Gases for Melting and Casting in the Non-Ferrous Metals Industry

Technologies include: oxygen fuel (oxy-fuel) and oxygen-enhanced (air/oxy-fuel) combustion systems; nitrogen and argon blanketing (shrouding / inerting); stirring using gases; and other industrial gases applications. These offer significant financial benefits for preheating, melting, holding and casting in the non-ferrous metals industry.

Offerings applicable to:

The APMelt™ family of melting solutions has been developed with oxygen fuel burner (oxy-fuel) technology, and/or oxygen-enhanced combustion (air/oxy-fuel), as a fully integrated part of the whole melting process. These applications can also be retrofitted as upgrades to existing rotary and reverbatory melting furnaces. The burner systems are available for firing on natural gas, LPG, light fuel oil, heavy fuel oil and solid fuel.

The LEAM™ process (Low Emission Aluminium Melting) enables non-ferrous materials with high hydrocarbon levels to be melted in a rotary furnace without the need to slow the process down or carry out post-combustion in afterburner chambers. The benefits of high productivity, high yield and low fuel consumption normally associated with oxy-fuel are also achieved.

A LEAM™ datasheet is available in pdf format

To get the ACROBAT®-READER™ free, click here

Based upon the dry salt method of melting aluminium, the TRF (Tilting Rotary Furnace) offers significant benefits over fixed axle rotaries. The ability of the furnace to tilt also minimises the amount of time spent on non-melting operations such as charging, tapping, drossing off and cleaning. The resulting high productivity is also combined with high efficiency. This technology is now being used in other non-ferrous industries.

In addition to the above APMelt™ solutions, Air Products' range of rotary furnace combustion systems could offer the productivity and cost saving benefits of oxygen fuel combustion.

Using the RILEE (Recycle Incineration Low Exhaust Emission) system to melt contaminated material is a proven way of improving flexibility and maximising yields. The technology can be applied to reverbatory furnaces (ie dry hearth, single chamber, twin chamber, sidewell, and tower) where it is essential to control flame temperatures (and so avoid oxidation) whilst ensuring that the hydrocarbons are combusted within the furnace.

The use of indirect melting has many advantages in terms of efficiency and yield. The TCM (Twin Chamber Melter) system takes this approach a step further and allows production rates to be increased whilst dramatically reducing environmental emissions. Contaminated materials are fed into the charge side of the furnace. All fume that is generated passes through into the clean chamber and is combusted before leaving through the flue.

An APMelt™ - TCM datasheet is available in pdf format

To get the ACROBAT®-READER™ free, click here

An EZFire™ combustion system could offer the productivity and cost saving benefits of oxygen-enriched combustion (ie air/oxy-fuel) for reverbatory furnaces. Additionally the flexibility of the system allows control of the air:oxy ratio to best suit furnace conditions and operation. The standard EZFire™ can be installed with less than one hour of furnace downtime. A low NOX version is also available.

Indirect Melting Reverbatory Furnaces - APMelt™ - Cleanfire HR™ Combustion System

The melt surface is blanketed with argon or nitrogen in order to produce an oxygen deficient atmosphere using a patented vortex sprayer or swirl cone. This reduces oxidation and inclusions to improve yield, productivity and reject rate.

A datasheet on Molten Metal Blanketing is available in pdf format

To get the ACROBAT®-READER™ free, click here

Complete burner and control packages have been developed to efficiently preheat ladles using non-water-cooled oxy-fuel burners. 70% fuel savings and 50% reductions in heat-up rates are typical.

Using nitrogen to displace the oxygen in a holding furnace atmosphere reduces the formation of oxides at the melt surface providing a higher yield and improved quality.

Holding Furnace -Pressurising