Leading technology in the aluminium casthouse

MELTING
2 HERTWICH - Melting HERTWICH - Melting 3

Introduction
Recycling of aluminium scrap has
gained paramount significance. In
Germany secondary aluminium ac-
counts for more than 60% of total
consumption, which is still on the
rise.
Content HERTWICH has built melting fur-
naces for more than 15 years, and
has from the beginning paid particu-
lar attention to efficiency, economy
of operation and the environment.
Introduction 3
Due to the multitude of different
scrap types and customer specific
Scrap definition 3
requirements several furnace types
and processes have been devel-
oped.
Today Hertwich covers all aspects
of melting furnace construction with
its product range:
• Single-chamber melting & cast-
ing furnaces for clean scrap
• Multi-chamber furnaces for con-
taminated scrap (painted, oiled,
foil coated, chips, cans, auto-
motive, etc.)
• Rotary tilting furnaces for low-
grade scrap and dross
To identify the best suited furnace
concept, several typical scrap
types and other major aspects are
shown in relation to the main fur-
nace types. (see table below).
For certain applications with vari-
ous scrap types a combination of
two different furnace types is the
preferred solution, in order to en-
sure good flexibility and compete-
tiveness.

Single Chamber Melting Furnaces 4 Scrap definition

Type I, VOC < 1 %
Multi Chamber Furnaces - ECOMELT Range 5
Ecomelt PR (preheat ramp) 6 primary Al, clean profiles, clean
Ecomelt PS (preheat shaft) 8 scrap

Universal Rotary Tilting Furnace (URTF) 10

Compact Type Remelt Plant (CTRP) 13 Type II, VOC < 5 %

oily, painted or laquered scrap,
etc.
Compact Type Remelt Plant for Long Profiles 15

Chip Remelting Plant 17

Type III, VOC > 5 %
painted profiles with thermal
break, litho sheets, UBC, etc.

Type IV
Dross, scrap with iron, etc.

