Sustainability is a challenge that covers a whole range of issues facing the foundry industry today. It means improving casting quality and yield. It means reducing consumption of energy and materials. It means cutting emissions that are harmful to worker health. And of course, it means reducing the industry’s carbon footprint.

The development of products and services that deliver these sustainability goals is what gets us up in the morning (and sometimes keeps us up at night). Below we highlight several of our latest innovations.

The SEMCO family of coatings: SEMCO FF and FD

SEMCO fast-drying (FD) coatings cut drying times compared to traditional water-based coatings, resulting in lower energy consumption for drying, while optimising mould line productivity. Coating performance is also improved, delivering better surface quality and reducing the need for post-casting machining. The result is a coating that reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with drying and rework.

Meanwhile, SEMCO FF reduces formaldehyde emissions into the foundry environment in line with tightening regulation of these harmful emissions. SEMCO FF and FD can also be combined into a single coating solution to maximise sustainability benefits.

The ecoMetals Award

With our SEMCO coating range (SEMCO FD, CC and FF) we won the prestigious EcoMetals Award at GIFA 2023.We are passionate about promoting sustainable practices in the foundry industry and we believe that our SEMCO coatings range is a game changer.

By choosing our SEMCO coatings you will enjoy a host of benefits including faster drying times, energy savings and significantly reduced formaldehyde emissions. Our coatings are designed to deliver high performance results while minimising our impact on the environment.

WASCO binders and coatings

High-pressure die casting (HPDC) produces high volumes of castings, at high speed, with high resource efficiency and low costs per piece. It is thus the casting method of choice for many automotive foundries, where cost-efficiency and sustainability are key objectives. But HPDC is not suitable for all applications: it has traditionally been limited by the difficulty in producing cores for complex, hollow pieces.

WASCO water-based binders solve this challenge. Made with standard sand core production equipment, WASCO-based cores demonstrate high tensile strength and thermal resistance. Removal is achieved simply by flushing with water. Already proven in both liquid and semi-solid HPDC process, this innovative product offers the opportunity to advance the benefits of HPDC into a wider range of casting applications.

Fluoride-free sleeves

FEEDEX FEF sleeves turn the focus back onto the removal of harmful substances from the foundry environment. Available in all product geometries from the standard FEEDEX product range, its fluoride-free formulation helps reduce fluoride emissions and fluoride-containing waste. They also deliver much lower VOC emissions that other market alternatives.

Alongside our other fluoride-free products, KALMINEX 2000 FF and the fluoride-free KALMINEX SD formulation, FEEDEX FEF thus improves the foundry environment for workers, while eliminating the need to dispose of environmentally-harmful waste products.

ROTOCLENE

ROTOCLENE is a new process for the production of high-quality, inclusion-free steel for casting. The whole process will be displayed at the Foseco stand at GIFA, with regular presentations to introduce the process and its benefits.

In addition to improved steel cleanliness, benefits include improved melt temperature homogeneity, which allows the steel to be poured at lower temperatures. The bottom line is a solution that improves both casting efficiency and sustainability, via improved casting yield and quality, and lower energy consumption.

Sustainability at Foseco

How do you do more with less? This is the question at the heart of sustainability. But what does it mean for foundry operations?

The ecoMetals Award

min. 50% faster drying time*

min. 20% energy saving potential*

min. 90% reduced coating related formaldehyde emissions*

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