The EKO Kiln is the most technologically advanced member of the Sacmi single-layer kiln family.
With a channel width of almost 3 metres and a length of over 120 metres, the EKO kiln with self-recovery burners is the machine that best defines the Sacmi Group’s corporate philosophy of great design, quality and technology.
With the EKO, in fact, both energy consumption and installed electrical power are lower, colour and size are more consistent and in-atmosphere fume and CO2 emissions have been reduced by 30%. The percentage of total recovery with respect to an FMS kiln which already has an XTR recovery system may be as high as a further 10% (from burners and cooling).
This impressive result is made possible by the unique work pattern of the machine. Above 900°C, where heat exchange occurs mostly by radiation, the EKO kiln consists of a series of thermal modules known as ‘heat cells’ in which fumes exchange thermal energy with the material in a way that is, compared to traditional kilns, optimized (transversal flow and increased fume hold time in the firing chamber). Fume evacuation occurs in the cell itself, ceding part of the residual thermal energy to the ceramic heat exchanger inside the burner which, in turn, intensely pre-heats the combustion air (up to 700°C). The average temperature of the evacuated fumes is less than 200°C. Below 900°C, instead, where heat exchange occurs by convection, conventional free-flame burners are installed, the fumes of which are extracted by a flue at the head of the kiln.
Yet perhaps the most interesting aspect of this machine concerns fume control. Compared to a traditional kiln, the EKO releases smaller volumes of exhaust fumes into the atmosphere, thus reducing CO2 emissions per kg of fired product. On the first installations detected fume volumes have been about 30% less than on traditional kilns. Summing up, then, with the EKO solution there are fewer pollutant fumes to be purified and filtration systems are therefore more compact.
Lastly, the EKO kiln is run by a sophisticated control system featuring a dual touchscreen interface. The traditional temperature regulators are now gone and process control occurs by way of innovative temperature-pressure curve control.
Attentiveness to the environment, the product and consumption are Sacmi’s key machine design musts. Yet they are also the prime objectives of today’s ceramic companies when they make investment decisions - companies like Edimax, which, with a long history of technological innovation, product quality and environmental attentiveness, has decided to equip its plant with an EKO kiln which is now fully operational.