Blast furnace hot repair with robot shooter
Beroa Deutschland GmbH is based in Ratingen and designs, supplies and builds chimneys and refractory linings. Joseph Altham interviewed Ivan Fernandez, CEO of Beroa Deutschland, to find out why the company is feeling confident about its growth prospects in Europe and beyond.
MANAGING THERMAL ENERGY B
eroa Deutschland is part of the Beroa Technology Group. The group’s companies and subsidiaries serve the energy, cement, steel, chemical, petrochemical and glass industries, among others, and cover most of the world market. Today the company has over 40 branches worldwide, employs more than 3500 people and enjoys an annual turnover of more than €300 million. Beroa Deutschland was formed in September 2010 as a result of the amalgamation of two companies within the Beroa Group, Karrena and Burwitz Feuerungsbau. Both companies have a long history. Burwitz was founded in 1949, while Karrena dates back to 1914. Karrena has worked on many large-scale projects in Europe and all over the world, from reinforced concrete chimneys in Poland to municipal waste incineration plants in the Far East. Burwitz, a refractory engineering company, is particularly strong in the field of maintenance and repair work. Mr Fernandez says the merger is a good fit, allowing the two companies to combine their respective strengths. “The goal is to give a comprehensive service to our customers by combining Karrena’s experience in the project field with Burwitz’s experience in the maintenance field. The merger allows us to supply our customers with the complete package.” 36 Industry Europe
Refractory linings
In industry, refractory linings ensure that industrial chimneys and furnaces remain strong enough to serve the purpose for which they were built. “Refractory linings are ceramic linings installed in furnaces that operate at high temperatures, up to 1600ºC,” Mr Fernandez explained. “They have the capacity to contain molten metals and compounds such as glass, steel, tin, pig-iron or lead. They may also have to withstand chemical attack as a result of the compounds used in an industrial process. In the petrochemical industry, refractory linings protect the steel structure that surrounds them. In boilers, they protect steel tubes from corrosion, while allowing as much heat as possible to pass through.” The lining of chimneys does not always need to be refractory, so other types of material can also be used. “A chimney may not get all that hot, so many chimneys will have a steel or borosilicate lining, or be lined using fibre reinforced plastic (FRP).”
Projects not products
Beroa Deutschland is an engineering and construction company and can offer customers a wide range of services. These
include the design and installation of linings for chimneys and furnaces and repairing refractory linings. Beroa Deutschland is capable of undertaking major commissions for clients and will adopt a turnkey approach to delivery, handling every aspect of the work from start to finish. In general, Beroa Deutschland sees its business as the provision of services rather than the manufacture of products. “We have offices and warehouses, not factories,” said Mr Fernandez. “Our knowhow ensures reliable engineering project management and a high level of service. We only have a small refractory production facility in East Germany and one in Vietnam to supply our own projects.” Shortly before it became part of Beroa Deutschland, Karrena designed and built a reinforced concrete chimney for GDF Suez’s new coal-fired power station at Wilhelmshaven. The chimney of this 800 megawatt power plant, on Germany’s North Sea coast, is 180 metres high and is lined with FRP. The whole chimney, from the 130 piles of the foundations to the aircraft warning lights, took 16 months to build and the new power station is expected to go into operation in 2012.
