Success Stories
CASE STUDY XV: HAP KEE: ENERGY EFFICIENCY PARADIGM

Corporate
CONCLUSIONS FROM THE 2019 INDIAN CERAMICS FAIR
CONCLUSIONS FROM THE UZBUILD FAIR 2019

News and Accomplishments
MODIFICATION OF A KILN IN HUNGARY

Origin of the project

In 2015, the owners of the HAP KEE brick plant in Selangor (Malaysia) informed BERALMAR of their intention to invest in a new production line with a dual purpose: first, to expand their market share in the Kuala Lumpur area, and second, to introduce perforated bricks into a market used to consuming solid bricks, and in this way be able to compete with cement blocks.

The new production line had two main requirements: a daily production of 500 tonnes in a first phase and 750 tonnes in a second, all while keeping thermal consumption as low as possible.

Execution of the project

BERALMAR, who had previously supplied HAP KEE with a micronized petcoke firing facility for the old line, was chosen for the project after a proposal that included a direct kiln car setting dryer and a PRESTHERMIC high performance tunnel kiln.

The characteristic slow drying cycle of direct setting dryers would allow HAP KEE to dry using only the heat recovered from the tunnel kiln, which would be possible in part due to Malaysia’s average annual daytime temperature of about 30 degrees.

Location of the new plant north of Kuala Lumpur.

Fired material from the first kiln car: straight to market.

For its part, the high performance tunnel kiln and BERALMAR's experience with solid fuels would allow the kiln to meet the planned first phase of production (500 tonnes/day) using a reasonably cost-effective fuel, petcoke.

The new line started operating successfully in early 2018. The second phase of bringing production up to 750 tonnes/day will be carried out as soon as natural gas is available for the kiln’s preheating zone.

Conclusions

The price of bricks in Malaysia is not exactly the highest in the world, while the competition from cement blocks also makes everything even more difficult for Malaysian brick manufacturers.

However, one year after its start-up and due to the competitive advantage offered by BERALMAR’s low thermal consumption solution, the new line at HAP KEE has proved to be a commercial success and is a clear success story.

The next—and final—case study in this series will be published in Newsletter no. 137 in May 2019.

BERALMAR took part at the end of February in the INDIAN CERAMICS ASIA fair that took place in the city of Gandhiangar (Gujarat), a few kilometres from Ahmedabad. It was the company’s tenth participation in a row, which demonstrates it long-term commitment to the Indian market.

With the perspective that these ten years have given us, this year has surely been the most professional edition of all, for two reasons: first, due to the high quality of the visitors, since unlike in previous years, almost all the visits have been relevant; and second, the quality of the organization continues to visibly improve.

The Gandhinagar trade fair complex is more suitable than the one in Ahmedabad and we are pleased that the organization has decided to continue in this venue.

The BERALMAR stand was very busy during the whole fair, except for the last day, something typical of all fairs. Indian manufacturers are increasingly convinced of the urgent need to mechanize production processes while introducing formats that go far beyond solid brick and which can compete with concrete blocks and other materials, and they know they can count on BERALMAR to supply solutions from India, using European technology.

We’ll be back in Gandhinagar for sure for the 2020 edition.

The twentieth edition of the UZBUILD fair took place in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) at the same time as the INDIAN CERAMICS ASIA fair.

BERALMAR had its own stand where it presented the projects it is carrying out in Central Asia, a region where within just 15 months BERALMAR will have launched 3 new complete plants, specifically in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

The fair was quite busy and the BERALMAR stand attracted a lot of attention, despite not being an event specifically dedicated to the ceramics industry.

We hope that the conversations we had have contributed to raise awareness among the builders present about the advantages of building with ceramic structures and we hope to attend the next edition with important news about BERALMAR projects in Central Asia.

See you next year in Tashkent!

BERALMAR has just completed the modification of a tunnel kiln in Hungary, for the PÁPATESZERI TÉGLAIPARI brick plant in Pápateszer, in the northwest of the country.

The modification consisted of extending the kiln, which had been built by BERALMAR in 2007, to transform the pre-kiln and convert it into an extension of the kiln. A new pre-kiln has been built in parallel to the kiln.

To transform the pre-kiln it was necessary to change the entire surrounding area, from the draught fan area to the entrance of the old pre-kiln, as well as a good part of the walls, integrating it in this way into the structure of the kiln.

It should be noted that the kiln was lengthened without stopping the factory’s production and the kiln only had to be stopped on one day for the demolition of the pre-kiln walls and roof.

We want to thank the Valdinger family for their continued confidence in BERALMAR.

Construction of the new kiln entrance, without stopping production.