Sustainable technology: Dr Robert Habeck hands over funding notification to Rauschert

On this Monday, Dr. Robert Habeck, Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, is presenting the funding approval for the CONSINTEC project to Rauschert in Pressig. Supported with over 3.83 million euros and a duration of three years, the project aims to reduce gas consumption and thereby CO2 emissions in ceramic manufacturing by up to 60 percent. To achieve this goal, Rauschert, in collaboration with the University of Bayreuth, is researching a CO2-neutral and natural gas-independent sintering technology for technical ceramics using renewable energy.

During his visit to Pressig, Dr. Robert Habeck acknowledged the project work: "To generate as much renewable energy as possible on-site and use it for industrial processes requires pioneering spirit, courage, and investments to move forward. This is the only way to develop innovative and sustainable technologies that can drive the market and potentially become standard in a few years."
At the heart of the CONSINTEC project are robust, electrically heated kilns that can be individually and flexibly controlled in a multi-unit system. The energy management adapts to the specific sintering processes and the availability of renewable energy (Sintering involves densifying and bonding powdered materials by heating them below their melting point. Through contact formation and material transport between particles, a solid and dense microstructure is formed, accompanied by volume shrinkage).
To fully transition the operation of sintering systems to renewable energies, Rauschert plans to expand existing photovoltaic systems and ensure energy supply through battery storage. For insulation in high-temperature furnaces, the company is developing innovative lightweight refractory bricks that can withstand temperatures of up to 1750°C while remaining chemically stable. These lightweight refractory bricks, made from calcium zirconate, are being developed by the Chair of Ceramic Materials at the University of Bayreuth, a long-standing partner in materials research.
Additionally, by optimizing afterburning and specifically investigating debinding processes, gas consumption and thus CO2 emissions during flue gas cleaning can be significantly reduced ("Debinding" in ceramics refers to the process of removing organic binders used during shaping. These binders are dissolved or burned out of the component during the debinding step through heating or chemical methods).

If successful, the new technology will be available as an R&D demonstration system at the Heinersdorf-Pressig site and will be implemented at additional Rauschert locations in the long term. The introduction of this technology at other European production sites is also planned. Furthermore, the results offer a model character for the entire industry.