Innovative concepts and technologies for the building materials industry

»1 Keratek’s founder Karl-Heinz- Brakemeier (right) and his successor Christian Gäbelein

»2 The plant moved by Keratek from Germany to Kazakhstan was called after the engineering office

»3 The container kiln developed by Keratek in the 1980s

»3a The container kiln developed by Keratek in the 1980s

»3b The UFF kiln combines the advantages of tunnel and roller kilns

»4 Operating principle of the Turboblock 800 in the cross-section of a tunnel kiln

»5 The pipes carrying hot gases are installed in the kiln ceiling and insulated

BU folgt späterBU folgt später

»6a and b The Turbo Kompakt 500 can be fitted to the kiln ceiling in a very short time

»7a and b With the Turbo Jet, selective gas flows can be generated in the firing channel

(»7b )

»8 The Turbo Wing 1 200 ceiling fan can be used at temperatures up to around 1 000 °C and needs just 20 W drive power

For almost 30 years now, Keratek has supplied engineering services for the clay brick and roofing tile industry. In recent years, it has established an innovative high-temperature gas circulation system, the Turboblock 800, on the market. We spoke to Keratek founder Karl-Heinz Brakemeier and his successor Christian Gäbelein, who took over the company as of 1 January 2013.

Zi: Mr Brakemeier, in your view, what have been the outstanding events in the company’s history?

K. H. B.: It began with me selling my own brickworks to Indonesia and setting it up again there. During the planning and redesign, basically I got hooked again. The challenge excited me and inspired me to realize my own ideas as well as to improve and optimize existing equipment. So then in the 1980s we developed the container kiln, and later in the early 1990s the UFF (Universal Fast Firing) kiln. This kiln operates without kiln cars, but in those days it was simply too far ahead of its time. In...