quench furnaces

ECO Furnace – a low carbon footprint vacuum carburizing installation

13 April 2021

Environmental impact at the heart of production issues

 

The ecological transition is at the heart of the French government’s support plan for a greener and more competitive industry; this announcement of the “France Relance” plan clearly reflects the importance of carbon footprint in manufacturing industries. These issues have been around for a long time, but each year they play a more important role in the decision-making process, with a common global objective of modernizing and decarbonizing production facilities. The European Union has tightened its standards: the price per ton of CO2 has increased, and surplus quotas will be abolished within a few years. Companies must adapt to these new issues; ECM Technologies’ offer is part of this approach and has been for many years.

 

Vacuum technologies as a sustainable solution to replace atmospheric furnaces

 

For more than 25 years, thanks to their patented Infracarb process, ECM Technologies’ vacuum carburizing furnaces have been environmentally friendly on many points. These different processes enable 40% shorter treatment cycles thanks to the use of higher temperatures than sealed quench furnaces and other conventional solutions. The use of vacuum implies 100% electrical heating, thus preventing the use of gas burners for heating and endogas generators for carburizing operations.

These are clean and efficient processes thanks to optimized energy consumption, which allow vacuum carburizing furnaces to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 85%. These furnaces are therefore very low-polluting and are a real alternative to traditional atmospheric batch furnaces from an environmental point of view, in addition to the metallurgical, safety and integration in existing lines advantages that they offer.

 

ECO furnace: the next step in clean heat treatment

 

ECM Technologies has strengthened its position following the launch of its new ECO furnace a few weeks ago. The ECO furnace, a project funded by the French government as part of the “France Relance” plan, is a compact installation that aims at replacing traditional sealed quench furnaces.

This installation with enhanced energy benefits has been awarded the “Green Business Trophy” in China and has been granted by the French government’s “Plan France Relance” as a solution for decarbonizing production facilities.