Energy / Nuova Riwal Ceramiche / ceramic industry

The Saime (Società Azionaria Industriale Materiali Edili) brand was established in 1938 as an offshoot of those Sassuolo ceramic district traditions that are acknowledged and appreciated all over the world: origins that bear witness to an impressive continuity of production and a capacity for ongoing renewal. In 1987 the Saime Ceramiche company was taken over by the Riwal Ceramic Group – later to become Nuova Riwal Ceramiche S.r.L (2007) – and became part of Casalgrande Padana S.p.A.
Today the Saime Ceramiche brand is renowned for its dynamism, quality, technology and extreme attentiveness to the needs of foreign markets, which account for almost 70% of sales. Equally attentive to changing lifestyles, it responds to the needs and wants of a heterogeneous public by offering a vast range of refined products, in keeping with trends – and often ahead of them.

NUOVA RIWAL CERAMICHE recently equipped its SAIME factory (a long-established Group brand) in Maranello with a new, high energy efficient combined heat and power plant.
The system, which was to replace an earlier plant installed in 1992, was designed, built and installed on a “turnkey” basis by Cefla Engineering. The existing plant was no longer suitable for responding to the factory’s energy production requirements; additionally, the power unit’s intrinsic efficiency was considerably lower than the output achievable with the latest available technologies.

The electric power produced independently by the new, 4.4 MWe power plant is intended to power the upgraded production facilities, while heat is entirely recovered from the spray-dryers in the ceramic body preparation workshop. The supply was completed by a gas compression system, necessary for the correct operation of the turbine.

The whole system is designed for the highest energy efficiency: over 95% with respect to natural gas feeding, allowing the CHP system to be rated as a “High-efficiency cogeneration” plant.
The new plant iscompleted by a supervision system engineered by Cefla with an automated control logic, designed to manage the CHP system according to the various process conditions.
The two most interesting options are the electrical tracking mode, useful to minimise energy transfer to the grid, and thermal tracking mode – allowing for full heat recycling from the fumes. This second mode enables a highly accurate management of integrated energy indexes on a yearly basis and, given the current energy market pricing situation, it also allows for profitable energy trading with the grid.

The obtained CAR (High Efficiency CHP Plant) status has opened the way to energy efficiency certifications such as II-CAR as well as to the financial facilities provided for SEUs (User Efficient Systems). Working side- by-side with Cefla engineers has made it possible to customise the supervision system in order to meet specific requirements (management of energy indexes, reporting, power factor control, etc.). The partnership with Cefla has resulted in a successful turnkey solution based on a general contractor approach, with a competitive market value and with the steadfast guarantees ensured by 25 years of experience in the ceramic industry and more than 100MW installed.