Light Metals 2009 Edited by: Geoff Bearne

TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society), 2009

Environmental and operating benefits of a new fume treatment system at a paste mixing plant
Matthias Hagen 1 , Ralf Forster 2
1

LTB Lufttechnik Bayreuth GmbH & Co. KG, 95497 Goldkronach, Germany;
2
SGL Carbon GmbH, Bonn, Germany

Keywords: Emissions, Fume treatment, VOC, SO2, RTO, oxidizer; benzene, energy

Already in advance to the installation of a new treatment

system, optimization at the ring furnaces lead to a reduction of
the process exhaust flow and simultaneously to an increase of
the pollutant concentration. Also the projected reduction of the
mixer exhausts from 1.500 m/h per mixer down to about 120
m/h per mixer caused an increase in the relative pollutant
concentration, which demands the installation of a flue gas desulfurization system for SO2.

Abstract
Increasing energy prices and high labor costs made a plant
manager think of possibilities to save costs. A green production
plant should be optimized in order to reduce production costs,
increase the output and fulfill newest emission regulations .
The solution was a completely new designed system. Heated
suction hoods at the mixers and a ductwork system with preheating to avoid condensation. The effect was zero cleaning,
which saves time and increases the availability of the whole
plant.
A central fume treatment was installed with a thermal oxidizer
as main part. The resulting energy is used for preheating of the
fumes and the production of heat for the process, which reduces
the energy consumption dramatically.
The paper shows the technical solution and the numbers of
savings in detail.

RTO

TO

Ring Furnace 1

MIXER

Ring Furnace 2

Situation

RTO

TO

KNEADERS

Figure 2: Existing fume treatment system

SGL is the world leading producer of special graphite parts,

which are also produced at a facility in Germany. Due to
market demands the production mix will be changed and the
output capacity should be increased. Instead of installing new
mixers the downtime of the existing mixers should be reduced.
The major reason for downtimes in the past was the necessary
cleaning of the exhaust ductwork, which was clogged due to
deposits of tar and particles ( see figure 1).

Concept
To reach a lower energy consumption the existing local
oxidizers will be exchanged by one new center plant, equipped
with an external heat recovery. So either a recuperative or a
regenerative oxidizer is required.
Meeting the demanded emission levels for SOx in the clean gas
was a common task for all sources of fumes. So the
desulfurization system has to be designed for the mixture of
both fumes, from the existing regenerative thermal oxidizers
(RTO) of the baking furnaces as well as from the new oxidizer
of the mixing area.

RTO
Ring Furnace 1
MIXER

Ring Furnace 2

RTO

KNEADERS

figure 1: clogged valve of a mixer (1)

DeSOx

Based on the SGL excellence program, each process should be

checked in terms of energy efficiency. This causes the final
requirement to reduce the operating costs. Major consumers
have been the existing thermal oxidizers, which treat the flue
gases from each mixer individually.

TO

Figure 3: new concept for the flue gas treatment

Maintenance cost reduction
The cleaning of clogged ducts and parts of the mixers takes
several hours per week. To reduce these efforts it was necessary
to check two main parts.

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First issue was the mixer and the question how to suck which
air volume from a mixer. Usually the supplier of the mixer has
equipped the mixer with a simple flange to connect the suction
ducting and recommended an air volume, which should be
sucked. At the existing mixer the actual required volume was
determined by reducing the flow with a simple valve. The result
was a reduction from more than 1000 down to 150 Nm/h per
mixer. The connection of the duct with the mixer caused also a
problem. At this point the high velocity of the duct is
transferred into the depth of the mixer. So lots of particles are
sucked out of the mixer into the ducting, where they will stick
to the inside wall.
If it would be possible to reduce the velocity at the connection
point at the mixer, less or even no particles will reach the
ducting. Based on this idea a first mixer suction hood was
designed. To reduce the air velocity a conical hood was chosen,
which has a connecting diameter of 800mm towards the mixer.
Due to mixing temperatures of up to 200C lots of tar
components will be gasified and could condensate later on in
the ductwork system. By heating the hood with thermal fluid
above this temperature, condensation could be avoided in this
part.

of 500C. This enables us as well to use this hot air for a burnout of the ductwork. The amount of hot air was detected by a
test in relation with the required temperature in the fumes. To
ensure no condensation of pitch and tar the temperature is kept
above 230C. After several weeks of operation nearly no
deposits could be found. Up till now the ductwork had not to be
cleaned. The possible burnout (cleaning with hot air) was
tested, but has not been used within the operating time up till
now (approx. 1 year).
The only parts, which needs to be cleaned regularly, are the
valves at each mixer or kneader. The effort is approximately
half an hour per valve and week.

Figure 5 : ducting after 4 weeks test run (1)

Selection of fume treatment technology

First ideas to reduce the operating costs of the thermal oxidizers
lead to a regenerative oxidizer, which was successfully running
at another site of SGL. Comparing the running costs of a
regenerative system and a recuperative system there was a clear
advantage for the RTO. By considering the possibility to reuse
the energy in the clean gas of the recuperative oxidizer for the
heating of the ductwork, heating of hot water and heating of
thermal fluid oil, which is used for the mixing process, a
different result could be seen. The preferred solution is a
thermal oxidizer (TO) which allows to combine lower capital
costs and huge savings in operating costs.

