RUF Info Center

A manufacturer of roof systems, Bauder has avoided high transport costs by running RUF briquetting presses. At this Stuttgart company, the dusts generated by cutting and milling operations on rigid polyurethane foam boards are pressed into compact briquettes. A subsequent processor then retrieves the briquettes which it then reuses as a valuable raw material. In bulk form, these dusts would entail high transport costs.

Metal Trade Comax operates an aluminium melting plant for recycling aluminium scrap to produce various aluminium cast alloys. The basis for this is defined aluminium scrap. A large share of that is delivered to the Refiner as loose chips. Before these are loaded into the furnace, they are processed and then pressed into briquettes with automated RUF briquetting systems. The briquetting of the chips, in particular, ensures optimised metal yields and therewith a markedly increased profitability.

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?