Their commitment also contributed to the purchase of a grinding sludge briquetting press by machine manufacturer Arburg for production in Lossburg: six trainees drew up a concept for more sustainable production processes and submitted it to the "Carbon Busters 2024" competition organised by the German Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers Association (VDMA). On 10 October, the trainees received the main prize of 3,000 euros for the second time since 2022.
The jury’s decision was based on the following criteria: clearly formulated objectives, comprehensive preparation and consistent implementation of the project. The interdisciplinary Arburg team made up of members from the technical and commercial departments did a better job of this than any of the other entries.
Recovering oil from grinding sludge
In Arburg’s rotational and cubic manufacturing, oil is used as a coolant. After metalworking, this oil is collected with the chips as grinding sludge. Together with their trainer, Martin Ronecker, the trainees had been thinking about how the valuable resource of oil could be extracted and reused economically. Initial trials were carried out at the Arburg Vocational Training Center using a small press that had been developed and built in-house to separate the oil from the metal chips. The trainees found that up to 60% of the total weight of the saturated chips is oil, which can be recovered.
Persistence pays off
The six trainees had put in a lot of time and effort, including extensive savings calculations and building the test system. For over a year, the entire team worked on the project at least once every two weeks. Everyone was assigned specific tasks and performed them diligently. By working well together, holding regular meetings and setting up a WhatsApp group, the project was completed very smoothly. Everyone is really proud of their success, which is a testament to what real teamwork and perseverance can do.
Double the benefits: lower costs and reduced CO2 emissions
Based on the findings of the concept, Arburg purchased a large press, which is already in operation, and is pressing and briquetting the sludge to recover the oil on an industrial scale. By separating oil and shavings, up to 9,126 litres can be recovered and reused annually in rotational moulding. Taking into account an oil loss of 15% during recovery, almost 22,000 euros in pure procurement costs could have been saved in 2023 alone. What’s more, this measure also reduces the number of transport and disposal journeys and, in this case, the CO2 emissions by 4,336 kilograms. The trainees skilfully summarised all these findings in a ten-page concept paper and submitted it to the Carbon Busters competition in 2024 - with success, as the top ranking proves once again.
