A new era is dawning:

On Thursday 29 September 2016, the time had finally come. The DeCONOx system from the technology gurus at Scheuch GmbH was ceremonially put into operation at the Kirchdorfer cement factory, with personalities from politics and business in attendance.

The cement plant in Kirchdorf an der Krems is now one of the most low-emission cement factories in the world. Cement has been produced in this town, located in the Upper Austrian Traunviertel, for 127 years, and for many decades company management has taken numerous measures in order to reduce its environmental impact to a minimum. In 2010, the company management and owners announced their ambition of turning the Kirchdorfer cement factory into the most resource-efficient and lowest-emission cement plant with the highest safety standards in Europe.

With the help of a sophisticated and award-winning method called DeCONOx from Scheuch, a system for exhaust air cleaning and heat recovery has been installed, which is unrivalled the world over. This uses energy from exhaust air in order to break down other pollutants such as nitrogen oxides or organic compounds. The residual energy is fed back into the production process and extracted by means of heat recovery. This means that waste heat of approx. 20 GWh per year is used by Energie AG’s district heating power station in Upper Austria as long-distance heating for over a thousand households in Kirchdorf and the surrounding areas.

“This innovative technology allows us to completely forgo fossil-fuel energy carriers at certain times and to save valuable raw materials by using suitable recycled materials such as used sand or brick chippings. As a company full of tradition, we feel obliged to act responsibly in the interests of successive generations. We take pride in the fact that the new system has been commissioned without any initial troubles and is setting new standards for cement production,” explains Erich Frommwald, Managing Director of the Kirchdorfer cement plant.

Jörg Jeliniewski, Managing Director of Scheuch GmbH adds with pride that “with the development of the DeCONOx system, this is further proof that Scheuch is the technological leader when it comes to dedusting and denitrification in the cement industry and other industrial applications. Just a few weeks after it had been commissioned, the new DeCONOx system became a global showcase project. The project is a partnership between two innovative companies and is building the foundations for a new, state-of-the-art technology. The new DeCONOx system from Scheuch is truly ahead of the curve and is setting new standards in the field of environmental technology. That’s why we have also been presented with the Energy Globe Award.”