Any industrial equipment that uses high levels of energy must be a contributor to carbon dioxide emissions and is, therefore, part of the problem when it comes to climate change – or so conventional wisdom would dictate.
Nevertheless, when it comes to industrial roller hearth kilns – widely used in sintering processes for advanced ceramics, such as zirconia, for example – you may be surprised to learn just how effective these devices can be in terms of protecting the global environment. How is it that kilns which can often be used at temperatures in excess of 1,500 ºC are able to help overall carbon emission reduction around the world?
One of the most important tasks that contemporary roller kilns are put to is the development of lithium-ion battery cathode and anode materials. Research and development departments in battery production use roller kilns to make new prototypes which are ever more efficient.
For many, it is lithium-ion batteries which will provide the means of creating a future free from fossil fuels in transportation. In other words, the burgeoning electric car industry is currently focused on designing and testing lithium-ion batteries which can be a power source in vehicles that will truly rival the combustion engine in terms of range, refuelling speed and power.
Yes, roller kilns are important for developing the sort of battery technology that will help to lower carbon emissions but that is not all. The future of mass production in lithium-ion batteries also lies with ever more efficient roller kilns.
As mentioned, roller kilns are not just there to help engineers develop more advanced electric vehicles but to manufacture the batteries that power them with less carbon emissions, too. The latest roller kiln systems allow for all powder contact faces which are formed from purely ceramic materials. Since little or no metal contamination happens in most roller hearth kilns, the batteries that are produced are even more efficient when used than ever before meaning that less electricity is wasted when then they are charged and recharged.
Furthermore, the energy efficient roller kilns available now are able to produce many more batteries in a single process than ever before so the energy consumption per battery produced continues to fall. Of course, even high-temperature roller hearth kilns can be powered from renewable sources if required which makes them even friendlier to the environment in terms of their reliance on fossil fuels.
To find out more about cost saving and fuel efficient kilns, as well as pollution control devices, please get in touch with one of our team today. Call us on 01782 824453, or use our enquiry form to send us an email.