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METHOD FOR WASTE-FREE MANUFACTURING OF MINERAL WOOL INSULATION PRODUCTS

On October 15, 2022, our patent “Method for waste-free production of thermal insulation products from mineral wool” (AT 524875, priority dd. August 16, 2021) was published.

The invention relates to a cost-effective, environmentally friendly and resource-saving method for the manufacturing of insulation products from mineral wool, in which at the production section (A) the melt produced in a cupola or in an electric arc or gas melting furnace is fed to fiber formation unit and processed step by step into a mineral wool product.

The invention is based on the unique advantage of the in-line induction melting furnace developed by IBE, which allows to produce a continuous flow of melt from a mixture of granular and fibrous raw material with a grain size of up to 12 mm in any proportion.

By adding a production section (B), in which granular (mainly shots and fine-grained fraction of the feedstock) and fibrous production waste from both production sites are melted in the in-line induction melting furnace and processed into mineral wool products, the problem of waste-free production is solved.

The need for briquetting or waste disposal is thus eliminated. Besides, there is no need to add crushed production waste, which reduces the quality of the final product, to the newly produced fibers.

Mineral raw materials (basalt and dolomite) can be additionally fed into the in-line induction melting furnace, which allows to increase the total production volume at a relatively low cost.

Advantageously, both production sites have coordinated production planning and control, as well as a common infrastructure, including power supply and utilities, automation, logistics, raw material processing, production waste processing, binder processing, packaging, maintenance and repair.

Patent AT524875:  https://www.ibe.at/publications/