ESK and Pfaudler Agree a Sales Partnership

“Pfaudler has an international sales network with very good contacts to the chemical and pharmaceutical industries,” says Andreas Lemke, head of metallurgy and heat exchangers at ESK. “It will allow us to reach customers with corrosive applications all over the world."

Pfaudler, of Schwetzingen, Germany, is the world-leading manufacturer of glass-lined components and products for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. “By working with ESK, we can round off our portfolio and offer our customers new, innovative solutions,” explains Bruno Stoltz, sales director of Pfaudler. “Since ceramic heat exchangers conduct heat better, we can offer our customers the same performance with smaller units.” The sales agreement envisages ESK supplying three different models of heat exchanger: sealed, semi-welded and the innovative monolithic products. These versions can be used for heaters and coolers (liquid-liquid and liquid-vapor) and condensation applications.

ESK’s novel production technology, diffusion welding, makes it the first manufacturer in the world to produce ceramic-plate heat exchangers on an industrial scale. Companies in the chemical and related industries make particularly high demands on the materials for plate heat exchangers. The devices undergo chemical attack from corrosive substances such as caustic soda. Plates of conventional materials, such as stainless steel do not last long in such a milieu. But the plates made of ESK’s EKasic silicon carbide ceramic are corrosion-resistant in contact with acids, alkalis and hot water, and therefore have much longer lifetimes. In addition, the material is extremely lightweight, heat resistant and thermally conductive. As a result, ESK can manufacture very compact, high-performance units.

Heat exchangers transfer heat from one fluid stream to another, for example from a liquid to a gas. Applications include evaporation and condensation of aggressive chemicals at high and low temperatures. Plate heat exchangers are a particular form of heat exchanger characterized by a compact design.

About ESK Ceramics GmbH & Co. KG

ESK Ceramics GmbH & Co. KG is a world-leading suppliers of advanced ceramic products for industrial applications, and a specialist in the field of nickel dispersion coatings. Our extensive range of materials comprises borides, carbides and nitrides, for example boron carbide, boron nitride, silicon carbide, silicon nitride or titanium diboride. Our product portfolio includes 18 registered trademarks and 10 specialized, applications-oriented ceramic materials used by customers from over 30 industries around the world. Furthermore, ESK continually develops innovative product solutions in cooperation with customers and international research institutes, and enables new manufacturing processes in various industries. ESK was founded in 1922 and now employs over 700 people at its headquarters in Kempten (Allgäu/South Germany and its subsidiary in Bazet (France)). Since August 2004, ESK has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Ceradyne. Inc., which is based in Costa Mesa (California, USA) and publicly listed on the US NASDAQ technology stock exchange. Ceradyne has over 2,500 employees at a total of 14 sites worldwide. Its sales in 2007 reached USD 756 million (approx. EUR 480 million).

About Pfaudler Werke GmbH

Pfaudler is a subsidiary of Robbins & Myers Inc. and the leading producer of glass-lined reactor systems, components and products for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Its worldwide network of production, sales- and service centers is the guarantor for solutions close to the customer – not only geographically, but in terms of language and culture, too. The company continually expands its leading position in the process equipment market: Pfaudler’s glass-lined equipment, components, stirrer systems and know-how, together with its acknowledged strength as a company, make glass-lined steel into a performance material for customers.