RUF Info Center

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.

Compact and clean aluminium briquettes instead of bulky chips with clinging cooling emulsion lubricants. Höfer Metalltechnik have increased the profitability of their branch in Hettstedt thanks to a briquetting press from RUF. This producer of aluminium profiles smelts the aluminium chips in the form of briquettes in their own foundry and thereby replace expensively purchased raw material. The benefit comes to around 35,000 Euro in savings per year.

Briquetting has allowed wood processing firm Robeta to optimise its strategy for increasing value creation and has led to a new line of business: Instead of selling on loose wood chips to converters as in the past, now this medium sized company from Uckermark presses the chips to wood briquettes on the three RUF presses they acquired in 2010. The briquettes are then directly sold to the end user as well as trading firms.

Wood-flooring maker Scheucher is proud of its ultra high quality combining sustainability with economy. In order to extract the fullest from its input stock wood, it utilises six RUF briquetting systems that convert the high-volume wood chips and sawdust from its production into compact briquettes. Thanks to their high calorific value, these are in great demand and reduce the payback times for these systems to less than three years.