Knauf Insulation Prepares to Select Contractor for Fiberglass Furnace Rebuild at Alabama Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Knauf Insulation GmbH (Shelbyville, Indiana), a subsidiary of Knauf Gips KG (Iphofen, Germany), has scheduled a major rebuild of its 165-ton-per-day fiberglass furnace "621" located at its fiberglass insulation manufacturing plant in Lanett, Alabama. The furnace has to be completely rebuilt from the ground up at the end of its campaign life of four-five years. Knauf is planning to invest $8 million to rebuild furnace "621," which involves mostly refractory work and modifications to cooling equipment. The furnace rebuild is currently scheduled for late July or early August 2008 and is expected to be complete by September 2008.

Construction services for the major furnace rebuild have been narrowed down to four contractors: Dreicor Incorporated (Hendersonville, North Carolina), Henry F. Teichmann Incorporated (Canonsburg, Pennsylvania), Allstates Refractory Contractors LLC (Waterville, Ohio), and D & M Rhonemus Refractory Corporation (Muncie, Indiana). Bids are due on April 11, 2008, and Knauf will award the contract on April 25, 2008.

Knauf is also installing a wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) and two regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTOs) at this facility. The WESP is being installed on the "621" line after the forming wet venturi scrubbers. The RTOs, which will kick off soon, is used to control emissions from the "621," "622A," and "622B" curing ovens. The RTOs would replace the two, once-through, thermal oxidizers that have been in operation on each oven since the initial start-up of the manufacturing lines.

Knauf Insulation is a leading global manufacturer of thermal and acoustical insulations for residential, commercial, industrial, OEM and metal building applications. With manufacturing operations in Europe, the UK, Russia in addition to the U.S., annual sales revenue is in excess of $1.5 billion.

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