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Benefits of HTIW – an Overview

High Temperature Insulation Wools are used in high-temperature applications in the following industries:

  • ferrous and non-ferrous metals
  • glass and ceramic
  • chemical and petrochemical
  • automotive and aerospace
  • power generation
  • domestic appliances

High Temperature Insulation Wools are economically necessary in the production process/properties/application:

  • high-efficiency, high-temperature furnaces
  • production of graphite fibres used in windmills
  • hot gas filtration
  • electrification
  • batteries
  • catalysis

Speciality Markets

HTIW are also used where unique approaches are needed to solve catalyst support problems, high-temperature aggressive filtration problems or problems that exist in high-temperature high-performance situations requiring special solutions.

The development of emission standards for the EU (Euro 1 to Euro 5) indicates a significant decrease in pollutant emissions since the beginning of the 1990s:

  • 94 % of volatile organic compounds (VOC)
  • 86 % of particulates (PM)
  • 90 % of carbon monoxide (CO)
  • 73 % of nitric oxides (NO)

All in all, the automotive industries are subject to very harsh and demanding regulation concerning fuel consumption and CO2-emissions. The goal of preventing the emission of CO2 on the basis of the „Integrated Approach“ wherever possible and cost-efficiently still persists.“ (Annual Report VDA 2009) The automotive industry is affected both directly as an energy user and indirectly by the expected increase in price for energy and energy-intensive pre-products. Many small and medium-sized combustion plants at the automotive industry’s production sites are run in order to generate thermal heat for production processes and waste air purification.

Since the 1970s, products made of High Temperature Insulation Wool have been used as support mats to accurately bed in the ceramic substrates for catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters into the exhaust gas systems and protect them from mechanical damage. Furthermore the support mat insulates the exhaust system and reduces heat emission to the outside, decreasing the thermal loads and increasing the system’s durability.

Information paper

Are Fibres Representing a Potential
Hazard to the General Public Released from
Catalytic Converters/Diesel Particulate Filters
into the Environment?

VDMA Publication, May 2009

Operators of industrial furnaces are some of the largest energy consumers in Germany. They pay energy suppliers about 30 billion euros per year. A tenth of this sum is for electricity, the rest for gas. 40% of the energy consumed by German industry is for industrial furnaces. In 2005 energy consumption totalled 270 TWh (Terawatt-hours). This equals the annual consumption of 14 million private households.

CO2-emissions are reduced by 1.07 m3 with every m3 of natural gas. Saving 1kg of domestic fuel oil means reducing CO2-emissions by 1.60 m3. The reduction in the consumption of electric energy is also visible in the CO2-balance of the energy suppliers, as producing energy means producing 520 g of CO2 per kWh (German energy mix).

Energy costs are rising and will continue to do so. Electricity prices for the German industry have skyrocked by 60% since 2000 and gas prices have increased by no less than 250% since 1999. For manufacturing industries, energy consumption is increasingly proving to be an increasingly critical factor with regard to their competitiveness. From a business management point of view, checking the energy efficiency of industrial furnaces has become more important than ever.

From a technical and economic perspective, evaluation and/or comparison of industrial furnaces is possible based on degrees of efficiency.

Construction and energy loss

Depending on the temperature inside the furnace, its walls will be composed of one ore more layers of refractory materials, insulation material and blocking air layers. The choice of these refractory materials is made according to technical criteria but also from an economic perspective.

Distillation Heater in a Refinery in Northeast France

Potential cost savings and a environmental impact deriving from improved insulation as well as the high cold face temperatures (average 120 °C) prompted the decision to replace the existing insulation with an AES wool product.

Characteristics of the AES insulation:

  • Applied in a gunned monolithic foam structure
  • Treated area extends to a height of 15 m giving a total area of approximately 300 m2
  • Installed at a rate of 2.5 m3/hr, which significantly reduced the heater downtime
  • Thermographic tests confirmed a drop in cold face temperatures of about 70 °C to an average of 50 °C
  • Annual fuel savings for the heater have been estimated at 100000 € with consequential savings in CO2 emissions

Being discontent with the durability of furnace rollers five years development time in a plant of Thyssen Krupp in Duisburg (Germany) have led to a process of improvement resulting in an optimised insulation using High Temperature Insulation Wool products.

Transporting slabs through the roller hearth furnaces severely damaged the insulation of the rollers by concussion and high temperatures reaching 1.200 °C. Preliminary experiments were started by own initiative. Different fibrous materials with different structures and density were used then.

Supported by ECFIA experts the idea was brought to perfection five years later. It was then progressively implemented on the rollers.

Advantages of the improved HTIW insulation:

  • rollers´ lifetime extends by factor four
  • reduced energy costs (reduced CO2-emissions)
  • reduced maintenance
  • reduced downtime
  • increased productivity
  • overall annually cost savings of 3 million Euro

The countries of the European Union are currently the global leaders in the development and application of renewable energy. Promoting the use of renewable energy sources is important both with regard to the reduction of the EU’s dependence on foreign energy imports, and in meeting targets to combat global warming.

Renewables targets

In March 2007 EU leaders reached agreement in principle that 20% of the bloc’s energy should be produced from renewable fuels and by the year 2020 as part of a drive to cut CO2 emissions. Renewables currently account for less than 7% of the EU energy mix. In a special report, the European Parliament said that to give the legislation teeth, it should contain binding renewable energy targets for particular sectors — electricity, heating and transport — rather than just a general goal.

Renewable energy sectors where HTIW or HTIW products are used in the production process or actual application
  • Bioenergy
  • Wind Power
  • Solar Power
  • Wave Power

For further information please send an email to: info@ecfia.eu