RUF Info Center

RUF's briquetting technology helps the automotive supplier ZF Gusstechnologie GmbH to shape its processes in a more efficient way. With the help of RUF units, the pressure die-casting specialist presses the aluminium chips, which arise when working on passenger car gearboxes and gear parts, into solid briquettes and, at the same time, frees them to a great extent from adhesive cooling lubricants. This means the company saves a lot of space and logistics expenditures, avoids lubricant carryover, protects the environment and raises the sales revenues from the aluminium chips.  

Should you just send the metal swarf created during manufacturing to the scrap dealer or should you increase its value by selling it for profit? The GLEICH group discovered the answer to this around ten years ago. Since then, the family-run business has been turning its aluminium swarf into briquettes. These are easy to transport and can be very efficiently melted down. This has proven to be such a cost-effective solution that GLEICH, the specialists in high-quality aluminium cast plates, has over the years commissioned six briquetting machines supplied by RUF, and every year they compress on average 3,800 tonnes of swarf.

Timber processors Konold are improving their energy balance with the help of their RUF briquetting machine. Wood waste is being pressed into briquettes to create a uniform combustible material. The heat they produce is then used for process heating and to heat their premises, with the residual heat being used to generate electricity. Konold Härtsfelder Holzindustrie GmbH values this improved combustion material because it is so easy to manage during the energy release process.

Aluminium's recycling cycle begins and ends in melting plants. In between, this light metal is machined in many different industrial operations of diverse branches and ideally is then pressed into a compact briquette using a briquetting system from RUF. But where exactly are chips produced and why does briquetting usually make economic sense?

Briquetting presses maximise the cost effectiveness of metal chip utilisation. Compressed to conveniently sized briquettes and practically free of adhering lubricant, this production residue can be easily stored, transported, and melted down – and also sells very well. Georg Fischer Automobilguss has been running a RUF press of this kind, and profitably since day one. How this is possible will be demonstrated by RUF GmbH on its briquetting presses at the International Foundry Trade Fair GIFA 2011 in Düsseldorf.

Nowadays, wood briquettes are a popular source of fuel - but only as long as the quality is good. The people at Reuss are well aware of this fact from their long experience in the wood business, so their briquettes are made only from dry wood shavings using high-quality briquetting equipment from Ruf GmbH & Co. KG.