VOC = volatile organic

Edition 08/2012 compounds
4 HERTWICH - Melting
Single Chamber Melting Furnaces
Single chamber furnaces generally
require comparatively low invest-
ment costs.
Furnace design is simple, rectan-
gular or round, depending on indi-
vidual application.
The rectangular furnace design with
its front door across the full furnace
width allows for maximum access
during charging and skimming.
Such design is also well suitable
for melting of above mentioned type
1 clean scrap, ingots, sows, etc.
Heating System
Cold air gas burners are common
with single chamber furnaces.
For lowest energy consumption
regenerative burners are used,
comprising honey comb type ce-
ramic elements. With regenerative
burners energy consumption below
600 kWh/ton is easily achieved.
A regulated flue gas flap or flue gas
fan adjusts the furnace atmosphere
for a slight positive pressure to min-
imise heat losses.
Single chamber melting furnaces
are designed either for hydraulic
tilting (as casting furnace) or as
stationary type, as required.
Accessories
Side wells or electromagnetic liq-
uid metal pumps are fitted to the
furnace wall. An electromagnetic
stirrer supports even temperature
Two 50t rectangular type casting furnaces
Tilting of round type casting furnace
distribution and alloying element
dissolution. To register the melt
weight a weighing system is added
at the furnace support structure.
If required, specific provisions are
included for inserting gas lances
into the melt.
HERTWICH - Melting 5
Multi Chamber Furnaces - ECOMELT Range
Hertwich Ecomelt Melting Furnaces Hertwich Ecomelt melting furnaces temperature (>900 °C) and the
are generally based on integrated for type 1 - 3 aluminium scrap (refer controlled furnace atmosphere.
scrap preheating/delaquering page 3) are designed on the follow- • Melting of preheated scrap
and submerged melting process. ing principles: is exclusively by contact with
They are designed for remelting of liquid melt (submerged melting
scrap with impurities like oil, paint • Automatic scrap charging process). An electromagnetic
and plastic. Total non-metallic, • Thermal gasification of liquid metal pump transports
organic substances may reach 10% organic content by heating the sufficient melt to the scrap. This
of charge weight, subject to calorific scrap in a hot-gas-flow to ap- method of melting results in the
value. prox. 400 – 500 °C. During this lowest achievable metal loss.
phase the aluminium does not • Near continuous heating -
Savings come not only from avoid- start to melt, as the temperature charging and melting activities
ing shredding and separating, but of the hot-gas-flow is at all times do not interrupt main burner
significantly from thermal recla- below the melting temperature. operation.
mation of the hydrocarbons from • Combustion and post combus- • The majority of the melting
paint and plastic. During preheat- tion of gasified organics takes energy is introduced to the
ing of such scrap up to 80% of the place in all chambers of the fur- melt in the main chamber in the
gas consumption is substituted by nace. The gasified hydro-car- form of radiant heat. The use
the inherent energy of the gasi- bons contribute to the energy of a regenerator ensures high
fied hydrocarbons. The specific input for the melting process. combustion efficiency with low
fuel gas consumption varies from The main chamber of the energy consumption.
350 to 550 kWh/ton of aluminium furnace is well suited for post
during continuous operation subject combustion because of the
to quantity of organic impurities. constant high furnace chamber
In the preheat/gasification compartment the
scrap load is exposed to an intense hot gas BLOCK PREHEAT
flow and organic compounds are transformed COMPARTMENT
into combustible gases. Combustion and post
combustion takes place in all furnace cham- HOT
GASES
HOOD
bers. The main chamber is well suited for post
combustion due to the constant high furnace
temperature and the slight excess oxygen,
adjusted to 2 – 3%.
The inherent energy of pyrolysis gas supports
the heating system and considerably reduces
net energy input.
BOTTOM
FLAPS
During preheating the scrap charge is heated
to a temperature of approx. 500 °C, which at GRADIENT OF TEMPERATURE WITHIN THE SCRAP LOAD AT DIFFERENT TIME AFTER CHARGING
any rate is way below the melting tempera- 700
ture of aluminium. Surface melt down and 20 min
unnecessary increased oxidation of aluminium 600
METAL TEMPERATURE [∞C]
16 min
in the furnace atmosphere must be minimised. 500
It is imperative that hot gases flow through the
12 min
maximum of
400
pyrolysis
scrap load rather than passing along the outer 8 min after charging (formation of
300 CxHy)
contours of it. The hot air flow through the 4 min
6 min
scrap load allows simple control of the gasi- 200
2 min
fication rate and quantity of pyrolysis gases. 100
Sudden occurrence of uncontrolled peaks of 0
pyrolysis gases, which are typical for conven-
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
DISTANCE FROM ENTRY SIDE [METER]
tional dry charging, can thereby be controlled
easier.
Figure : Longitudinal section of gasification compartment. The diagram
shows the temperature of scrap after certain duration of heating.
Since temperature moves gradually from entry of hot gases to the
exit, gasification also moves gradually through the charge (see
6 HERTWICH - Melting HERTWICH - Melting 7

Since no scrap is charged into the The capacity of the charging ma-
furnace main chamber, a constant PREHEAT AND chine is approximately 13m³ with a
GASIFICATION
high furnace temperature of more CHARGING BIN
COMPARTMENT EMPTY BINS maximum load of 5t.
BOTTOM FLAPS OPEN
than 950 °C can be maintained. CONVEYOR Before opening the furnace door for
Possible toxic chlorine compounds, charging the attached hood docks
BIN ELEVATOR
which may occur upon gasification HOOD to the furnace to extract escaping
CHARGING BINS
of organic impurities, are no longer FOR SCRAP
fumes.
CHAMBER 1
stable at such high temperatures UP TO 7,2 M LONG Preheated scrap on the ramp is
and are disintegrated. All flue gas- LOADING
pushed into the melt bath with the
es from the furnace are ducted from POSITION charging machine front shield and
the main chamber through the flue the new scrap load is deposited
gas duct to two alternating regen- onto the ramp in turn.
erators, which cool down the flue Charging Machine docking on Preheating Chamber
gases to below 200 °C within split
SCRAP JUST CHARGED
seconds. The fast cooling prevents SCALE
CHAMBER 2
recombination of dioxins in the criti-
FULL BINS
cal temperature range 600 °C to ELECTROMAGNETIC PUMP
FOR MELT CIRCULATION
SUBMERSION MELTING
OF DELAQUERED SCRAP CONVEYOR
250 °C.
In the regenerators combus- During melting of moderately Despite consistent design criteria,
tion air is preheated to approx. contaminated scrap the typi- furnace design may be somewhat
800 – 1000 °C. Such intense air cal gas consumption is merely adapted, depending on individual
preheating in combination with the 450 – 500 kWh/ton. specifications and capacities.
thermal utilization of pyrolysis gas- After passing through the regenera-
es, leads to extremely low energy tors flue gases are ducted to a filter
consumption values. plant.

