BMW opens emissions-free alloy foundry in Germany
When you look at the total life-cycle of "zero-emissions" vehicles like battery or fuel cell vehicles, the environment is not left untouched. The process of making all the parts of a car requires energy and chemicals are released into the atmosphere. The casting process used to make metal parts like engine blocks and cylinder heads is one step in the process that usually has nothing to do with a vehicle being "emission free."
BMW will soon introduce a new process at its Landshut, Germany foundry for producing sand cores. The cores are used to create the internal cavities in cast components like water jackets and oil passages. Fine sand is mixed with binders and pressed into a mold. The core is then inserted into the casting die. After the molten metal is poured in, the binders evaporate and the sand is shaken out of the casting after it cools.
The cores are traditionally made with organic materials for the binders. The new process uses inorganic materials based on water-soluble alkali silicates. The casting tools no longer require dry ice blasting after use and the overall process runs faster and is less energy intensive.
Gallery: BMW emissions free foundry
[Source: BMW]
World's first emission-free foundry.
* 16.10.2009
* Press Release
Landshut/Munich. From 2010, BMW's Landshut plant will boast the world's first foundry with emission-free sand core production. The light-alloy foundry at the BMW plant is introducing a new sand core production method for gravity die-casting, whereby conventional organic binders will be replaced by highly eco-friendly inorganic binders, which generate virtually no pollutant emissions. The introduction of this innovative production method will allow the light-alloy foundry to reduce its emissions of combustion residues by 98 per cent. The plant will completely decommission its current waste air treatment systems by 2010.
The Landshut light-alloy foundry's approximately 1,300 employees currently produce around 1.8 million aluminium and magnesium castings a year, with a total weight of 45,000 tonnes. The product range includes engine components such as cylinder heads and crankcases, structural components and chassis parts such as suspension strut supports, tailgate frames, corner castings and casting nodes for the front and rear axle.
Approximately half the castings produced are gravity die-cast using sand cores. The light-alloy foundry uses some 120 tonnes of sand daily in sand core production. 90 per cent of this volume is recycled. Following an initial pilot operation phase, the BMW Group is now poised to become the world's first manufacturer to use inorganic sand cores in volume production of all engine core components. The inorganic binders used are based on water-soluble alkali silicates (i.e. a water/silica sand solution), resulting in significantly reduced resource consumption.
"Inorganic sand core production positions us at the forefront of the foundry industry," says Dr Wolfgang Blümlhuber, head of the light-alloy foundry. "We see inorganic sand core production as key to competitive operation, particularly in highly industrialised countries with stringent environmental regulations, where manufacturing costs are correspondingly high."
The light-alloy foundry first introduced this reduced-emission production process for use in the manufacturing of aluminium crankcases and cylinder heads for six-cylinder diesel engines. Now inorganic sand core production is gradually being extended to the foundry's entire product range.
In addition to the environmental aspect, the process also has economic and ergonomic benefits. The strength of the resulting light-alloy components is enhanced by the improved, faster solidification of the liquid aluminium during the casting process, as it cools from a temperature of approximately 750º C. The BMW Group is using this light-but-strong design potential as a way of producing energy-saving, fuel-efficient engines capable of higher peak cylinder pressures and increased power density.
The Landshut light-alloy foundry's employees benefit as well, due to substantially enhanced working conditions. Until now, the casting tools had to be blasted with dry ice after every use in order to remove combustion residues. This energy-intensive process can now be dispensed with.
To accompany the introduction of inorganic sand core production, the light-alloy foundry developed new core shooting tools and equipment. The casting equipment has become less complex, since the previously required venting systems can be dispensed with. At the same time, the cooling intensity during the casting process can be increased, thus reducing manufacturing cycle times by around 10 per cent. The simulation technology used in the process and tool development was developed at the BMW Landshut plant too.
"We will be able to fully amortise the investment in tools and equipment, along with our development costs, in the space of just a few years at most thanks to increased productivity, and thanks to savings on tool maintenance, tool and workshop air extraction systems and waste air treatment systems," says Dr Wolfgang Blümlhuber, head of the BMW light-alloy foundry. Specifically, the productivity increase works out at around 10 per cent. Tool maintenance costs will be reduced by half.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jpm 4:46PM (10/18/2009)
"...the overall process runs faster and is less energy intensive"
By how much? Qualify it or else it's just green washing.
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wincros 5:22PM (10/18/2009)
Uh, how much energy would you like BMW to tell you it saves? Then would you feel better because there is an unverifiable figure? Figures for everything would be nice, but your little personal rule that absence of the figure you want equates with some sort of dishonest green washing is just silly and ignoring the 98 percent reduction in combustion residues and 100 percent elimination of a energy intensive process, the dry ice blasting, is mean spirited.
Steve 2:01AM (10/20/2009)
Toyota builds the all hype, no science Prius that leaves an environmental footprint bigger than a Hummer (to cover up the fact it makes a majority of it's money selling gas guzzling trucks and SUV) and markets it as 'green'. You ignorantly eat up the propaganda like a fat kid in a candy store. Then BMW, a car company that actually won the award for being the MOST SUSTAINABLE improves it's engine building process to help the environment, and you are 'skeptical'.
JPM, you are seriously the world's biggest tool. Toyota's marketing department was right... 'green conscious' car buyers are essentially idiots who hate cars and driving. They will believe that any car that is sufficiently boring, and sufficiently hyped is 'green'.
The Prius is popular with losers like you because it's boring, lifeless and uninteresting. You hate people who like cars, and you hate driving, and the Prius is the excuse you need to take the excitement and freedom driving offers away from them. The message of the Prius is: 'to be green, you have to realize that cars serve no purpose but to be boring appliances which take you from A to B; if you enjoy driving, or own a fun car, you are a decedent, evil capitalist who is destroying the environment'. You fully embrace that radical an irrational message.
