QUANTIFIED QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS AT SAPA, LTD.

Stephen J. Rose and David W. Busch

SAPA, Ltd.
Saw Pit Lane
Tibshelf, Derbyshire DE55 5NH
England
Foseco Inc.
777 Old Saw Mill River Rd.
Tarrytown, NY 10591-6729
USA

Abstract
SAPA, LTD. is a three press aluminium extrusion operation
specializing in quality flat and hollow product with a small remelt
facility for in house generated scrap. In 1994 a decision was made to
improve the overall quality of the in plant remelt facility. The first
capital improvement was the installation of a SNIF Sheer P-60U two
nozzle degassing system with immersion heaters. This unit was started
up in December of 1994. A new melter with an exhaust collection
system was brought on line in September of 1995.
This paper will describe how improved melt treatment produced
measurable economic benefits downstream.
Introduction
SAPA Ltd. of Tibshelf, Derbyshire, part of the Granges group, is a
three press aluminium extruder. Annual production amounts to 20,000
tonnes and is used mainly in transport, architecture and general
engineering. There is an anodising plant with an annual capacity of
1,200,000 m2. All extrusion scrap is recycled at SAPAs remelt plant
where 178mm and 228 mm x 4.3 metre long logs in 6000 series
alloys (mainly 6082, 6063, 6061 and 6005) are cast. With the
addition of ingot, hardeners and a small amount of bought scrap,
remelt production in 1994 was running at around 7,500 tonnes
annually. The company operates on two sites located four miles apart.
One site has a 178mm Sutton press and an anodising plant whilst the
other has a 178mm Fielding and Platt press, a 228mm SMS
Hasenclever press and the remelt plant.
During the first quarter of 1994 an assessment of the remelt plant was
conducted. The aim was to improve the press performance of the
remelt product, environmental performance, energy efficiency,
productivity and reliability. At the start of the assessment it was
decided that all possibilities would be considered, even a proposal to
close the plant completely. Driving this action was the understanding
that remelt metal was demonstrating a much poorer press performance
(mainly running speed) than prime metal. A trial involving having a
proportion of scrap converted by a third party yielded no better results
despite the fact that the equipment used by the tollers was much more
advanced than SAPAs. During the assessment, the company
experienced considerable difficulty in obtaining all the prime metal
required and this, coupled to the fact that tolled metal performed no
better than SAPAs remelt, underlined the strategic importance of
retaining the facility.
At this time the facility comprised one melting/holding gas powered
reverberatory furnace, an old cable type casting machine rated at 5
tonnes per drop, 180mm and 228mm float and spout casting tables
with capacity of around 4 tonnes at 4.3 metres, an 18 tonne
homogeniser and a separate cooler of the same capacity, a saw for
topping and tailing the product and an optical emission spectrometer.
Degassing was carried out
by hexachloroethane tablets and the only filtration was by glass cloth.
Metal analysis showed inclusion variation from 0 to 5 OM consisting
mainly of oxide clusters. Hydrogen content ranged between 0.2
ml/100g and 0.35 ml/100g.
As part of the assessment, data was collected on press running speed
of prime and remelt metal. For this around 200 dies were selected
which were regularly used on both sources of billet. Because of the
poorer press performance of remelt metal, planners habitually
matched remelt metal to certain dies, often where running speed was
limited by other factors, such as cooling capacity. This had the effect
of mitigating the influence of remelt on the company profitability but
meant that the most interesting dies were never run with remelt metal
prior to the eventual improvements. The data was collected in a form
which permitted individual die speeds to be assessed rather than an
overall average which would have depended, to a large extent, on
ordering patterns.
Environmental performance was an important consideration of the
assessment despite the fact that the company had been operating well
within local authority requirements. New government regulations set
out in the 1990 Environmental Protection Act were to be introduced
during 1995 and although specific requirements for the industry had
not been made known it was obvious that permissible releases would
be tightened and the policing and reporting system would change
completely. It was considered important to the company to be seen as
environmentally aware and to anticipate changes in regulations before
new requirements were imposed. They also wanted to increase
capacity in certain parts of the plant in order to discontinue night shift
working. This would reduce noise emitted at night and reduce manning
costs.
Assessment
The initial proposals for upgrading the plant were produced by May
1994. It contained an assessment of the existing plant and
recommended an initial programme of investment covering a period of
12 months to be followed by a further assessment prior to a second
wave of improvements.
The report suggested that much of the plant was performing well and
would not require immediate modification. However, significant
economies at the extrusion presses would be gained by the installation
of equipment such as a SNIF filter and furnace tap hole and launder
modifications. These would lead to improved quality and hence higher
extrusion speeds. Energy savings could be made by upgrading the
furnace burners and flue gas controls. Flue gas filtration equipment
was also recommended and was to be installed after the new burners as
these would reduce emission temperature to that required by the filter.
The second proposed assessment was aimed at improving casting
performance by considering the adoption of Wagstaff technology.