Ecomelt PR (preheat ramp)

Two Ecomelt PC-120 furnaces, main chamber view
The multi-chamber furnace with pump circulates the melt between
preheat ramp is best suited for the furnace chambers, thereby pro- As an alternative to the rail bound charging
loose scrap with moderate organic viding necessary energy to melt the machine Hertwich offers a top-charging con-
content (VOC). Scrap is charged scrap. provisions for intense hot gas circu- cept. Full scrap containers are lifted to a posi-
with a charging machine onto the The time to thoroughly preheat the lation as well as additional hot gas tion above the furnace to dock onto a material
dry hearth ramp for preheating and entire scrap heap to approximately nozzles in the furnace roof. lock in the furnace roof. An overhead crane is
gasification of organics. Thereafter 500°C depends on scrap type and The average scrap preheat time is integrated for automated scrap container ma-
the scrap heap is pushed into the density. 30 minutes per charge. A furnace nipulation. After unloading and preheating on
melt bath by the charging machine For proper preheating of the with 6 tons/hour melt rate (120 tons/ the dry hearth scrap is pushed into the melt by
or an integrated scrap pusher. charged scrap and gasification the day) therefore requires two charg- a scrap shield in furnace side wall.
An electromagnetic liquid metal Hertwich furnace design includes ing cycles of 3 tons each, per hour. Laquered profile scrap after 30min of preheating
Regenerative Hot Air
Burner System Circulation Fan
Injection of gasified
organics

Main Chamber Preheating

(1000°C) Chamber
(550°C)

Melt Circulation
Pump

Ecomelt PR-120 with scrap bin top charging system

Schematic view of ramp type furnace Ecomelt PR
8 HERTWICH - Melting HERTWICH - Melting 9

Ecomelt PS (preheat shaft)

This furnace type is well suited for
efficient and economic melting of
type 3 scrap including painted pro-
files with thermal break, baled litho
sheets, UBC etc. with organic com-
pounds up to 10% at high melting
rates.
In fact it is the most efficient and
versatile melting device in terms of
scrap grades and categories.

