• Corporate
• HISTORY OF BERALMAR (5/10): 1996-2000 - START OF PROJECT ENGINEERING

Artur Massaguer.

Layout of the first BERALMAR engineering, namely a kiln and dryer for CERÁMICAS VALERA.

Photos of the first two lines provided for CERÁMICAS VALERA.

Motivated partly by pressure from its top customers, in 1996 BERALMAR management took an important strategic decision. The company felt the need to offer a range of kilns and dryers. The Kiln and Dryer Engineering Department was established to meet this need and in early 1998 Artur Massaguer joined as department manager.

Artur joined BERALMAR after leaving AGEMAC (no longer in business), where he accumulated over 20 years of experience in designing and commissioning scores of complete plants worldwide as head of kilns and dryers engineering. The new BERALMAR department of kilns and dryers was built on two basic premises:

1) Engineers had to be able to develop all types of dryers: BERALMAR had to do more than master a particular type of dryer. The company had to be able to propose and provide the most suitable solution for every application, depending on the importance of energy consumption, the formats to be manufactured, the features of available clay, the ceramics culture in each country and even budget constraints. This level of technical versatility — which has become the hallmark of our company — was possible thanks to several factors. These include BERALMAR technicians’ specialisation in controlling and troubleshooting existing installations and the extensive track record of the department’s director.

2) Continuous innovation: Stay up-to-speed on trends and apply innovations to stay ahead of the technological curve, always gaining energy efficiency with each improvement. In this regard, BERALMAR technicians’ specialisation in controlling kilns and dryers was again key in the implementation of continuous improvements.

The first projects arrived in short order. In this short period, we received the following orders, which helped to quickly consolidate the new department:

1999

- CERÁMICAS VALERA I (Ciudad Real, Spain): FORNTHERMIC kiln + fast JETDRYER dryer, producing 300 tons/day tongue-and-groove board.
- BRIQUETERIE EL RYM (Annaba, Algeria): FORNTHERMIC kiln + GARBÍ semi-continuous platform dryer, producing 400 tons of blocks per day.
- ALFARERÍA SANTA TERESA (San Francisco de Yare, Venezuela): FORNTHERMIC kiln, producing 300 tons/day of various formats.
- CELOBLOCK (Guazapa, El Salvador): FORNTHERMIC kiln + MESTRAL semi-continuous shelf dryer, producing 200 tons of various formats per day.
- NOVACERAMIC (Mexico City): FORNTHERMIC kiln + MESTRAL semi-continuous shelf dryer, producing 500 tons of ceramic blocks per day.

2000

- CERÁMICAS VALERA III (Ciudad Real, Spain): FORNTHERMIC kiln + chamber dryer, producing 300 tons of face brick formats per day.

Since then, BERALMAR has designed and supplied over 40 tunnel kilns and 40 dryers (of various types), but more of that later.

At the turn of the century, the company had 34 employees.

• PART TEN OF THE TREATISE ON DRYING AND FIRING

In this tenth part, you will find chapter 2.7 of the treatise on firing:

Chapter 2.7: Fuels and combustion.

We hope it will be of interest to our readers.

• BERALMAR IN THE POLISH CERAMIST CONVENTION

Image of the official dinner, courtesy of Mr Kazimierz Kryczka.

The Meeting of the Polish Ceramist Association took place on June 24 at Otrębusy, a pretty town just a few kilometres from Warsaw.

As usual, the meeting involved different technical and sales presentations by machinery and ceramics technology suppliers, in addition to internal Association meetings.

The meeting this year was special because the Polish Ceramist Association was celebrating its 20th anniversary. Various dignitaries were present at the official dinner at the end of the day, including the Infrastructure Minister, Mr Janusz Żbik and several members of the Polish Parliament.

BERALMAR participated in this meeting as usual, this time with a presentation entitled “Development in the use of solid fuels in Central Europe and the Balkans" delivered by Joanna Nalewajko, BERALMAR representative in Poland.

The Polish ceramics industry is one of the leading consumers of solid fuels in Central Europe, partly due to the country’s well-known production of high-grade coal and partly because of the recent availability of micronised petcoke.

• NEW EMPLOYEE IN THE AUTOMATION MANUFACTURING DEPARTMENT

Early in June this year José Francisco Moreno Expósito (56) joined the BERALMAR team.

José Francisco is from Castellón, although he has been living in Igualada for over 40 years. He has joined the BERALMAR workshop to reinforce the automation construction business.

José Francisco boasts a strong track record in building automation equipment. He worked at AGEMAC (no longer in business) for 24 years, and spent 8 years at TALLERES FELIPE VERDÉS.

We are happy to welcome him and wish him a quick integration to the BERALMAR team.

• News and Accomplishments
• INCREASED ORDERS FOR BIOMASS HEAT GENERATORS

A 9 million kcal/h PULS/2000 solid fuel combustion chamber in operation at a vegetable drying plant.

Various units in late June inside and outside BERALMAR facilities.

In recent years BERALMAR has witnessed growing demand for different types of heat generators (direct fire or heat exchange) for biomass consumption, as we have already pointed out in this publication in the past. We are happy to note that in recent months this demand has only grown. Visitors to our workshop during the last year have been able to see how we are usually manufacturing 4 or 5 of these units simultaneously.

There are basically three reasons for this growing demand:

- The relatively low price of biomass: prices for traditional heat generation fuels (fuel oil and natural gas) have increased around the world, so biomass stands out as a cheaper alternative.

- Ecology and environmental regulations: these units appeal to companies because they receive incentives for cutting back on CO2 emissions, which is useful as an additional source of income, and also as a way to avoid exceeding the CO2 emission rights granted to them.

- Diversification of these technologies: some clients are interested in implementing BERALMAR’s wide range of biomass heat generator equipment to other industries beyond the ceramic sector (cement plants, agriculture, etc.).

BERALMAR is receiving orders from Spain, France, Cameroon, Morocco, Romania, etc. for all types of biomass heat generator equipment with ratings ranging from 1 to 10 million kcal/h (1,163-11,630 kWh).