1
The SNIF was chosen for the first development because previous
experience with similar systems at other SAPA plants showed that its
benefits would be greater than any other single investment. Based on
this experience the following predictions were made as shown in
Figure 1.
EXPECTED BENEFITS FROM
SNIF INSTALLATION
HYDROGEN REDUCTION OF 70%
INCLUSION REMOVAL OF 90%
AVERAGE EXTRUSION SPEED
INCREASE 13%
IMPROVED DIE LIFE
IMPROVED SURFACE FINISH
REDUCED VARIABLE COSTS OF
$26300 ANNUALLY
8 TO 18 MONTH PAYBACK PERIOD
Figure 1: Expected Benefits from SNIF Installation
The improved running speed was an estimate based on typical press
loading consisting of a mixture of dies. The running speed of some of
these dies was dependent on metal quality whilst others depended on
other factors such as press quenching capacity or billet heating
capacity. An improvement in metal speed alone was estimated to be
over 15%.
The new burners and flue gas filtration plant would reduce both gas
consumption and levels of stack emissions. These improvements were
to follow the SNIF installation at the next outage opportunity. All
these developments were planned to take place with minimal effect on
production. It was later decided that the new burners should be fitted
to a second furnace dedicated to melting so that the existing furnace
was used as a holder. Because the holder would not produce any
significant emissions it was decided that it should continue to exhaust
directly to the stack whilst the filtration plant was sized to handle the
fume from the new furnace and burners. These consisted of
regenerative burners which reclaimed heat from the furnace exhaust so
reducing flue gas temperature to less than 150oC.
Figure 2: SNIF SHEER P-60U Two Nozzle System
with Lift Cover and Immersion Heating
Upgrade Programme
SNIF Degasser
The initial capital investment and one that produced immediate and
positive quality results was the installation of the SNIF SHEER P-60U
two nozzle immersion heated system illustrated in Fig. 2 and 3. The
two chamber system is heated by four 8 KW silicon carbide heating
elements encased in silicon carbide protection tubes. Initial cracking
problems
2
were experienced with the protection tubes due to manufacturing
defects and operator inexperience. SAPA is currently very pleased
with the system and its heat recovery capability of 30 C per hour.
They get up to six months life on the protection tubes and ten to twelve
months on the elements.
The SNIF is designed with a four cylinder hydraulic cover lifting
system which lifts the heating tubes and nozzles completely out of the
bath for easy dedrossing. The amazing thing is that the unit is
extremely user friendly and does not require the cleaning originally
expected. Current practice is to lift the cover once every three weeks
and remove any dross which might have accumulated. The self sealing
cover along with the Foseco patented trough air locks prevent air
infiltration and virtually eliminate dross formation. All the operator is
required to do is push the start and stop button at the beginning and end
of each drop. Every third Saturday the cover is raised and the
operators spend 20 to 40 minutes cleaning the roof and removing
surface dross. Except for draining to accomplish grade changes there
is no other maintenance for the operators to perform.
The very nature of in line argon degassing requires that the protective
surface of the molten metal be broken to allow evolution of the
argon-hydrogen gas bubble. If the atmosphere within the refining
chamber contains oxygen, additional aluminum oxide or dross will
form. If no oxygen is present no dross will be created. The new
sealed SNIF system prevents air infiltration thus minimizing dross
formation and it does this without using cover gas.
Initial nozzle life was outstanding with some lasting up to six months.
During late 1995 and early 1996 nozzle life was variable. The
company suffered several broken nozzles due to debris in the SNIF,
mostly pieces of broken heating element protection tubes. Since the
tube life has been stabilized and the unit drained and well cleaned last
July, nozzle life is once again expected to be at least six months. The
sealed system which eliminates Al2O3 formation also prevents nozzle
burn. Theoretically the SHEER nozzles can be used until the rotor
edges wear down and degassing efficiency begins to drop. This has not
b
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e
e
n
y
e
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i
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Figure 3: SNIF P-60U with Cover Raised
NIF sealed system was one of the first such installation. Two identical
units are in operation at SAPAs sister primary plant in Sundsvall,
Sweden and six other sealed SNIFs are in operation throughout the
world. Some have immersion heating systems and some are equipped
with the conventional graphite block heaters, but all are reporting
similar results as far as nozzle life and reduced dross formation.
One other unique feature of the SNIF is the P cartridge working
lining. The complete refractory interior of the SNIF at the end of its
useful life can be lifted out and replaced in a matter of hours with a
replacement pre-baked cartridge. To get back into full production the
new lining only needs to be brought up to operating temperature. The
company is hoping to get three years life on the current lining.