BIN CHARGING CRANE CHARGING HOOD

SHAFT GATE

SCRAP LOADING PYROLYSIS GAS

AND WEIGHING EXCHANGE FAN

BURNER WITH
REGENERATOR

MAIN CHAMBER

PREHEAT AND
PREHEAT GASIFICATION SUBMERSION MELTING
CIRCULATION FAN SHAFT OF PREHEATED SCRAP

The Ecomelt PS unlike Ecomelt PR
furnace is not limited to a single
batch, rather is the melting process
continuous. The Ecomelt PS multi
chamber furnace accepts several
batch loads in the preheat compart-
ment.
Most stringent environmental and
emission regulations are met due to
the combination of closed charging
unit and high efficiently combustion
equipment.
With the development of the pre-
heat shaft furnace
Ecomelt PS-160 with container charging system
a melting capacity of 12 tons/hour
(250 tons/day) is achieved.
Specific Energy consumption is as
low as 350 - 550 kWh/ton subject
to organic impurities.
Ecomelt PS-100
Scrap is loaded with a payloader
into containers. The charging crane
takes one full container at the time
and charges the scrap load via a
material lock at the top of the pre-
heat shaft.
Hot air from the melt chamber is
circulated through the scrap in up-
ward direction and back to the melt
chamber.
The long retention time of scrap
inside the preheat shaft ensures
adequate preheating and thorough
gasification of organic compounds
even for problematic (baled) scrap.
As the hot air temperature inside
the preheat shaft is at all times
controlled to below 650°C, local or
partial melting is ruled out during
gasification of hydrocarbons and
preheating.
Pyrolysis gas is generated quite
gradually, whereby gas generation
can be regulated with the intensity
of the re-circulating hot air flow
(controlled by the fan speed).
Pyrolysis gases are ducted to the
main chamber of the furnace for
combustion whereby the inherent Launder Pump
energy of volatile hydrocarbons is As an option to the conventional
thermally reclaimed, to contribute cone and plug tapping arrangement
to the energy needed for melting. an electromagnetic inductor (linear
Through an opening in the partition- motor) is used for safely raising the
ing wall hot air flows from the main melt into a transfer launder without
chamber to the melting chamber to interrupting melting operation.
supply energy for scrap preheating.
All organics are properly gasified
prior to scrap being submerged.
Melting of scrap is started by raising
of the melt bath level at the preheat-
ing/melting chamber with the liquid
metal pump, thereby flooding the
chamber. The melt rate is controlled
over the melt flow speed and melt
level in the chamber.
An outstanding feature is the “foot”
of the scrap pile, which is at all times
immersed during melting. The con-
stant metal flow, generated by the
electromagnetic pump, ensures the
steady melt rate.
Due to the submersion melt pro-
cess metal loss from oxidation is
reduced to a minimum.
Launder Pump
10 HERTWICH - Melting
Universal Rotary Tilting Furnace (URTF)
The name is derived from the fact
that this is the most versatile Ro-
tary Tilting Furnace on the market.
It is designed by Hertwich for three
process options:
• Low salt process for dross and
scrap recycling
• Salt free ALUREC® process for
dross and scrap recycling
• Calcium aluminate process
Particularly suitable for melting of
dross and low grade scrap with
organic impurities > 10 % or high
Furnace Data
Useful furnace volume (m³)
= Charged weight (tons)
Furnace door opening diamter (mm)
Scrap * (p = 0,8 ton/m³)
Throughput per day (tons), salt factor 0,2 - 0,5
Dross ** (p = 1,4 ton/m³)
Low salt process (tons), slat factor 0,2 -0,5
Now salt process (tons)
* depends on scrap conditions, organic + nonmetallic impurities
** depends on dross / aluminium ratio
HERTWICH - Melting 11
iron content, the URTF offers the
universal solution to the secondary
recycling industry:
• Highest Aluminium yield
• Very low specific energy con-
sumption
Clean scrap 350 kWh/t
Dirty scrap 250 – 320 kWh/t • The Hertwich URTF is available
Dross 250 – 320 kWh/t in four standard sizes, 3, 5, 10
• Yield: and 14, whereby the number
Clean scrap 90 - 97 % indicates the useful furnace
Dirty scrap 85 - 90 % volume in m3. Correspondingly
Dross 45 - 65 % the melt rate ranges from 1,5 to
• Minimum environmental impact 6,0 tons/hour.
URTF 3 URTF 5 URTF 10 URTF 14
3 5 10 14
5 7 15 23
1.200 1.600 1.600 1.600
Universal Rotary Tillting Furnace
40 - 50 60 - 80 85 - 110 100 - 130
Low salt process Salt free ALUREC® Calcium aluminate
45 - 60 60 - 80 90 - 115 105 - 135 process process
40 - 50 50 - 70 80 -105 95 - 125
Today the standard low salt process The environmental impact is at a The calcium aluminate process
is the most common way of operat- minimum and the yield is optimized uses white dross, which is charged
ing an URTF. due to the absence of salt with the into the furnace without any salt.
ALUREC® process. The dross is molten down and the
With a salt factor of 0,2 to 0,5 opti- metal is tapped. NMP is left in the
mum metal yield is achieved. With No landfill or further processing of furnace and the required quantity of
the low salt process the salt charge salt cake. The high temperature lime is charged. The residual alu-
