Siempelkamp Giesserei, the world market leader for hand-mold casting solutions, has become the first large foundry in Germany to start a comprehensive cooperation with the Finnish sand regeneration technology company Finn Recycling in order to operate and maintain together a plant for the recycling of foundry sand in Krefeld. In the midterm, this should significantly increase the share of recycled foundry sand in Siempelkamp's own recyclable material cycle. Through the close cooperation with the innovative company, the Siempelkamp Giesserei plans to increase the reuse of the sand used for the production of the casting molds. The solutions developed for this purpose by Finn Recycling are significantly more energy-efficient and allow sustainable saving of resources compared to the current practice in the foundry industry.
Better recycling rate to ensure less environmental impact, resource conservation and cost reductions
The Siempelkamp Giesserei requires almost 1,000 tons of foundry sand per day for the production of structural components weighing up to 320 tons. This sand, which consists of quartz sand as well as organic binders, is already recycled by Siempelkamp to approx. 95 percent within the scope of the circular economy. Reducing the small remaining share significantly is an important contribution to the reduction of the ecological footprint and an essential building block in the closing of material cycles, the circular economy. In addition, the disposal of sand in landfills is very expensive and the space available for this is becoming increasingly scarce. "For this reason, as a leading industrial company, we want to move even faster in terms of active environmental protection, sustainability, and efficiency and additionally further increase our recycling rate in order to avoid environmental pollution in the long run, to conserve resources, and to reduce costs," explains Dr. Georg Geier, Managing Director of Siempelkamp Giesserei.
Together with Finn recycling, current recycling process will be optimized by integrating the Finn Recycling’s regeneration unit into the overall process and the construction of a new energy efficient regeneration plant on the foundry premises is being driven forward.
Patented technology and innovative business model of Finn Recycling cleans the sand from almost all residues
Finn Recycling has already successfully implemented several projects in Finland with local foundries. In Germany, the company operates a unit for foundry sand regeneration for R&D purposes with the University of Freiberg. Finn Recycling's patented thermo-mechanical system for sand regeneration consists of feeding, heating, cooling and dedusting units, among others, to free the silica sand from all organic elements and residues. Even magnetic material can be separated out. The resulting sand can be directly reused in the foundry processes and later regenerated again. The operating costs of the plant are very manageable thanks to low energy consumption, robust technology, and high level of automation.
"We want to enable a rethink in the foundry industry and make sand regeneration an integral part of business practices. In the current economic situation in foundry industry, we can offer a rapid, modular solution, with positive environmental impact, low investments due to Sand As A Service (SAAS) business model and significant operational cost savings. We are extremely proud and happy to start our first commercial sand regeneration project outside Finland with Siempelkamp, the global leader in its field," explains Kalle Härkki, CEO of Finn Recycling.
The implementation of such a system for use with the sands of the Siempelkamp Giesserei will now be worked out in the further course of the corporate cooperation with those responsible at the foundry. "We are very happy to have found an innovative partner in Finn Recycling who establishes solutions together with us in order to support our way of Mission Green and the closing of material cycles," clarifies Dr. Georg Geier.
About Siempelkamp
Siempelkamp is a globally active group of companies with the business units Machinery and Plants, Casting Technology, and Engineering and Service. Nearly 3,000 employees worldwide ensure that the Siempelkamp Group is among the world leaders with its technologies.
The Siempelkamp Giesserei in Krefeld specializes in the production of hand-molded large castings of up to 320 tons made of cast iron with nodular graphite. With a casting volume of 50,000 tons per year and more than 400 employees, it is one of the largest hand-molding foundries in the world. The comprehensive and customer-oriented service package includes the entire production process from design, calculations, pattern making, molding and casting to machining, packaging and transport.
About Finn Recycling
Finn Recycling Oy is a Finnish technology company specializing in sand regeneration. Finn Recycling offers foundries more environmentally friendly and profitable solutions for the use of sand. After a long period of research, Finn Recycling has patented a regeneration technology that allows foundry sand to be processed for reuse. This significantly reduces the extraction of new, depleting sand resources, as well as the CO2 emissions and cost of handling and transporting them. This unique regeneration technology also significantly reduces the amount of waste sand and the need for landfills.
Finn Recycling has developed the regeneration technology in Nuutajärvi in cooperation with several foundries and universities for almost 10 years. The Sand As A Service (SAAS) service model for foundries also enables rapid implementation with low investment. Finn Recycling's mission is to innovate the use and recycling of foundry sand together with its customers and thus be part of the solution to a global environmental challenge.
