In collaboration with exodraft, KME Germany GmbH built a heat recovery system at its Osnabrück site to utilise the unused heat potential generated by operational processes.
In Osnabrück, slabs are heated to up to 1,000°C in a walking beam furnace so that they can be hot rolled. The furnace takes its name from the way the slabs are moved: movable and rigid beams convey the slabs through the furnace to ensure continuous operation. This process generates waste heat – often in the form of hot exhaust gases, cooling water or process heat, which is released unused into the environment and has enormous waste heat potential. In order to reduce these unnecessary losses and achieve the company's energy targets, KME Germany GmbH decided to install a heat recovery system. A heat recovery system allows this energy to be utilised, e.g. for heating purposes or for other processes in the plant.
The system was installed in collaboration with exodraft systems, which produces one of the most efficient systems for recovering waste heat in industrial plants. The heat recovery system transfers energy from the hot exhaust air to the water from the heating network with the aid of a heat exchanger. This allows some of the unused waste heat to be fed back into the company's heating network, reducing thermal energy consumption and reusing up to 4,000 MWh/a.
This corresponds to the amount of energy needed to heat 230 single-family homes per year, or a CO2 saving of 800 tonnes. This brings KME Germany GmbH a big step closer to its goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 12% (tCO2/tprod) by 2032 and saving costs.
PROJECT VIDEO
Sustainable energy and lower costs!
A powerful plug & play heat recovery system was successfully delivered to KME. As a company operating in a highly energy-intensive industry, we at KME continuously seek new ways to optimise our processes, reduce emissions, and deliver added value to our customers. Copper is inherently sustainable, as it can be recycled endlessly without losing quality. At the same time, our global customers increasingly demand products with an even stronger sustainability profile – and we are determined to meet this demand head-on.
Watch the full YouTube video below.