is merely one third of that required oxygen flame provides rapid heat minium and aluminium nitride in the
for conventional rotary type furnac- input and quick melting of charged NMP is burnt exothermic and hence
es. Operating costs and salt cake material to limit oxidation losses very little fuel is required to melt the
disposal as well as flue gas emis- and to achieve lowest specific en- calcium aluminate. The calcium alu-
sions are substantially reduced. ergy consumption. minate is tapped at a temperature
of approx. 1500°C into buckets.
The NMP can be used in the cement The so produced calcium aluminate
industry as it hardly contains any is of very high quality, since it has
chlorine. The salt free ALUREC® been molten and not only sintered.
process is an economic and envi- It is sold to steel smelters as a cover
ronmental friendly alternative for flux for a very attractive price.
operating the URTF. As a missing
link for dross recycling Hertwich of-
fers a dross cooler to prevent ther-
2 URTF-14 furnaces
miting and associated metal loss.
12 HERTWICH - Melting
Charging
Design Features
The URTF offers a wide tilting range
from -20 to +40°. As a unique fea-
ture the furnace can be operated
in various tilting angles from -20 to
-10°. The tiltback of -20° supports
quick charging.
The sophisticated furnace drive
consists of two electrical drive units
rotating the drum via a spray lubri-
cated chain. One drive is a built-in
redundancy.
With the oxy-fuel burner system
short cycle times, respectively
high melting rates are achieved. In
combination with integrated oxygen
lances and permanent CO meas-
urement the specific gas consump-
tion is minimized.
By providing an additional inte-
grated post combustion system,
the HE-URTF complies with the
most stringent European emission
regulation standards.
For most efficient charging Hertwich
offers relevant charging equipment
including vibratory feeders, convey-
ors, hoppers, chutes etc. to achieve
charging rates of up to 10m³/min.
Control System
The enhanced PLC type control
system developed by HE offers:
• Process visualisation
• Process data acquisition, re-
cording and trending
• Operator menu and recipe sys-
tem
• Manual, semi-automatic or ful-
ly-automatic process modes
• Innovative alarm system to as-
sist operators and maintenance
personnel
• Incorporation of existing or re-
lated equipment
Plant Operation
The high degree of automation for
charging, melting, tapping and slag
tilting allows the plant to be oper-
ated by only 1 operator + 1 supervi-
sor per shift.
Green Technology
Irrespective of the process, the
Hertwich URTF represents lead-
ing edge technology to sustainably
contribute to environmentally sound
yet economic scrap recycling.
NMP Tapping
HERTWICH - Melting 13
Compact Type Remelt Plant (CTRP)
comprising:
- Multichamber Melting Furnace for painted profile scrap
- Horizontal Casting with Flying Saw
- Continuous Homogenizing
The CTRP is particularly suited for extruders and forging plants who remelt their own turn-around scrap as well
as scrap from the market into extrusion billet (logs) or forging stock. It represents an integrated, continuously
operated, fully automated concept starting with the handling of scrap and ending with cut to length homogenized
extrusion billets (logs). Typical continuous production rate is 2,2 tons per hour or 50 tons per day.
Continuous Homogenizing Furnace
Scrap Bin Accumulator Regenerator
Accumulator
Skimming Tool
Flying Saw
Degassing Unit
Horizontal DC Casting Machine Air Cooling Station
Melting & Casting Furnace
Exit Table / Weighing & Strapping System
Charging & Skimming Machine
Charging bin system
Several bins, which circulate be-
tween extrusion plant, scrap yard
and remelt plant. Volume per bin is
approx. 3 m3, average scrap-load is
approx. 800 kgs with a fork truck.
Bins filled with scrap are loaded
onto the scrap bin accumulator and
empty bins are removed.
Automatic Charging and
Skimming Machine
The machine takes up a full bin from
the bin accumulator and charges left: Scrap Bin Accumulator right: Charging Machine
the scrap into the chamber 1 of the
melting furnace.
The sequence of charging cycles is Three Chamber Melting Furnace When charging oily or painted
calculated by the furnace controls. The unique design permits steady scrap, it is preheated up to 500 °C
An automatic weighing system is charging of scrap and continuous and the hydrocarbons are gasified.
integrated in the charging machine tapping of melt of correct casting
to record the charge weight. temperature. The combustion system is oxygen
The charging machine is alter- Scrap is loaded onto the preheat controlled, so the supply of natural
natively designed to dock onto a ramp of Chamber 1 of the furnace. gas to the burner is reduced ac-
skimming rake at its parking posi- Hot gas drawn from the main cham- cordingly in order to leave sufficient
tion next to the furnace to carry out ber is used for preheating of scrap oxygen for combusting the organic
smooth and easy skimming of the in an intense air flow. compounds.
melt bath.
14 HERTWICH - Melting HERTWICH - Melting 15

