Vulkan Inox shows sustainable abrasives at GIFA 2023
At GIFA 2023, Vulkan Inox will be showing the Chronital and Grittal blasting abrasives, which the company has been producing exclusively with renewable energy since 2022. In this way, Vulkan Inox is improving the eco-balance of its customers, because the blasting abrasives they purchase come with a significantly smaller CO2 backpack.
The reusable stainless steel abrasives Chronital and Grittal from Vulkan Inox also reduce consumption to a few percent compared with mineral abrasives. Thus, when blasting metal workpieces, they make a significant contribution to the sustainability of production. The company is the first manufacturer to supply stainless steel blasting abrasives that are both produced and used in a particularly environmentally friendly way and are reusable: They are created from melted-down steel scrap and are completely recycled back into the metal cycle - a prime example of functioning circular economy. Since last year, Vulkan Inox has been using 100 percent regenerative electrical energy for its induction furnaces. As a result, the blasting media leave the plant in Hattingen with an outstandingly small CO2 footprint. In use by customers, they significantly improve its eco-balance, because they wear very slowly on impact with the workpieces and circulate again and again in a closed circuit. In this way, they reduce the need for abrasives to just a few percent of the quantities previously required compared with mineral materials.
The high dimensional stability of the individual stainless steel grains prevents the formation of dust and noticeably improves working and visibility conditions, according to the company. Their use also reduces waste volumes and disposal costs. Christian Hoffmann, sales manager at Vulkan Inox, knows that his customers are making great efforts to reduce their own footprint. Once again, he sees Vulkan Inox as a pioneer in his industry: "We have made many adjustments: as a starting material, we deliberately buy secondary feedstocks with a low CO2 backpack. We have been operating our induction furnaces with regeneratively generated electricity since 2022 and CO2 emissions from our own and third-party energy sources (Scope 1 and 2) have been reduced by 87 percent since 2018. In this way, we are conserving valuable resources. Our goal is to convert the entire process so that we no longer need gas in production." Vulkan Inox will be exhibiting at GIFA in Düsseldorf (June 12-16, 2023) in Hall 16, Stand G 09.