The Linde Group, Houston, has launched a combustion and heat treatment center in Suzhou, China, for development of new combustion and heat treatment applications and solutions in China and the Asia Pacific region. Its purpose is to facilitate research and development work in metallurgy, steel, iron, nonferrous, mining, and heat treatment industries. It also has an R&D demonstration facility for closer customer interactions when designing solutions specific to their needs.
The Linde Combustion Centre will drive R&D initiatives in partnership with metal and glass industries and research institutes to develop green combustion technologies and improve heat treatment processes.
Oxyfuel technology is state of the art in many industries because using oxygen instead of air as an oxidizer reduces flue gas volumes by 70%. The energy that is taken out by the flue gas can be significantly reduced. Applying oxygen in industrial combustion processes can save 30 to 60% of the fuel input compared to air fuel operation. Global competitive pressures, “greenhouse” gas emissions, and high energy prices force metal and glass industry to optimize energy usage and reduce overall operating costs. Oxyfuel combustion and process technology can be applied to meet these objectives.
“As a leading global technology company, sustained research and development is vital to Linde’s long-term business success, and the success of our customers. Intelligent gas applications can increase energy efficiency, improve product quality, lower emission and advance safety, ” says Dr. Christian Bruch, Member of the Executive Board, The Linde Group.
Linde also has a strong position in European heat treatment industry as an application technology provider. As a traditional gas supplier, Linde is active in supporting customers through process consulting, problem solving and participating process improvement projects. Now, Linde is leveraging the efforts to China market, and the setup in the Suzhou Centre can demonstrate to the potential customers the best operational practice of safe gas supply and robust application techniques of multiple product families in the heat treatment field, especially for carburising, sintering and cryogenic processes.
www.linde-us.engineering.com
