Industrial Furnaces

Many products of metal, ceramic or glass have to be heat-treated in order to achieve the required properties. The heat-treatment takes place in thermo-processing systems that work at temperatures above 600 °C. The requirements for industrial furnaces are high: highly complex processes have to work smoothly (temperature level, heat distribution, etc.). Furthermore, they have to be simple to operate and low-maintenance. The processes must also offer a good cost-benefit ratio and allow for an efficient and low-emission operation by means of low energy consumption. The current climate protection plan of the Federal Government aims greenhouse gas neutrality in Germany up to 2045. To reach this, the plan also fixes extensive emission decrease aims for the industrial heat production for 2030.

One the one hand the thermal-process technology at OWI supports manufacturers of industrial furnaces with regard to system development, e.g. the development of components or the selection of high-temperature materials. On the other hand it supports operators of existing furnace plants with regard to modernisation and optimisation, e.g. of energetic processes. This relates specifically to

• the development of
  – dualfuel burners for liquid and gaseous conventional and bio-fuels  (Projekt Biobrennstoff-Kombibrenner)
  – a FLOX®-burner for liquid and biogenic fuels (Projekt FLOX)
  – a flat flame burner for liquid fuels
• the determination of thermal operating limits for the recirculation of process gases in the combustion process
• the investigation of individual components, e.g. of a shut-off valve for the fuel supply or for their resistance to pollutants which fuel gases contain and
• the research on the insulation of thermal process plants with regard to operational, slow paced damages in order to develop a methodology for the assessment of damages.
• Energetic consideration and optimisation of industrial furnaces, among other things, with the help of calculations and simulations