Furnace, Burners and Bag Plant
The new furnace was installed during the summer shut down in August
1995. It was a simple reverberatory furnace with a capacity of 20
tonne built by Tynok Ltd. Its design was similar to the existing 15
tonne furnace which had given excellent service for the previous 7
years. During the same shut down period the old furnace was partly
relined for the first time in preparation for its new duties as a holder.
The flue opening was also reduced in size to make the unit more
efficient as a holder.
The new regenerative burners were supplied by Hotwork and are rated
at 100 to 120 Therms. They were Hotworks latest low NOx design
and were expected to reduce gas consumption by around 40% and
reduce exhaust gas temperatures to less than 150oC.
The exhaust gas filtration system consisted of a bag filter plant
supplied by Luhrfilter rated at 20,000 Nm3 per hour. It contained a
reaction chamber which uses hydrated lime to reduce acid levels in the
emissions. The filtration section, using 700 bags, was required to
reduce particulate levels to less than 10mg/Nm3 gas. Acid levels were
expected to be less than 5mg/Nm3 for HF and 30mg/Nm3 for HCL,
both normalised to 18% O2.
The above equipment installation plus major modifications to the
casting machine and recladding and internal painting of the building
were all carried out simultaneously during the two week shut down.
Despite the obvious difficulties experienced in achieving this, start up
was achieved in time for restarting production at the end of August.
The burners performed well and had a fuel savings of over 30%
compared to the conventional burners in the old furnace. Initially they
were found to be excessively noisy but this was simply cured by fitting
an improved silencer in the outlet to the burner suction fan. A more
accurate assessment was difficult to achieve at the time of writing as
the current set up makes it difficult to separate the consumption of the
two furnaces. The stack emissions were consistently well below the
limits expected (they are monitored quarterly) and have enabled SAPA
to be first in the country to obtain Authorisation under the new
Environmental Protection Act. The furnace has performed well apart
from some experimental porous plugs located in the hearth which
were intended to assist with stirring by injecting nitrogen gas. These
worked well for three months but later became prone to plugging.
Casting Machine Modifications
By the time the shut down work was being planned, the second report
covering the possible Wagstaff installation had been completed and a
decision had been made to install new Airslip tables. It was obvious
that the casting machine controls were not compatible with the
Wagstaff requirements although the structure and lowering mechanism
were considered adequate, although unconventional. During the shut
down the DC drive and control system was replaced by a sophisticated
hydraulic drive controlled by an Allen Bradley plc. Casting speed and
cooling water flow rate were controlled to fine tolerances and the
ability to include ramp facilities were included.
This was all done early so that the operators could become
accustomed to the new control system well in advance of the
introduction of the Wagstaff system.
3
At the same time Ashford Engineering, who installed the new control
system, also replaced the skirt at the top of the pit in order to
accommodate the larger Wagstaff tables. The whole system worked
well; the only difficulty experienced being caused by unfamiliarity
with the emergency system designed to take over in the event of a
power failure during a cast. Fortunately negligible production was lost
during the commissioning of this equipment.
Wagstaff Tables
Two Wagstaff Airslip tables and tilt frame were introduced in
December 1995. At the same time a new cooling water system was
commissioned to cope with the extra demand and the weight of the
platen was reduced to increase the casting machine rating from five to
six tonnes.
The tables consisted of a 20 strand 178mm diameter system and a 12
strand 228mm diameter system. They were installed over a four-day
period including a weekend so minimising lost production. The first
cast was successful and for the first week the only significant problem
was caused by an operator failing to hold the metal for sufficient time
at cast start. Two strands bled as a result of this and had to be plugged.
The cast continued and was otherwise successful. In the following
weeks the tables hung up on three occasions but once the cause was
discovered (poor alignment of platen to table) the problem never
returned. Production targets are achieved every week and often
exceeded and pit recovery is over 99%. The life of consumables such
as transition plates, thimbles and graphite rings are as yet unknown as
at the time of writing (eight months after installation) the only
components changed consisted of one graphite ring, six transition
plates and a small number of thimbles. Most of these had been
damaged during the early hang-ups. The mould room equipment has so
far only been used in training.
The cooling water system, controlled by the Ashford casting machine
controller has proved sufficient with the inlet temperature to the table
varying by no more than three degrees during the day and not
exceeding 23oC during the hottest part of the summer. The success of
the Wagstaff installation is considered to be partly due to the
suitability of the equipment around it, particularly metal quality
achieved by the SNIF filter and the precise control of the casting
machine. The skill and enthusiasm of the operators must also be a
major factor in the success of the equipment. SAPA is fortunate in
having good people who were well trained at Wagstaff in Spokane and
at one of the group plants in Sundsvall in Sweden. A great deal of care
is exercised in table maintenance between casts and in platen levelling
before the start of casting. Furnace and SNIF temperatures are also
considered vital. Maintenance department have adopted the equipment
as their own and are now able to detect signs of deterioration before
problems develop.
Benefits
Because of the statistical nature of certain benefits and the long lag
between installation and full realisation of improvements, the
assessment of the eventual gains is ongoing. However, early
indications of these gains are encouraging and improvements in press
running speeds, die life, environmental performance and operator
satisfaction have been established. Surface finish improvements were
noted from the very first SNIF refined cast. Alscan measured
hydrogen levels have been below 0.15 cc/100g.
Running Speeds
As discussed earlier, around 30% of the raw material feed to the
presses is sourced from the remelt plant. Improvements in this
material is thought to account for around a 5% overall press
productivity increase.
A good indication of improvement in press running speed of the
remelt metal is the comparison of individual die performance before
and after the various remelt developments. Even this is subject to
statistical
variation because order sizes for each die varies and has a significant one third of the raw material is from remelt) is the only influencing
impact on overall productivity. In order to reduce this effect a bank of factor.
around 200 dies are monitored continually and their individual changes
in performance are averaged. Operator Perception

