New investment reduces TASSO’s energy consumption

15 May 2023
New investment reduces TASSO’s energy consumption
TASSO has invested in five new oxy-fuel burner systems for pre-heating our casting lines and transport ladles. With this new investment, we are reducing our previous energy consumption for the heating process by up to 75 per cent and, in addition, streamlining production time and improving the working environment in our foundry.

Despite our title as the oldest iron foundry in Denmark, we are at the forefront of the industry when it comes to the green transition. Among other examples, we have participated in projects such as Climate Ready SME and The Confederation of Danish Industry’s project on how to work with selected SDGs ‘Fra Filantropi til Forretning’.

Consequently, we are continuously working to reduce our energy consumption, and with our new investment we are now taking a major step towards achieving our goals. We have made a significant investment in five new oxy-fuel burner systems for pre-heating our casting lines and transport ladles, which can potentially reduce the energy consumption for our heating process by as much as three quarters.

- Based on our research and calculations, everything indicates that they can reduce the energy consumption for pre-heating our casting lines and transport ladles by up to 75 per cent, says our Technical Manager, Bjarne Faurbye.

The new heating systems - called oxy-burners - are still being implemented in our production, but initial tests and inspirational visits to other companies have inspired great optimism, says Bjarne Faurbye:

- Although we are still in the start-up phase, we have high expectations for the new burners. From foundries in Germany, we have seen what they can achieve, and we have seen similar positive results in the initial tests conducted in our own production. Therefore, we are very confident it will be a success.

With the new investment, we are replacing our original oil-fueled burners to now run on oxyfuel, which is a mixture of oxygen and natural gas. However, our new burners have been optimised in order to be able to run on hydrogen as well, so that TASSO is not dependent on natural gas.

- Biogas will be the majority of the gas we will use. In 2022, approximately 30 per cent of all gas in the Danish natural gas network consisted of biogas, and this percentage will increase significantly in the coming years, which will lead to a further CO2 reduction in the future, says Bjarne Faurbye

However, the optimisation of our foundry process is not the only benefit of this new investment. The new burners also significantly reduce noise levels in the foundry:

- Our original oil burners require a large quantity of air, which can be loud and noisy in the foundry. The new heating systems do not have that need, making them less noisy, thus greatly improving the working environment for our employees," concludes Bjarne Faurbye.