Online tool offers time and cost savings in material briquetting applications

Ibbenbüren/Germany, April 2023 – C&D Technical Applications, a specialist in wheat-based technical additives, has developed a digital tool to calculate the ideal recipe for the compaction of side-streams (dust, particles and sludge) in the metal and recycling industries. The “Crespotec® Compaction Optimiser” utilises only the smallest quantities of raw materials, thereby eliminating product- and time-intensive trial-and-error procedures. The unique software identifies the optimal quantities of wheat-based binders and water to be added to ensure the lowest possible dose. With ingredient and energy prices increasing, this provides a significant economic advantage as valuable materials can be efficiently recycled in the form of briquettes.

The software, developed in-house by C&D Technical Applications, calculates how much water and wheat-based Crespotec® binder is required to optimise parameters such as firmness, cohesion, water resistance and temperature stability. It also takes into account the characteristics of the raw material mixture and compaction technology being used.

As such, the tool offers benefits such as shorter development cycles and less testing. Only about one kilogram of raw material is required for the C&D team to verify the results using a pilot plant-scale roller press. Production changes or fluctuating raw material qualities can also be accommodated.

Only by converting these side-streams into abrasion-resistant briquettes can the recycling potential of metal particles be fully exploited. Dust and splinters are light, swirl in the melt and collect in exhaust air systems. Compacting the raw materials and feeding them back into the process provides a noteworthy cost saving thanks to the digital tool.

The Crespotec® binders from C&D Technical Applications are made from natural wheat and burn with little smoke in a CO2-neutral way. This means that synthetic solutions that form harmful combustion products can be dispensed with, offering an important environmental advantage. The Crespel & Deiters Group, of which C&D Technical Applications is a part, is able to ensure an unrestricted supply of the material owing to the abundant availability of European wheat, forward-looking stockpiling and long-term contracts.

Carsten Mergelmeyer, Sales Manager at C&D Technical Applications, summarises: “The Crespotec® Compaction Optimiser is a groundbreaking development in terms of both expense and the environment: with no need for lengthy trials that require tons of material, optimal results can be obtained with much lower quantities of water and binder. And, thanks to short drying times, our customers save energy and reduce operating costs by maximising raw material utilisation. Briquetting in the metal and recycling industry is a good example of how economic and ecological interests go hand in hand.”

About C&D Technical Applications

C&D Technical Applications, a brand of the Crespel & Deiters Group, specialises in sustainable and highly functional wheat-based technical applications for a wide range of industries, including pelletising, briquetting, granulating, glueing, binding and compounding. With a deep understanding of manufacturing procedures, the company works with customers in the building materials, metal processing, agricultural, textile, chemical, fuel, waste and recycling sectors to make production more cost-effective and efficient. In addition, starch-based auxiliary materials can often replace chemical additives to make production more ecological.

C&D Technical Applications is located at the group’s headquarters in Ibbenbüren, Germany. For 160 years, the Crespel & Deiters Group has been creating added value for customers in the non-food, food and animal feed industries with application-oriented products made from wheat. The group sources at least 75 per cent of its raw materials from Germany, with the rest coming from other European countries.

For more information please visit: https://crespeldeitersgroup.com/ or LinkedIn.

Company Contact

 Crespel & Deiters GmbH & Co. KG
Heike Sander
Head of Corporate Communications
Crespel & Deiters Group
Groner Allee 76
D-49479 Ibbenbüren

Tel: +49 5451 5000-381
heike.sander@crespeldeitersgroup.com

Press Contact

 akp public relations
Marion Mann
PR Consultant
Birkenauer Talstraße 9
D-69469 Weinheim

Tel: +49 6201 188 98 26
Marion.Mann@akp-pr.de