Each development in turn has been readily accepted by the cast house
DIE EXTRUSION SPEED HISTORY operators. Their open-minded approach and enthusiasm have made an
IN HOUSE REMELT PRODUCT important contribution to the smooth operation of the equipment and
quality of the product. Team spirit has reached a high level and can be
100 demonstrated by the fact that shifts are content to take over casts
started by previous teams. Planners and press operators are now much
111
more likely to use remelt billet for difficult sections and the tendency
118 to use prime stocks in preference to remelt is no longer evident.

Strategic Advantages
70 80 90 100 110 120 130
RELATIVE EXTRUSION SPEED
Increases in remelt used at the expense of prime is no longer expected
Pre SNIF SNIF SNIF+Wagstaff to adversely affect company profitability. This means that any
1994 1995 1996 opportunity to obtain good quality scrap from external sources can be
exploited. To this end further investment aimed at increasing capacity
Figure 4: Die Extrusion Speed History is now under consideration so that scrap generated by an extruder
recently acquired by the group can also be converted.
This method of analysis has yielded the following improvements to
date, see Figure 4. The running speeds of pre-SNIF remelt metal is Environmental Improvements
taken as 100%. Other running speeds are expressed as a percentage of
the above pre-SNIF speed. It can be seen that remelt metal now runs at Since installing the SNIF the use of degassing tablets has discontinued
an average of 18% faster than it did in 1994, before any investments and flux usage has decreased. This has, of course, reduced products
were made, and is now indistinguishable from the running speed of harmful to the environment. Additionally, the introduction of the
primary metal. exhaust gas filtration and neutralising plant has dramatically reduced
emissions even though previous concentrations had been well within
Scrap Generation local authority guidelines. Current emissions, set out below, are
consistently well below current stringent Government limits.
Press running speeds are largely governed by the maximum extrusion
speed achievable without deterioration of surface finish. Not
surprisingly scrap rates have not changed significantly since the Particulates 1.65 mg/Nm3
introduction of remelt improvements because operators are HCL 8.4 mg/Nm3
successfully achieving maximum speed potential of the metal. Other HF 0.12 mg/Nm3
causes of scrap would not be expected to be influenced by the nature Sox 2 mg/Nm3
of the metal quality improvements associated with remelt investments. Nox 67 mg/Nm3
Dioxins/Furans 0.15 ng/Nm3
VOC 28 mg/Nm3

REPLACEMENT DIE COSTS

dollars per tonne
42
Future Developments
40
38
Investments in the remelt facility have proven beneficial for the
company generally despite the fact that the companys core activity is
36
concentrated on extrusion press operation rather than recycling.
34
These investments have been primarily aimed at maximising quality of
32
billet and environmental performance. Opportunities exist to further
30
exploit previous success by increasing capacity and efficiency.
28
Developments currently under consideration are: (a) the purchase of
26 extra homogenising capacity to better match capacity of the rest of the
1994 1995 1996
plant and (b) improved furnace charging possibly by the use of an
electromagnetic metal pump and charging well which will increase
Figure 5: Replacement Die Costs overall melt rate and possibly further reduce melt loss.
Die Life

When planning the SNIF installation it was recognised that the

improved metal quality could result in lengthened die life. However,
this advantage could have been reduced by the expected increase in
running speed. A simple comparison of replacement die costs does, in
fact, suggest a reduction in die wear although there appears to be a
considerable lag between the metal quality improvement and die life
benefits. This can possibly be explained by the fact that the initial
stock of dies were partly worn before the changes took place. The full
benefit will probably not be seen until the majority of dies have been
changed. The trend in replacement dies can be seen from the
following data in Figure 5, but it must not be assumed that remelt
metal quality (only about