We’re helping to slow down global warming

Central Technical Service puts a couple of eco-friendly boilers into operation in the Kvasiny Paint Shop

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hanks to modern technologies in the Paint Shop, the PSZ – Central Technical Service department contributes to lowering the production of CO2 and other harmful substances in the Kvasiny plant, bringing the carmaker closer to its goal of carbon-neutral production. Emission reduction and financial savings come from two newly installed burners that are part of the thermal emission control device, replacing the original ones that had been in continuous operation for 18 years. Specifically, they are thermal afterburners (TNV), which are used for the afterburning of VOC emissions. The resulting hot air is used to heat car bodies. “Their proper functioning ensures that the lines are working and the entire Paint Shop is running”, explains Lukáš Bartoš from PSZ. The Paint Shop depends on heat from the afterburners and cannot afford an interruption. It is the most critical bottleneck in production, and if stopped, the entire factory production will cease very quickly.

To move the equipment to the Paint Shop building through the roof was a challenge even for seasoned crane operators. Because of the limited open space, the precision required was a matter of centimetres. 

“The planning regarding future replacements took over a year. We had to prepare each step in meticulous detail so that everything went according to plan. The whole process could be described in three fundamental stages: preparing the space (we chose a completely new location for the electrodisposition afterburners), moving the equipment to the building (which, among other things, made it necessary to open the roof structure in order to bring it in) and connecting and commissioning the equipment”, describes Bartoš. 

One burner instead of two

In cooperation with local maintenance services, the PSZ department managed to install more efficient devices. The innovation made it possible to shut down the existing pre-electrodisposition (ED) oven, creating a modern shop floor with the most significant change on the ED coating line, where the device can do with just one burner. In the original boiler, one burner was used to heat the air for the pre-oven space, which prevents thermal shocks, and the other prepared the air for a higher temperature for the actual oven. Today, different temperatures are provided by the exchanger, which increases the overall operation efficiency. “We will see tangible savings only after a year”, Bartoš explains, adding that the expected reduction in gas and electricity consumption is already significant. Luděk Vokáč

99 %

THERMAL AFTERBURNERS (TNV) reduce volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions with an efficiency of up to 99%

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car bodies a day is the capacity of the Kvasiny Paint Shop, where the PAINT IS APPLIED TO THE SUPERB, KODIAQ, KAROQ and Seat Ateca models

Darkness over gold

Mladá Boleslav plant successfully fights light pollution

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sky full of stars is an amazing but increasingly rare sight. Just a few decades ago, over 3,000 stars were usually visible on a moonless night. Today, you can hardly make out 400 on a city’s outskirts. The reason is an effect called light pollution. Its rate is determined by the nine-level Bortle scale. One means perfect darkness – not just stars but also distant galaxies can be seen with the naked eye. At the opposite end, nine is common in the centre of Prague and elsewhere – the sky is so bright that a less experienced eye would not even recognise well-known constellations. We no longer experience level one in the Czech Republic today. Most of the territory is at a five and higher. However, there are three exceptions where it is possible to observe astronomical phenomena. The nearest one is located near Jizerka, a settlement in the Jizera Mountains.  

The largest sources of light pollution are unshielded street lamps. Illuminated buildings at a wrong angle and advertising and entertainment lighting also contribute to the pollution. And as any other kind of pollution, the light pollution is bad for your health: You sleep less well, you are prone to depression, and research has also shown that it has an influence on obesity. Therefore, at selected locations in the Mladá Boleslav plant, the PSZ/4 – Service and Infrastructure Operation department has replaced a total of 148 old and unsuitable street lamps with new LED lights that do not disturb. The new lamps are used at the M1 test track, on the main street nicknamed Václavák in the old plant and on some roads, such as at Rolnická škola. The replacement has not only decreased light pollution but also saved about 30 percent of electric power, almost 80 MWh a year. Veronika Hrnčířová, Jiří Kvasnička