June 25, 2019-Clariant supports the foundry industry in pursuing a more sustainable future, and it turns out that Clariant's achievements in this area have met or exceeded the requirements for benzene series emissions limits. At the GIFA 2019 in Dusseldorf, Germany, Clariant shared the success of “Low Emissions + Technology” (LE + Technology) in foundry production. This technology can reduce the overall manufacturing cost (TCO), improve the surface quality of castings, and enhance environmental protection qualifications, thereby meeting the relevant needs of foundry consumers.
The wet sand molding method is still a widely used molding method in the production of small and medium-sized black castings in various industrial fields. This method is widely used in the production of small and medium-sized castings in automobiles, buildings, rail vehicles, heating systems, and even cookware. However, the surface of castings produced by this method has always been rough, and it will also produce larger dimensional tolerances and higher benzene emissions. As foundries face increasing environmental regulations and their end customers' increasing demands for precision and complexity of castings, they have to quickly shift to working with low-cost and sustainable partners to solve problems.
At the GIFA 2019, Clariant presented the first-hand experience of LE + technology in the application of European foundries. The actual performance of the technology has reached or exceeded its ability to meet the key performance and environmental challenges of wet sand systems. Out of promise. Benefiting from the special combination of bentonite, graphite, and dispersant in the core components of the product, LE + technology has achieved outstanding results in improving casting accuracy, reducing overall manufacturing costs, and significantly reducing benzene emissions.
Enhance environmental protection qualifications in various ways. By using high-quality graphite and aromatic-free dispersants to partially replace pulverized coal during the wet sand casting process, LE + technology can enable foundries to meet or exceed regulatory limits for reducing benzene emissions. This technology can not only greatly reduce casting emissions, but also reduce smoke generation, thereby creating a better working environment for foundries. Clariant is good at being able to perform actual testing of foundry sand emissions from foundries and provide qualified data. The highest reduction in aromatics emissions to date is over 90%.
Clariant's improvement of the ecological environment is also reflected in mining practices. Customers value Clariant's guarantee of sustainable raw material mining practices. All mines have been backfilled and reclaimed, for example to provide habitat for wild animals in mixed woodlands and increase soil nutrients.
High-precision casting: In order to meet the customer's requirements for the complexity of the shape of the casting and on-time delivery, efficient production with low scrap rates is essential to the foundry. LE + technology plays a key role in the production and production efficiency of high-precision castings by increasing the stability of the mold and improving the collapse of the sand mold. The lubricant function of graphite gives the sand mold a more uniform compactness. At the same time, the particle size distribution of the wet sand is improved, avoiding sticky sand and sand blasting defects during casting.
The end result is: the casting has a high uniform surface finish, the surface cleaning saves subsequent shot blasting time, and the casting size is accurate. The falling sand section has good collapsibility.
Cost-effective. Because LE + technology improves the fluidity of the molding sand, improves the compaction rate and mechanical properties of the molding sand, the foundry can reduce the consumption of additives without affecting the quality of the casting. The foundry successfully reduced the amount of bentonite supplementation, which also reduced moisture and pulverized coal. Individual customers who showed up at GIFA saved 25% in excipient consumption and 35% in pulverized coal.
As the consumption of additives decreases, so does the amount of waste sand produced. This not only brings obvious environmental benefits, but also has a positive impact on costs, because according to the government's waste sand treatment regulations, foundry owners need to pay high treatment costs for this.
Peugeot Citroen Group (PSA Groupe) 's French Sept-Fons factory affirmed the advantages of LE + technology: "LE + technology has helped us reduce benzene emissions and additive consumption in wet sand molding production. Optimize sand mold performance and reduce benzene Emissions and additive consumption are the result of our collaboration with Clariant. "
"We are proud to continue to lead the industry and help foundries produce wet sand castings that can meet their current and future needs. At the core of our approach is customer collaboration to ensure that Europe, the United States, , All customers in China and Latin America can take advantage of this advanced technology to keep pace with the times and succeed. "
For Clariant, the four-year GIFA is a highly anticipated event. It supports Clariant's global development, enabling it to reach a foundry audience from around the world, and also provides the latest insights on emerging trends and industry developments. For more information on LE + technology, please visit the Clariant team at booth 12C13 at the 2019 GIFA show.