So it just irks you that a brand internationally respected making some of the most exciting, best handling cars out there is actually 'green'. If BMW is green, then car enthusiasts (who you hate for destroying your 'mother earth') can have their cake and eat it too: an exciting, fast, environmentally conscious car which doesn't cost a fortune (like the Tesla).
JPM, you and all your Toyota infatuated friends should seriously STFU. Instead of trolling around car boards supporting the automotive world's lamest crap (Toyota), go take your third grade reasoning skills somewhere else. I'm sure there's a pet lover's forum where you can discuss how your cat talks to you in your sleep. It's about as rational as your continued blind faith in Toyota and your instant suspicion of any company that (unlike Toyota) goes beyond the hype to do something of substance.
jpm 3:36AM (10/20/2009)
A few points for you Steve:
1. you may consider getting your own blog
2. I don't own a prius, not sure why you're obsessed with that
3. I don't own a car
4. Toyota is the most profitable car co. in the world. So when you call the 'crap', I think there may be just a slight chance you're WRONG.
5. you must be republican
6. and finally, go fuck yourself!
Dan Frederiksen 5:12PM (10/18/2009)
so... this is supposed to make us forget that BMW is fighting EVs?
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wincros 5:26PM (10/18/2009)
Are you serious? BMW owns MINI and there are electric MINIs being driven by ordinary people unlike the pro EV people who have yet to produce a car than can be bought or leased.
Dan Frederiksen 5:47PM (10/18/2009)
yes I'm serious. those minis is just BMW circumventing california law. that's why there is only a few of them, that's why it's only in california except for some token other cars and that's why BMW didn't make them themselves, they bought the conversions at high cost from ACPropulsion because they have no plans for building expertise themselves, and that's why they are only for lease and why they will take them away after 1 year on the road.
and to top it off they limit their power so people wont like them too much.
so yes I am quite serious. BMW are assholes. same as all the other big automakers but in BMW's case they're not even trying to lie about it. they've stated not long ago that they will stick with the combustion engine.
German chancellor Angela Merkel might force them to do something else but that will hardly be to their credit and I doubt she has the stones to make a difference anyway. pun intended. you see the beautiful symmetry ot the situation is that all politicians in power are assholes too. even Obama is clueless and does only token things. but I digress
Dave 5:20PM (10/18/2009)
Its good to see the OEMs continue to improve the ICE, since its certain to dominate transportation for at least another 50 years, whether fueled by gasoline, diesel, natural gas, ethanol, or even ammonia.
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Boyprodigy1 9:01PM (10/18/2009)
Are you being sarcastic?
DasBoese 10:55PM (10/18/2009)
No, I think he's just stating a fact.
Serge 11:11AM (10/19/2009)
Not according to Deutche Bank:
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/10/05/peak-oil-the-end-of-the-oil-age-is-near-deutsche-bank-says/
Boyprodigy1 1:29AM (10/19/2009)
Don't get me wrong, I am all for making ICE better. But i dont see that as a fact at all. I think that they will dominate for some time but i think 50 years is a little bit pessimistic. Perhaps i have an optimistic outlook because i am writing this from my dorm room at the university of Wyoming. Pretty much all of my friends majoring in anything in the field of science are planning on doing research on renewables, and i don't know anyone who disagrees that battery technology will change the future. I personally plan on doing my senior design project on a waste heat generator that could trickle charge a car using the difference in temperature underneath the parking lot and the air. The way we see it, the money is in electricity for transportation, and this is in wyoming...
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Laurens 4:08AM (10/19/2009)
It's the here and now. Stop fantasising. About mini in-car nuclear fusion reactors, that is ;-)
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tinman 8:57AM (10/19/2009)
Go Cowboys. Good luck boyprod.
BMW should be turning their casting operation savings into carbon credit $$ for themselves if they are so clever.
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EV-1 9:08AM (10/19/2009)
Makes me think about
just how many thousands of trillions of $$$,$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$.- they've ploved down into
this lousy principle of burning fuel ...
.. and meanwhile the SMART guy just sits on the oil-well and laughs ( as he rubs his hands ).
-> "jpm"
OF COURSE it's "greenwashing".
And those bavarians won't give up their investments in old , unefficient engine priciple until Nature puts a gun to their head ( and I'm not so shure they'll quit even then ).
NEW , extremely urgent report today from WWF:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/19/2717424.htm
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Thermo 9:59AM (10/21/2009)
Being a newbie to the blogosphere, I find myself continually surprised by how rude & hostile we are to each other. Not sure that's helpful to the discussion, no matter how much fun it seems to be.
Thoughts about energy for the "greenies": The laws of physics, unlike political laws, cannot be violated. Energy is the ability to do work. Carrying your 180-pound (85 kg for you metric types) self across the surface of the globe, up hills, around corners and through the inevitable air resistance requires energy. Doesn't matter whether that energy is provided by the food you eat or by fossil fuels you burn in your car. Building the car itself requires energy. Harvesting the food you eat requires energy. The many energy transfers necessary to keep any creature alive have a net negative effect on the universe, irreversibly increasing its entropy. Contrary to all the media hype, there is no such thing as "zero emissions", because that would defy the laws of physics. I am all in favor of learning how to be the best stewards we can be of the abundant beauty and resources we have been given on this planet. Cheers for BMW for making a bold step forward! As a foundryman, I hope their new core-making process succeeds beyond their wildest expectations. But let's quit pretending that it is possible to engage in the process of living without obeying the laws of physics.
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