December 2014: Energy saving potentials in bricks production industry

In the production of baked bricks, residual heat from the tunnel oven is reused as much as possible for the drying of clay. Solutherm made a model in 2011 that can predict the heat demand of drying cabinets, based on adjustable process parameters and controls. A second model, for simulation of the thermal processes in a tunnel oven, has recently been developed on behalf of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, which accurately predicts the dynamic behavior of the oven, the products and the controls, as well as the weekly development of the residual heat from the tunnel oven. This new model has been validated from in situ measurements performed by measuring company TCKI. The model and the measurements showed that Solutherm’s model outcome accurately predicts the behavior of the oven and thus demontrates substantial and interesting savings within the ceramic industry. Furthermore, the measurement method used by TCKI for the air temperature, with thermocouples, appeared to be adversely affected by radiation. TCKI has changed its measuring method by using extraction pyrometers for this purpose since then. In the trade journal for the ceramic industry, KGK, an article was published (in Dutch language) in May 2015.