Sülzle Stahl Ehrenfriedersdorf is a permanent fixture on the German steel production and steel trading market. The company in Ehrenfriedersdorf near Chemnitz in the Ore Mountains has been part of the Sülzle Group since 2018. The group of companies with 29 locations in Germany and France is the result of an impressive company development that began back in 1880 in Rosenfeld, Württemberg.
Steels have been processed and delivered in Ehrenfriedersdorf since 1958. Sülzle Stahl Ehrenfriedersdorf has a broad base and supports customers from all sectors of the metal industry: industry, trade and commerce.
The services provided by Sülzle Stahl Ehrenfriedersdorf include
Trade in steel bars, shaped steel, sheet metal, structural steel, accessories and technical gases
Processing, such as cutting steel to size and further processing of material by means of drilling, milling, bending, grinding, blasting or welding
Steel construction, for example the manufacture of steel structures in the field of plant construction and energy supply
Services such as customer consulting, project support, ancillary construction services and material testing
The company specializes in individual customer solutions, particularly in the field of steel construction. Alexander Heßmann, Head of Technology at the Saxon company, explains: “Customized steel construction is an important part of our business. You could say that hardly any order is carried out twice.” Structural steel is processed for worldwide use in transformer stations, foundries and silo plants. Most of the steel from suppliers in Germany and Europe is shaped by welding (MAG). Several thousand tons of steel pass through the company every year.
Sülzle Stahl Ehrenfriedersdorf also acts as a general contractor for industrial and trade projects. Around 90 people are employed in Ehrenfriedersdorf – including nine trainees. There are currently 26 welding specialists working in metal construction.
© Novus
Optimization of work processes
In the course of joining the Sülzle Group, there were significant structural changes in 2019/20. Production, which had previously been spread across three production halls, was housed in a single hall. The primary objectives of the measure were to increase production efficiency and optimize work processes.
However, the concentration of production had an undesirable side effect – the amount of welding fumes and fine dust pollution increased significantly. “No problem for the welders themselves, as they use PPE equipment with a fresh air supply,” explains Alexander Schröter, plant manager at Sülzle Stahl Ehrenfriedersdorf. “But all the other employees in the production hall also needed suitable measures to keep air pollution as low as possible. With the ever-increasing number of welding jobs, the amount of welding fumes and fine dust also increased enormously. And since the protection of our employees was and is extremely important to us, we looked into the use of exhaust air and extraction technology.
Technical Manager Alexander Heßmann then evaluated the market and assessed various solutions.
A complete hall extraction system was out of the question for architectural reasons. This would have meant a complete conversion of the internal building structure and heating system – and an investment equivalent to a new building.
Permanently installed extraction systems with corresponding workplace detection were tested and found to be inadequate. Both the difficult handling of the collection elements and the lack of mobility of the filter systems were reasons for not continuing down this path.
The third solution was so-called filter towers. Systems from a total of five different providers were evaluated here.
© Novus
Filter towers ensure clean air
“The use of filter towers proved to be the ideal solution for us. And even though the performance parameters of the various providers differed only slightly, we awarded the contract to Novus air GmbH for several reasons,” says Alexander Heßmann.
The performance of the Novus Airtower filter towers was the decisive factor. “First and foremost, we received excellent professional advice,” says Alexander Schröter, adding: “They simply knew what they were talking about.” However, it was not only the bilateral circumstances, but also technical factors that tipped the scales in favor of the Novus Airtower. Due to the layered ventilation principle used, in which the ambient air is drawn in from above and purified at the bottom, considerable savings in heating costs are possible. Alexander Heßmann: “We use radiant heaters underneath the ceiling structure in the production hall. The heat emitted is drawn in by the filter towers and flows back into the hall at knee or waist height. This has enabled us to save up to 40 percent of heating energy in the cold months.”
The offer of an “all-round program” incl. additional services such as the Novus safety package, automated particle measurement or the use of ring lights to indicate filter occupancy was a further plus for the Novus air systems.
The possibility of a one-month test phase ultimately tipped the scales in favor of the company from Coswig.
Jani Mäkelä, Managing Partner of Novus air GmbH, adds: “Sülzle Stahl Ehrenfriedersdorf already had experience with filter towers at another location and was initially somewhat skeptical. Thanks to a detailed consultation, we were able to convince Mr. Hessmann to test the systems.”
Three Novus Airtowers, each with a volume flow of 20,000 m³/h, were installed at Sülzle Stahl Ehrenfriedersdorf at the beginning of 2022. The filter towers were also equipped with an optional efficiency package for maximum energy-efficient operation. Equipped with modern EC fans, the systems achieve up to 40 percent lower power consumption – while at the same time reducing noise emissions by around 10 dB(A).
“The filter towers have been proven to work,” says a satisfied plant manager Alexander Schröter. “We switched off the towers for two hours during ongoing production and then carried out a particle measurement. The air towers were then put back into operation and particle measurements were taken again shortly afterwards. The second measurement showed that the proportion of particles had been significantly reduced and was even well below the legally permissible limit.” The results were based on a test service offered by Novus.
A side effect is the removal of sanding dust. This emission, which consists mainly of ultra-fine particles, has also been demonstrably reduced. “It’s amazing how effective the use of the filter towers is,” concludes Alexander Schröter. “Without the extraction systems switched on, the entire production hall would be full of mist. But it’s the pollutants that you can’t see that are the most dangerous, as they cross the blood-air barrier in the human body and can therefore have a considerable impact on the health of our employees. With the filter towers, we demonstrably protect them from welding fumes and fine dust.”
Web:
www.novusair.com