A German foundry is the latest to engage Resand Ltd. to manage its sand treatment under long-term agreement. TechnoGuss GmbH pours custom ferrous castings for machinery and mechanical engineering projects, valves, and drive units. The sand-as-a-service agreement with Finland-based Resand covers treatment for approximately 5,000 metric tons/year of reclaimed sand. The service will significantly increase the recycling rate of the sand used by TechnoGuss, and reduce transport costs and related emissions.
Resand’s electric sand reclaimer unit is designed to serve midsized foundry, with a process capacity of 1,000 kg/hour of recovered sand.
The two-stage Resand process starts with a heat-treatment cycle to remove binder residues from molding sand, followed by a mechanical drum sequence that separates any other impurities. The developer reports the process can clean 1,000 kg of sand per hour, material that provides 95% of the mold strength of virgin sand.
The same process can be used to treat and recover ceramic sand.
After regeneration, the sand can be reused multiple times, for green sand molding or 3D printing, “effectively reducing the need for virgin sand,” according to Resand.
Foundries in Finland, Spain, and Germany have adopted the sand-regeneration method, using the developer’s Resand® “sand as a service” off-site treatment program.
An additive manufacturing operation in Italy, Corsa3D, contracted Resand to install its process on-site earlier this year.
"The escalating energy costs are driving up sand mining and transportation expenses far more than the costs of sand reclamation, which significantly enhances our global market potential,” stated Kalle Härkki, Resand CEO. “This is just the beginning—our vision is to revolutionize sand usage in the foundry industry on a global scale."