When preheating is completed the

scrap is pushed into the melt bath
Recirculating Ventilator Induction metal pump
Compact Type Remelt Plant for Long Profiles
Flue gases to Regenerator
of Chamber 1 where it is subjected
to submersion melting for extremely
comprising:
low melt loss. An electromagnetic - Multichamber Melting Furnace for clean scrap
liquid metal pump generates an
intense melt recirculation (approx. - Vertical Casting Plant
400 tons/hour) between Chamber - Continuous Homogenizing
2 and Chamber 1. This melt-flow
transports the energy required for melt flow
The melting furnace meets the re-
hot gas flow
melting the solid metal by contact Metal Valve
quirements of many extruders for
with the melt. to Casting remelting of clean profile scrap up
Machine
Chamber 2 of the furnace serves to 7 m long at melt rates of ca. 3
for heat input into the melt bath and tons per hour. To minimize melt loss
for complete combustion of the gas- the submersion melting process is
ified hydrocarbons from the scrap. applied.
Preheat Gasification chamber Main chamber Casting chamber
To Hertwich the submersion melting
process is imperative for minimizing
melting losses.
Through an opening in the partition wall the melt flows Melting takes place in a dedicated,
from chamber 2 to chamber 3 of the furnace, where closed charge well.
the melt is gently stirred by means of gas bubbles in-
troduced through a porous plug in the furnace bottom A side channel electromagnetic
to ensure uniform melt temperature. pump generates an intense melt
1. Charging and skimming machine 6. Accumulator
The melt is tapped from chamber 3 through a cone and flow between the furnace cham-
2. Melting Furnace 7. Continuous Homogenizer
plug device or a liquid metal valve and then passes ber and the charge well to supply 3. Charging Well 8. Cooling Station
through an inline degassing unit. the melting energy. Charging is 4. Holding / Casting Furnace 9. Billet Saw
done with a pusher type charging 5. VDC-machine
Horizontal Caster machine with a 7 m long narrow
The HERTWICH Horizontal Caster is designed to cast trough. At the start of a charging
the required number of strands. Typical diameters are cycle the front end of the trough away” the metal, as it gets in con- The plant also comprises a tiltable
Ø 6” - 10”. Continuous casting rate is 2 to 3 tons/hour. Horizontal Casting Machine is moved close to the charge well. tact with the melt. Casting Furnace, Vertical Casting
The integrated flying saw automatically cuts the strands The pusher then slowly pushes the A charging cycle takes merely Machine, Continuous Homogenizer
into logs of i.e. 7 meter length, including pin-stamping scrap from the charging trough into 5 minutes. Typical batch charge and a Sawing and Packing station.
and storage onto an intermediate table. the melt. weight is 1.000 to 1.500 kgs.
The recirculated melt quickly “eats
Continuous Homogenizer
Single logs from the intermediate table are introduced
into the Continuous Homogenizer in regular intervals.
While passing through the furnace the logs are sub-
jected to heating and holding at very narrow temperature
and time tolerances, uniform for all logs. Logs then
pass through a cooling station. After cooling, logs are
moved to the exit station where they are weighed and
bundled. Strapping and removing finished bundles are
the only manual operations of the production cycle after Overall view of the plant
loading of full scrap bins onto the bin entry accumulator.

Three Chamber Furnace

Degassing Unit
Horizontal DC Casting Machine
Flying Saw

METAL LEVEL

Overall view of the plant

16 HERTWICH - Melting HERTWICH - Melting 17

Extensive tests have confirmed

Chip Remelting Plant
very low melt loss:
Total dross generation for both,
melting and holding furnace was
1,68 % of profile scrap charged.
After recycling of the aluminium-
rich dross with ~ 65 % aluminium
content, the net melt loss is merely
0,6 %.

