Siempelkamp Energy & Drying Solutions GmbH has won its first order for a wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP), which is to be installed at a customer’s site in Europe. The order marks the execution of a technically demanding overall project by Siempelkamp EDS, coordinated by its Environmental Technology Competence Center in Kaiserslautern.

The project includes the delivery, installation and commissioning of the entire system.

The in-house development of WESPs is based on the expertise that Siempelkamp EDS has brought together. The range of performances includes the supply and planning of new environmental technology systems, as well as servicing, spare parts and rebuilds for existing EWK and Valmet systems.

The WESP for this new project is going to be used to treat the exhaust air from the forming line, curing oven and cooling zone on two production lines for mineral wool. It will meet strict emission limits in accordance with BREF guidelines, particularly for particulates, total carbon, phenol and formaldehyde.

The design uses a dual-section WESP unit and comes with extensive features; it’s also going to be CE-certified and will satisfy the highest quality standards for safety, automation and documentation that the company’s customer requires.

Benefits, prospects

Environmental technology in general, as well as WESP technology at Siempelkamp EDS, originated from the needs of the wood-based panel industry. The company possesses many years of experience in the field of particleboard, OSB and MDF dryers and corresponding systems for treatment of exhaust air.

WESP systems are required to process exhaust air from dryers; Siempelkamp EDS’ technical solution includes an integrated three-stage process for treating water with heat recovery as a further option. Wood-based panel producers benefit from modern water treatment – the flotation system is equipped with an upstream loop reactor that cleans circulating water used in wet cleaning systems. This concept replaces the previous high-maintenance centrifuges (decanters) while contributing significantly to process efficiency.

The energy integration helps make the plant more cost-effective, the amortisation times for the heat recovery systems are relatively short – which is particularly relevant for wood-processing operations and the associated high demand for energy.

It is also possible to retrofit existing wood-drying and press plants with these systems and components. They can further be installed in biomass plants for drying pulp and sugar beet chips, and can also be used in industrial waste recovery, the pellet industry and many other areas.