The milestone press for Poland
Harburg-Freudenberger is celebrating a further milestone in the company history / hand-over of the 2,000th high-performance screw press to the Bunge Group.
Hamburg-Harburg –
It is blue, powerful, measures two times six meters and features an impressive weight of 18 tons of steel – the 2,000th screw press of Harburg-Freudenberger Maschinenbau GmbH. On 20 June the EP 20 highperformance machine was handed over in a festive ceremony to representatives of the Bunge Group. It will be deployed for the production of bio-diesel derived from rape seed oil at the plant in Poland.
High quality for high-class clients
The Bunge Group is one of the largest global oil and grain seed commercial and processing enterprises and has been Harburg-Freudenberger’s customer for many years. "For us, there is no alternative to screw presses from Harburg. They are reliable and essential to our workshops”, points out Mariusz Szeliga, Manager of the Bunge Plant in Brzeg, Poland, where the milestone screw press will be deployed. At the Poland location mainly rape seed oil is produced to meet the ever-increasing demand for bio-diesel on the German market. The Bunge Group has recently extended its processing capacities at several European plants and thus ordered six screw presses from Harburg-Freudenberger. The Bunge Group operates over 500 plants in total employing a workforce of 25,000 globally.
Rapid growth
With fossil fuels in increasingly short supply, the extraction of energy from biological sources is once more gaining in importance. The market for biodiesel derived from rape seed oil is growing steadily to the benefit of Harburg- Freudenberger Maschinenbau GmbH, the world market leader in screw presses. This technology holds the key to the manufacture of plant-based energy sources. “After years of moderate growth the backlog of orders has considerably increased since mid 2003“, explains Günter Simon, Managing Director Harburg-Freudenberger. “Hence, sales in the edible oil business unit have increased by over 200%.”
Significant increase in production
The milestones in production reveal the current rapid market growth. In 1969 the 1,000th Harburg screw press went into production. In 2006 - after 37 years - we were able to hand-over the 2,000th screw press. This is equivalent to an average production volume of 27 machines annually. However, the Harburg plant dispatched 40 screw presses in the past year. “This year, 50 presses will be produced and if the positive development on the market for plant-based energy continues we will be able to double our production capacities“, says Günter Simon, Managing Director.
Innovation for further growth
To meet the increasing demands Harburg-Freudenberger has employed further 20 engineers. The focus of the Hamburg based traditional company is on consolidating and extending its global leadership through innovation and optimisation of production processes, sales and marketing. Five percent of the company sales will be accounted for research and development. “The next generation of higher performance screw presses will be launched soon”, says Günter Simon. He also pointed out that technical details will not yet be published because “Made in Germany” quality products enjoy enormous popularity with product pirates.
Reliable quality
The machines made in Hamburg-Harburg owe their excellent reputation to their reliability, ease of operation, high throughput and extraction rates and their resistance to wear and tear which are still known as “Krupp presses” on the market today. Shortly after ThyssenKrupp sold the company to the Lübeck-based Possehl Holding last year, the new name of the business has been established among industry circles.
High performance
The EP 20 milestone screw presses can process up to 30 tons of seed per hour, thus generating 70 million litres of oil per year. Most of the known oil seeds such as sunflower seeds, linseeds, maize germs, safflower seeds, soybeans, palm nuts and copra can be processed problem-free. The process is easy and effective. An endless screw or auger rotates inside an enclosed steel casing. Seeds are fed into the screw which compresses them until the oil they contain is squeezed out and collected. However, mechanical oil extraction of seeds is only one field of application of screw presses. They can also be deployed in the chemical industry, carcase processing, waste management and where solid/liquid substances are separated, dehydrated and dried.
The world leader
Harburg-Freudenberger Maschinenbau GmbH with a workforce of 1,060 worldwide is one of the leading mechanical engineering and service companies in the field of rubber compounding, caoutchouc and edible oil technology. With production plants in three countries (Germany, Croatia and the US) and representative offices throughout the world, the company last year generated sales in excess of EUR 170 million. Since the summer of 2005, the business belongs to the Possehl Group, based in Lübeck. For further information on the company and its products please visit www.harburg-freudenberger.de.