Average fuel gas consumption per

ton is 540 kWh for the melting fur-
nace and 60 kWh for the casting
Charging and melting
furnace.

Scrap is pushed into the melt bath for submersion melting
The melting furnace main chamber
is equipped with regenerative burn-
ers. Hertwich regenerators are filled
with honeycomb structured ceramic
modules. Such ceramic modules
are much less prone to clogging
compared to regular ceramic ball
type filling.
Combustion air is preheated to
800 - 1.000 °C while flue gases are
cooled down below 250 °C. Specific
energy consumption with regenera-
tive burners is within 600 kWh/ton.
A skimming unit is mounted on
the base traversing carriage of the
charging machine. It permits easy
and careful skimming of both, melt-
ing- and casting furnaces.
Schematic overall view of plant
This melting furnace has been
specifically designed for melting of
loose swarf and light gauge scrap.
It is the result of extensive inhouse
R&D to achieve outstanding values
in terms of economic throughput
and the environment.
The main characteristics are:
• Chips are charged continuously
and heated to some 400°C in
seconds, whereby hydrocar-
bons and moisture are evapo-
rated.
• Thermal reclamation of organic
components as dryer and melt-
ing furnace are combined into
one process.
• Swarf is introduced directly to
Hot gas and material flow
the melting process in hot con-
dition, thereby avoiding further
oxidation or moisture pick-up.
• Electromagnetic liquid metal
pump for quick, energetic sub-
mersion of the charged material
and for melt bath movement
The following outstanding targets
are achieved:
Schematic concept of chip-submerging
• Melting capacity 2 to 5 tons/h or
40 to 100 tons/day
• Very low specific energy con- • Low manpower for operation
sumption (< 550 kWh/ton inclu- and maintenance
sive drying) due to LOW-NOx • Good metal quality of the melt
regenerative burner systems, (low oxide and hydrogen con-
yet very low NOx emissions tent)
• Extremely low melt loss (< 1 %), • Meeting most stringent environ-
thus high metal recovery mental standards

View on VDC-casting plant, casting and melting furnace Honeycomb ceramic inside regenerator Melting furnace with chip conditioning station
18 HERTWICH - Melting

HERTWICH PRODUCT RANGE

MELTING
• Single Chamber Furnace for clean scrap (tiltable for casting)
Melt rate: 2 - 15 tons/hour
• Twin Chamber Furnace for contaminated scrap
Melt rate: 1 - 12 tons/hour
• Rotary Tilting Furnace
Melt rate: 1 - 6 tons/hour
• Compact Type Remelt Plant for recycling scrap into billets
Capacity: 4.000 - 30.000 tons/year
• Furnace Charging Machines

CASTING
• HDC - Horizontal Casting Plant for ingots, busbars and billets
Production rate: 2 - 15 tons/hour
• VDC - Vertical Casting Plant for extrusion and forging billets
• Open Mould Ingot Caster (Air or water cooled)
Production rate: 5 - 16 tons/hour
• Inline Degassing Unit
• Compact Type Remelt Plant for billets
Capacity: 4.000 - 30.000 tons/year

ULTRASONIC TESTING
• Linear Ultrasonic Testing Equipment for crack detection in billets
and slabs
• Helical Ultrasonic Testing Equipment for full metal volume
inspection of billets

HOMOGENIZING
• Continuous Homogenizing Plant for billets
Production rate: 4.000 - 180.000 tons/year
• Batch Homogenizing Plant for billets and slabs
Capacity: 40 - 180 tons/batch
• Full automatic Stacking & Unstacking Equipment for Batch
Furnaces

SAWING, STACKING & PACKING

• Full automatic sawing, stacking & packing pants for billets
Billet diameter up to 700 mm

BRIQUETTING
• Swarf Briquetting Press, Capacity: 400 kg/hour
Stand alone units or integrated with billet saw
Hertwich Engineering GmbH
Weinbergerstrasse 6
A-5280 BRAUNAU
AUSTRIA
Tel +43-7722-806-0
Fax +43-7722-806-122
info@hertwich.com
www.hertwich.com