Therefore, we are deeply convinced of the principles of a management that is not only sustainable and environmentally sound, but also in harmony with society and nature. ‘One man's joy, is another man's suffering’ is no longer a concept for successful businesses.
We therefore actively live by our environmental management system, according to DIN EN ISO 14001:2015. For us, this means not only fulfilling legal obligations and other requirements regarding environmental aspects, but also exceeding them.
We achieve this by continuously improving our processes.
✔ Reduction or elimination of environmental pollution at the source
✔ Internal reuse or recycling within the process or production site
✔ External reuse or recycling
✔ Recovery and treatment of released substances to reduce environmental impact
We are working on improving our production a little every day. By converting our operations to inductive electric melting, we have been able, for many years, to eliminate the emissions associated with the use of cupolas and the combustion of foundry coke. Around 90 percent of the input material for our Casting materials (GJS and GJL) is scrap, such as rails, chips from general processing, or punching waste.
The new iron input is as low as 10 percent.
This means that we are producing cast iron in a way that is already extremely resource-efficient.
As an energy-intensive operation, we have already installed an energy management system in accordance with ISO-standard 50001, in 2013. We are thus committed to continuously improve the energy performance of the company, subsequently reducing energy consumption. In our electricity mix, we pay attention to high portions of green electricity. The waste heat recovery of our air compressors now provides the heating for our hot water supply, as well as for our new semi-automatic coating plant that dries the refractory wash. This means that we are saving half a million kWh of natural gas every year, equalling a reduction of 115,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year.
Other measures we take include the ongoing conversion to energy-saving LED-lighting throughout the plant, cooling our sand more energy-efficiently by using closed cooling circuits, as well as our investment in a more efficient heating system for the coating line.
The best waste is waste that does not occur in the first place. That is why it is a priority for us to continuously reduce of the amount of waste generated by our plant. For example, over 95 percent of the molding sand used is already recycled internally. We look for recycling solutions where waste cannot be avoided. For example, we press the EPS-cut during pattern production, and return it to our EPS-suppliers, who then use it to produce insulation material.
An important part of our research & development work consists of projects for environmental protection, such as the reduction of noise and emission, the sustainable use of our resources, the efficient use of energy, as well as the reduction of CO2.
One current project is devoted to the development of an inorganic cement-based sand binding system. This DBU-funded project was carried out in cooperation with the Foundry Institute and the Institute for Ceramics, Glass and Building Materials at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, together with another partner from the binder industry. Within the scope of this project, an inorganic cement-based sand binding system was developed and successfully tested; the system has similar processing properties as the furan based resin we use today. A follow-up project now focuses on the regeneration of this new molding material.
High product quality is rightly considered sustainable: By precisely adjusting the desired material properties, we supply our customers with products that have the longest service life possible. And by avoiding defects in our processes, Römheld & Moelle avoids unnecessary production effort. That is why we take special care in the planning of the castings, in order to produce components perfectly from the start. By consistently pursuing our goal of maintaining the highest product quality, we have succeeded in reducing our reject rate to below one percent.
Römheld & Moelle Eisengießerei GmbH is a manufacturer of large castings for mechanical engineering, special machine construction and automotive toolmaking.
© 2021 Römheld & Moelle GmbH