technotrans installs reverse osmosis system at HOMAG

Wherever people in the world sit on a chair or at a table: there is a good chance that this furniture was produced with machines from the HOMAG Group. The plant manufacturer from Schopfloch in the Black Forest is the world’s market leader in production technology for the woodworking industry and trade, whereby HOMAG relies on technotrans technology for water treatment.

It all started with a long-term test. HOMAG Bohrsysteme GmbH, a subsidiary of the HOMAG Group, manufactures woodworking machines at the Herzebrock location in the heart of East Westphalia. Customers use them to produce home and office furniture, kitchens, parquet and laminate floors, windows, doors, stairs or even complete modular timber houses. Customers include both small craft businesses and large companies with complete production lines.

Very high temperatures are generated during the production of the drilling systems - the tools must be cooled during the machining of the workpieces. This is where a cooling system from Wieds Echochem AG with water-based cooling lubricant comes into play. As the water in the region is very hard, HOMAG has equipped some machines with so-called mixed bed ion exchangers for complete water desalination purposes. During this test, the machines with water treatment units ran much more smoothly than those without. It was found that all relevant cooling emulsion parameters such as concentration, pH value and nitrite content were more stable while featuring less carry-over. As the use of mixed bed ion exchangers for the required water quantities is too expensive in the long run, the company was looking for an alternative. "These findings made it easy for us to decide on a reverse osmosis system," explains Thomas Johannvorderbrüggen, Coolant Commissioner at HOMAG. The alpha.r 60 from technotrans was chosen - a compact reverse osmosis unit that can treat up to 7,000 litres of water per day and can be easily connected to the existing cooling system.

Osmosis has been a natural principle ever since life has existed on Earth, whereby liquids with different salt contents, which are separated by a semi-permeable membrane, try to compensate for the differences in concentration. The osmotic pressure causes only the water to penetrate through the membrane, while the salts remain behind. Reverse osmosis (RO) works against the natural osmotic pressure by means of pressure generated by a pump. The salty liquid is forced through a membrane. This process almost completely desalinates the water. With the alpha.r 60, HOMAG can now remove almost all undesirable contents from tap water. They can no longer interact and there is almost no concentration caused by evaporation.

Tailored to HOMAG's requirements
The modular design of the alpha.r 60 ensures maximum flexibility in configuration. 23 machine tools with a total of 22,500 litres of cooling lubricant and two washing systems with 6,000 and 2,500 litres of volume are now supplied by the alpha.r 60 at HOMAG Bohrsysteme. "We tailored our offer to HOMAG's requirements," says Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang Rudolph, who is in charge of the project for technotrans. The machines manufactured in Herzebrock include throughfeed drilling machines, drilling and dowel inserting machines, machines for drilling and fitting technology and broadband grinding machines.

"Water quality has a major influence on the stability of the emulsion," says Rudolph. If the water is too hard, lime soaps can form and deposits and adhesions can occur in the machines, which result in a high cleaning effort and have a negative influence on functionality and service life. However, the formation of foam is possible if the water is too soft. "It is therefore advisable to start with tap water when preparing the emulsion again and to carry out post-dosing with pure water", Rudolph explains. “Alternatively, an emulsion can be used specifically for operation with fully demineralised water, as was the case with Homag". Another advantage of reverse osmosis is the fineness of the membrane, which retains any germs and bacteria from the supply water. Compared to simple water softening, there is no risk of the pH value shifting into the alkaline range. The quality of the water therefore determines the emulsion properties to a considerable degree. "The reverse osmosis system ensures a constant water quality," says Rudolph.

Convincing performance, service and adherence to delivery dates from technotrans
For water treatment in HOMAG's production halls, the alpha.r 60 works with active carbon prefilter combinations, conductivity monitoring, double water softeners, reverse osmosis membranes and high-pressure and supply pumps. The special modularity of the alpha.r series is supported by the fact that they can be freely combined with different tank systems. HOMAG has chosen a 5000-litre storage tank. "We are extremely satisfied with the entire system," says Johannvorderbrüggen. Performance, service as well as the very high adherence to delivery dates were other convincing factors. "From the preparation of the offer to the on-site appointment during which the experts inspected our production: We felt very much at home with technotrans right from the start," says Johannvorderbrüggen. "It was the right decision.”

With this order, the Sassenberg specialist for liquid technology continues its successful course in the field of water treatment. "Demand for our reverse osmosis system is growing steadily," says Rudolph. "We are of course delighted when a global player like HOMAG chooses our know-how." The HOMAG Group has international production plants as well as sales and service companies and, according to its own figures, achieves an estimated global market share of over 30 percent - with sales of EUR 1.22 billion (2017) and with around 6,400 employees in over 100 countries. In this regard, digitisation is playing an increasingly important role. HOMAG is also the driving force in this sector and in 2017 for example, established the tapio ecosystem, the first IoT platform for the woodworking industry in the market.

Consistent water quality and sustainability
The alpha.r 60 has been supporting HOMAG Bohrsysteme in production for a year now and not only ensures consistent water quality, but also contributes to sustainability. "The stability of both the emulsion and the washing water has been significantly extended, making the process more environmentally friendly and also more cost-effective," says Rudolph. The use of the alpha.r 60 also offers another advantage: no more stains on the workpieces - and the exchange intervals have doubled. "While we will be cleaning the tanks after 18 months, the emulsion should continue to be used as long as possible," says the Wieds Ecochem company, which monitors the quality of the emulsion on a weekly basis.

Johannvorderbrüggen says that he would therefore always decide for a reverse osmosis system from technotrans. "We have also tested competitor equipment. However, we consider the technotrans systems to be the best on the market.”