26th Eurosymposium: Ceramic production – economic and technical future
The 26th Eurosymposium of the KI Keramik-Institut GmbH took place in Meissen, Germany, on 6 and 7 September 2023 in bright September sunshine. Almost 100 participants gathered at the Hotel Burgkeller Residenz Kerstinghaus to follow the conference programme.
The managing director of the institute, Dr Jens Petzold, opened the two-day event with a minute‘s silence for Franz-Dieter Bley, former head of the DKG‘s Bavarian district group and founder of Dr.-Ing. Franz Bley Kaolin and clay mining Halle. In his speech, he addressed the very tense economic situation in Germany and pointed out possible ways out. He also recalled the former Saxony regional group of the German Ceramic Society.
The Lord Mayor of Meissen, Olaf Raschke, recalled an important detail of the local industrial and ceramic history in his welcoming address. Carl Teichert began manufacturing kiln tiles in 1857. From this beginning, the Meissen Stove and Stove Tile Factory, formerly Carl Teichert, emerged in 1872, which produced not only tiles but also architectural ceramics until 1945.
In the first specialist lecture entitled „Facing bricks and roof tiles - building materials for the future“, Matthias Grziwa, Röben Polska Sp. z o.o. i Wspólnicy Sp.k., spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of brick construction and improvement measures in production, among other things. For example, the dryers are to be gradually converted to electric heating and the electricity is to come from the company‘s own production.
Dr Uwe Lehmann from the Saxon State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology in Freiberg then explained the availability of clays, loam and kaolin in Saxony in his presentation.
After the coffee break, M. Sc. Klaus Hantzsch from the KI Keramik-Institut GmbH continued the programme with his lecture „SEM / EDX - analytics for defect analysis in the micro range“.He presented the structure and function of scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), their possible applications and current examples of the institute‘s work.
As the last speaker of the first day, Daniel Vosswinkel, standing in for Bernd Woll-werth-Carl, Emeren Germany GmbH, spoke about the „Possibilities of utilising previously mined areas for photovoltaics“. Among other things, he discussed the conditions for permission and electricity production with a focus on self-supply.
After the presentations, the participants travelled by bus to the venue of this year‘s traditional evening event on the first day of the symposium. This time they travelled to Moritzburg Castle near Dresden. A guided tour of the former hunting lodge of Augustus the Strong took place there, followed by an evening buffet. The participants sat in the castle courtyard overlooking the castle pond and chatting animatedly until late in the evening.
The programme for the second day began with the lecture „Development of fritless glazes from stone waste for use in the low-melting temperature range“, given by M. Eng. Nicole Wagler of the KI Keramik-Institut GmbH.
Holger Rottmann from Lingl Anlagenbau GmbH then presented his company‘s developments for the realisation of a CO2-neutral tunnel kiln. Among other things, he discussed measures for optimising energy use and process engineering processes and presented a new hydrogen firing process.
After the coffee break, M. Eng. Philipp Fuhrmann, KERAFOL Keramische Folien GmbH & Co. KG, gave the presentation „Application of dynamic crossflow filtration for the preparation of ceramic suspensions“.
In the last lecture, EurGeol Dr Lutz Krakow, Dr Krakow Rohstoffe GmbH, described the best brick clay raw materials in Germany. Based on a discussion of the relevant evaluation criteria, he presented a number of clay deposits using the Earth History Guide.
At the end of the Eurosymposium, Dr Petzold thanked the attendees and invited them to lunch together and to the next Eurosymposium on 11 and 12 September 2024.
