Metal Flow Heater

Overview

The Metal Flow Heater is described as an inductively heated plant that converts existing melting furnaces heated with natural gas to electrically heated furnaces. The plant consists of an electromagnetic pump which conveys the molten aluminum from the chamber into the inductor and back to the chamber, and the material is heated by passing through the induction furnace. The method allows use of both gas and electricity (hybrid heating); in the pilot plant at Speira's technical facilities they melted 300 kg/h of Aluminium with electricity. Inductive heating is reported to allow a reduction in CO2 emissions to the point of a climate neutral production while maintaining all properties of the material and the process. A conversion using this plant is stated to enable increased throughput of the furnace, shorter downtime with less loss of production than a new furnace, and lower capital expenditures than a new electric furnace. The Metal Flow Heater is used to convert single- or double-chambered melting furnaces that were heated with natural gas to electrically heated or hybrid furnaces for melting Aluminium from end-of-life scrap. It is applied to enable climate-neutral aluminium production by using green electricity, to increase furnace throughput, and to create flexibility regarding energy prices and availability through the possibility of hybrid heating.