Figure 4: suction hood (1)

So the first part was tested and is still in operation with no more
cleaning stops.
Second issue was the ductwork system, where two effects
should be avoided:

Deposits of dust due to gravity

Condensation of tar components

To keep the low amount of remaining dust in motion and to
avoid deposits, the velocity of the fumes inside the duct should
be higher than the sinking velocity of the particles. In a long
term test this was detected and finally it should be more than 18
m/s.
The heating of the fumes was realized in other plants by mixing
hot air, created by an electrical heater, with the fumes. For a
test a burner was installed to create hot air with a temperature

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To realize this technology a reactor, a bag filter and the fresh

and waste material handling had to be considered. Due to the
limited space a filter with horizontal bags was installed. This
enables the access from the same level and avoids an additional
level of the building just for the maintenance of the filter bags.
Even the consumption of sodium bicarbonate would allow the
use of big bags for the supply the limited space lead to a silo
with a capacity of 30 m. To avoid problems with material
bridges and clogging, it was installed inside the building. For
the used reactant 4 big bags are installed, which could be
handled by a fork lift truck.

type
OXITHERM
Flue gas volume
7.000 Nm/h
Input
200 -350 C
temperature
Burner
1400 kW
VOC, gaseous
3000 mg/m
Residence time
1,5s
Figure 6: design numbers thermal oxidizer
The fumes from the mixers and kneaders are treated directly in
the oxidizer. Low loaded gases from the paste storage area are
preheated with the clean gas of the TO and used as combustion
air for the burner.

3
6

4
2

1
2
3
4
5
6

figure 7: burner head (1)

fumes from mixer

fumes from existing RTOs
heat recovery
pre-heating
reactor
filter

figure 9: installed system

To treat the high concentrations of Sulfur dioxide a wet

scrubber, neutralizing the SO2 with caustic soda, seemed to be
the optimum solution. As LTB is able to provide all possible
technologies, wet and dry scrubber technologies were
compared. Based on the high local costs of fresh water and the
treatment of the waste water, a dry solution was preferred. For a
dry scrubber two different kinds of adsorbents could be used.
Calcium hydroxide or hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2 ) is the classical
solution, which needs a sufficient humidity and, in order to be
efficient, a low exhaust gas temperature. To reach these
conditions an additional cooler is needed, which would cause
additional running costs. Furthermore the stoichiometric
excesses of the material are nearly 100%. So the double amount
of the adsorbent is needed than the stoichiometry requires. This
causes high fresh adsorbent consumption and a similar amount
of waste. Additionally, the expenditure of work for the
exchange is very high.
The other alternative is the use of sodium bicarbonate
(NaHCO3), which is better known as baking soda. The
stoichiometric excesses are below 25%, so less adsorbent is
needed and creates less waste. Even at high temperatures this
material has a very high efficiency, which enables, together
with a sufficient residence time in the reactor , to reach the
required clean gas levels without problems.
type
Flue gas volume
Input
temperature
SOx

fume treatment system

The project started in 2005 with the first tests for the ductwork
system. After the evaluation of different alternatives the order
was placed end of 2006. The limited space in the middle of an
existing factory of 9x 12 m caused a detailed planning of the
crafts in order not to disturb the running production, which took
place around the new plant. Compared to a green field project
this was not a brown, but a black field project. Within only
12 months the plant was realized, thanks to a perfect
cooperation between suppliers and the project manager at SGL.

DeSOx
24.000 Nm/h
180 -240 C
<2000 mg/m

figure 10: fume treatment building (1)

Figure 8: design numbers for DeSOx

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Environmental benefits
Internal measurements already during comissioning have
shown, that the required emission levels will be definitely met,
respectively will go below the limits. Official measurements
will be performed soon. As there are no official results
available at the moment, the actual emission levels cannot be
shown today.
Operating benefits
Under attention of the specific requirements for a flue gas
treatment system, LTB has designed and realized an optimum
technical solution in close cooperation with SGL.
For the operator staff the major benefit was less maintenance.
Each maintenance in the past meant a direct contact with tar
and particles, which would be a risk in terms of health and
safety. So reduced maintenance is always a benefit in health of
the staff.
But beyond this an enormous saving in operational costs could
be realized. The old existing oxidizers caused costs for light oil
of about 500.000 Mio /a. For the preparation of thermal fluid
oil, supplying the mixers and kneaders another 100.000 /a
were required.
The new oxidizer reduced this down to 220.000/a plus
30.000/a for the thermal fluid boiler. Reduced air volume,
better efficiency and nearly full use of the energy resulted in
yearly savings of more than 300.000.
Conclusion

Due to the fact, that each production for special graphite is

different and consists of individual machinery and equipment,
no actual BAT could be developed for this kind of industry up
to today.
So based on the unique and individual configuration of the
production plant, also a customized air treatment system has
been selected and optimized for this application. This can now
be seen as BAT for this particular production site.
The plant reached lowest emission values and realized savings
in operating costs. Currently the average temperatures in the
clean gas are being checked. An optional heat exchanger will
be installed to generate hot water and to reduce the
consumption of an existing boiler. This will create additional
savings.
The efforts to check the details of an existing plant and to
consider all possible solutions based on actual costs has paid
off. This example has shown that ecology could meet economy.

References
(1) Fotos from SGL, Bonn 2008

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