Microwave technology has significantly reduced the space required for the production of ceramic foam filters and, at the same time, significantly sped up their production.

What we’ve been dealing with

LANIK, the world’s leading player in the production of ceramic foam filters for the foundry industry, used conventional batch dryers in production, but this process was lengthy and inefficient. The drying process took around 12 hours and much of the subsequent production had to be subjected to it. In view of the planned transition to continuous production, it was necessary to find an alternative solution.

So, we started to solve with the customer, not only whether it would be possible to use microwave technology, but also to see how we could integrate it into continuous operations while saving as much space as possible in the production hall.

What solution we have chosen

Since the requirement was to produce within one line, we chose a powerful continuous microwave dryer. At only 12 meters in length, this equipment can dry LANIK’s entire production, and because it is open at both ends, it is also a truly continuous element involved in the overall production process.

The benefits include:

  • Speed – even the most demanding filters pass through the line in just 40 minutes
  • Fast drying fixes the shape and enhances the shape quality of the filters
  • The solution is fully automated and easy to plan
  • Electricity consumption has decreased significantly

The outcome

We came up with the solution in 2005. Since that year, the filters have been produced in a single continuous technology line with minimum operator interventions. Not only has space been saved and production technology changed, but also the quality of the final product has improved, while the cost of production has been reduced significantly. LANIK eventually acquired several similar pieces of equipment and thus continues to gradually increase production efficiency.

If microwave technology for ceramic filters caught your interest, you’ll surely be intrigued by its further applications in the field of Ceramics.