• Ceramics Industry
• "MODERN LIFE, MODERN BUILDINGS" VIDEO REPORT

A dozen members of the ECTS (European Ceramic Technology Suppliers) Association, including BERALMAR, have released a video report highlighting the virtues of ceramic building materials. It underscores the thermal and acoustic insulation and long useful life of the environmentally friendly materials. Our aim is to make the video available to all ceramic industry players (suppliers, manufacturers, manufacturing associations around the world, etc.) for use as a promotional tool by architectural firms, real estate developers, government agencies, etc.

The three main ideas addressed by this documentary are as follows:

• Ceramic products provide the best thermal insulating properties of any building materials, , and using them therefore minimizes both heating and cooling power consumption.
• Ceramic products are a decidedly contemporary building material: they can fit in with any type of architecture, ranging from the rehabilitation of historic buildings to use in the construction of modern buildings.
• Ceramic products are environmentally friendly. . Ceramic building materials — manufactured from natural resources and featuring a long service life in comparison to other materials — are among the most environmentally friendly construction products.

For historical and cultural reasons, some regions of the world have these three ideas deeply ingrained. BERALMAR, together with some ECTS partners, has invested resources to make this film hoping to do our bit to improve the perception of all building material consumers and regulatory agents worldwide concerning the use of ceramic products in modern construction, to convince them of its aesthetic, functional and environmental advantages. We invite everyone to download the documentary from the BERALMAR WEBSITE, at no charge and share it with the various local governments, trade unions and various associations of architects, developers, etc

Together we can make this initiative a success and expand the horizons of ceramic building materials worldwide.

• Corporate
• NEW BERALMAR EMPLOYEES

Ramon Buenaventura

Francesc Sarró

Francisco Gabriel Parra

In May’s newsletter we announced two new mechanical technicians specialised in control system assembly and commissioning. And now we’re pleased to announce that three new professionals have joined Beralmar:

Ramón Buenaventura, 36, a mechanical engineer for the Automation Department.

Francesc Sarró, 29, a mechanical engineer for the Automation Department.

Francisco Gabriel Parra, 41, an electronics technician for the Commissioning Department.

These new employees have been recruited not only to address BERALMAR’s current workload, but also to strengthen their respective departments in the long term.

We welcome all three onboard and wish them a quick integration into the BERALMAR team.

• News and Accomplishments
• NEW PROJECT IN RUSSIA

BERALMAR has been assigned a new engineering project to build a new factory in Krasnoyarsk (Siberia, Russia). The plant, owned by major local industrial group ARBAN, will have a daily production of 200 tons of ceramic blocks.

Specifically, BERALMAR is contributing a PRESTHERMIC tunnel kiln equipped with a PROMATIC pet coke firing system, a LLEVANT green kiln load dryer and all the factory’s automation systems for cutting, transporting drying and kiln cars and stacking and unstacking them.

Petroleum coke is the only fuel used in the kiln and in the whole factory. The LLEVANT dryer uses heat recovered from the kiln as its sole source of heat, so the factory’s power consumption will be extremely low.

The great advantages of the green load dryers are:

• Moderate investment in automation equipment, since the process only calls for stacking the bricks on the cars immediately after moulding and unstacking them after firing.
• High energy efficiency. Since the dryer works 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, heat is recovered from the kiln continually. The cars also take less than a minute to exit the dryer and enter the kiln, preventing the reabsorption of moisture typical in other dryers, eliminating the need for a pre-kiln.
• Reduced downtime and maintenance. The automation elements are usually to blame for most downtime, a problem that is minimized by the reduced number of automation equipment in this type of dryer.
• Easy switch in production volume. Since the dryer and kiln operate continuously, production changes are as simple as increasing or decreasing the speed of cars, a task which is much simpler than with other types of dryers, where production changes in the dryer and the kiln are different operations to be carried out separately.
• Less manpower. The simplicity of these facilities entails less need for human resources, due to the smaller number of equipment to maintain and the fact that the dryer and kiln operate as a single unit.

This type of factory is very common in countries like France, Spain, Portugal and the United States, where users have gave in long ago to its simplicity and efficiency. For this type of installation to be viable, the clay used should meet certain requirements such as a moderate drying contraction and good mechanical strength, or possibly opt for hard extrusion with a 16% maximum moulding moisture, as is the case of this new project in Krasnoyarsk.

• NEW SOLID-FUEL FIRING INSTALLATION IN SERBIA

BERALMAR has just received an order for a new solid-fuel firing installation. It specifies the installation of a MICROMATIC model in one of the kilns of the STRAŽILOVO plant in Sremski Karlovci (Serbia), owned by NEXE, running on micronised petroleum coke.

Although it’s the first MICROMATIC model supplied to Serbia, seven PROMATIC models have already been commissioned in the Balkan country.

The MICROMATIC system has the same type of distribution and kiln injection system as the PROMATIC system. The difference is that MICROMATIC users purchase the fuel already milled and dried and store it in a silo, without requiring grinding equipment to prepare the fuel.

The NEXE group had already entrusted BERALMAR this type of installation. BERALMAR supplied a MICROMATIC system for its plant in Sarajevo (Bosnia) in 2011, although on that occasion it also provided the equipment for drying and milling the fuel.