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The next edition of Beralmar's Newsletter will cover August-September 2008 and will be distributed in late September.

The 1st Expo-Conference on Biogas, organised by GLOBAL ENERGY, was held in Madrid on 18 and 19 June.

Biogas is a source of energy which is on the rise in the European Union, where 5.3 million tons were produced in 2006, an increase of 13.6% on 2005 figures. Spain is currently 4th placed in the European Union in biogas production and the various public administration bodies have agreed on several initiatives which will encourage the production of this energy source in two areas: recovery and use of biogas from urban waste dumps and biodigestion of up to 9,500,000 tons of slurries per year.



BERALMAR is a pioneer in the application of biogas for use in the ceramics industry. The ceramics manufacturer PIERA ECOCERÁMICA of Hostalets de Pierola (Barcelona) has three tunnel kilns equipped with dual burners for natural gas and biogas from BERALMAR, as well as air duct type generators, also dual, for hot air for the driers, for which both PIERA and BERALMAR have received several acknowledgements. The biogas used at PIERA is extracted from the Can Mata dump located 1.5 km from the ceramics plant.

On the last day of the Conference, PIERA ECOCERAMICA's chairman, Lluís Pinardel, shared his experience on biogas with the audience, the use of which avoids 17,000 tons/year of CO2 emissions.

Cooperation with a happy ending. Mr. Valdinger (standing on the right) with BERALMAR's managers

The official opening of the new PÁPATESZÉRI TÉGLAIPARI Kft. ceramic plant took place on 27 June in a location improvised for the occasion alongside the ceramics plant itself.

The owner of the ceramics plant, Mr. Valdinger Imre, invited BERALMAR's Directors, Ramón Sarió and Cristóbal Caparrós and Technical Manager, Artur Massaguer, to the event. BERALMAR supplied a GARBI model drier for green loading on platforms and a sealed PRESTHERMIC model tunnel kiln for the new ceramics plant, as well as the automated mechanisms for loading and unloading in collaboration with IFAMAC. IFAMAC's Director, Amalio Mateu, was also invited to the event.

Cutting the ribbon

The new ceramics plant has been operating for several months, as we reported in Newsletter #11 of September 2007. So this ceremony, after having confirmed the satisfactory operation of the plant supplied, is a very gratifying event from a professional point of view and one which shows Mr. Valdinger Imre's personal qualities.

Exchange of mementos during the ceremony

The 2nd "Ceramics for Building" Golf Tournament was held during the recent 37th HISPALYT Conference in Cordova. This sporting event was organised by HISPALYT and sponsored by BERALMAR.

The Tournament took place at the Cordova Country Club, had 16 participants and the same winner as on the previous occasion.

FINAL LEADERBOARD

1. Mr. Victor Yagüe of CERÁMICA DE TERUEL
2. Mrs. Isabel Roca of BERALMAR
3. Mr. José Félix Ortiz Bravo of HNOS. ORTIZ BRAVO

We await the third edition of the Tournament to see if Victor Yagüe's pre-eminence among the ceramics family's golfers continues or is comes to an end.

As is normal in southern Europe, BERALMAR's workforce concentrates its holidays in August. For this reason we wish to notify our customers, suppliers and friends that activity at BERALMAR's plant in Terrassa in August will be as per the outline below:

- Week 32 (4-10 August) -> Low activity: approximately 30% of the workforce. - Weeks 33 and 34 (11-24 August) -> Minimal activity: telephone answering and supply of urgent spare parts. - Week 35 (25-31 August) -> Low activity: approximately 30% of the workforce.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this reduction in activity may cause. As of Monday 1 September BERALMAR will return to normal levels of activity.

Solid fuels as a source of energy for the firing process continue to extend across Europe. These generate significant savings in energy bills and substantially increase the competitiveness of the ceramics for which they are used.

This will be the case for the Serbian ceramics industry soon too. BERALMAR has already received several orders for PROMATIC model solid fuel plants which will start operating before the end of this year.

Including Serbia, BERALMAR's equipment for firing using solids is present in 16 countries on 5 continents.