40% of Hollowcore Production Energy Saved by Contiga using Maturix Heat Insight

There are several challenges facing hollowcore producers around the world. Many are striving to become more sustainable in the face of increased energy prices and the pressure to maintain profitability.

IPHA associate members, Maturix, have been working on a new project called “Heat Insight”. Collaborating with fellow IPHA members, Contiga, they successfully reduced the energy per kWh/ton of delivered concrete by 40% prior to installation. This was achieved by decreasing waste and optimizing energy consumption during production.

Challenges in Curing Concrete

The heating of beds to speed up the curing process has long been an important part of hollowcore production. While this enables faster production cycles, it also increases energy consumption, which in turn can become an expensive cost driver. This is not to mention the rise in greenhouse gas emissions which accompany it.

By combining in-depth insights into the development of concrete strength with control of production bed heating, better heating management and production optimization are possible. Heat Insight was developed to investigate the potential of integrating PLCs into Maturix’s precast platform.

Using Live Data to Control Bed Heating

Remote control of PLCs used to manage heating allows their integration with Maturix Precast. This means live data can be proactively used to ensure only the necessary amount of heat is applied to the beds, eliminating waste.

An automatic off switch when a specified target strength is reached helps to optimize energy consumption and increase productivity, whilst maintaining product quality. If heating is applied outside the specified parameters, an alarm system informs relevant personnel.

An intuitive dashboard also gives users a detailed picture of various key metrics, including bed temperatures, concrete strength, ETAs for completion and switch-off, as well as various settings and control over each production bed.

About Contiga A/S

Based in Tinglev, Denmark, Contiga has the largest precast production capacity of any factory in the Nordic region. They produce and deliver 10,000 m² of hollow core slabs every week.

Klaus Haugsted, Concrete Specialist, Contiga Tinglev, says:

“Maturix gives us the advantage of being able to add heat when needed – but never more than that. That makes us able to potentially save between 20-40% of the process heat we use today. Any optimization allows you to reduce the CO2 emissions related to production. In this situation we can reduce it by further reducing the heating that we use.”

Contiga Tinglev are Full Members and Maturix Associate Members of IPHA.