06 July 2012
Gemco Valve welcomes its newest international customer, Umicore Precious Metals Refining, a division of Umicore, a multinational materials technology company. Umicore is a key player in the non-ferrous metals recycling industry and a market leader in the area of recycling complex materials which contain precious metals.
Walter Van Brussel, Sr. Manager Technology Development at Umicore says, “We selected Gemco Valve for this project because they are known for making dome valves that achieve good results on gas-dust mixtures. We knew of the company from industry exhibitions as well as from other suppliers. Also their ability to manufacture a less common size 450mm/18inch valve was a factor.”
Gemco Valve will be producing valves for Umicore’s battery recycling operations at the new Antwerp plant. Two DN 450 valves will serve as an airlock at the dust output of the process filter and one DN 100 valve will be installed to control the flow of oxygen and fine dust to the furnace.
Gemco Valve supplied a 3D model of the airlock for integration into to Umicore’s layout and customized the height and configuration to suit the project requirements. The DN100 valve is designed to the special requirements for Oxygen with Gemco Valve’s Fugitive Emission package and passivation of all valve components with Citrisurf®.
Both companies are looking forward to a long and successful relationship.