed and tailored
to suit Didier’s exact compressed
air requirements. The station comprises
four Kaeser BSD 72 rotary screw
compressors and three energy-saving
TE 141 Secotec refrigeration dryers,
which ensure that the compressed air
is always dried to suit the needs of the
specific application. An air main charging
system guarantees that air quality
is maintained after periods of low load
or downtime by preventing the dryers
from being overwhelmed by the sudden
surge in airflow that occurs when
the system re-starts. Air treatment performance
is therefore safeguarded right
from the start.
All four compressors in the new station
are equipped with heat recovery and
consequently further contribute to enhanced
energy savings. The recovered
energy is used to heat service water,
thereby reducing gas consumption by
around 1400 kW/h per month – a fact
that greatly pleases Toni Brasavs, the
Technical Manager at the Didier Marktredwitz
works, which have been owned
by Viennese company RHI AG since
1995.
Author: Klaus Dieter Bätz
Contact: klaus-dieter.baetz@kaeser.com
RHI – The world’s leading
refractories company
The international RHI group manufactures
and sells essential refractory
products for all industrial high-temperature
processes.
RHI AG employs 7100 people and
turns over around €1.6bn (2008/2009
business year), its 32 sites across four
continents produce some two million
tonnes of refractories each year. Key
industries such as iron and steel, cement,
lime, glass, non-ferrous metals,
environmental, energy technology, and
chemical are the most important consumers
of their products, systems and
services. RHI Refractories are also involved
in special ceramics, kiln furniture
and raw materials. Under RHI’s roof are
a number of established brands, including
Veitscher, Didier, Radex, Refel, Dolomite
Franchi and Interstop, combining
tradition with innovative technology and
exemplary quality.
Compressed air from the new Kaeser
station is also essential to the
finishing process (left and opposite)
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