Interview with Daniel Julien, CEO of Fives Pillard

As an industrial engineering Group with a heritage of over 200 years, Fives designs and supplies machines, process equipment and production lines for the largest industrial players in various sectors such as cement, energy, aluminum, steel, glass, aerospace and logistics. ICR had an opportunity to have conversation with Daniel Julien, CEO of Fives Pillard, one of Fives subsidiary in combustion.

ICR: Can you tell us more about Fives Pillard?? history? Its development and more particularly in the cement industry?

Fives Pillard was founded in 1920 by the brothers Andr? and Marcel Pillard and started manufacturing coal burners for steam locomotives. A few years later, in 1957, the company entered the international market by opening its subsidiary Fives Pillard Deutschland. Spain and China followed, and more recently, India in 2012, through our subsidiary Fives Combustion Systems. It is now a major player in the Indian market.

In 2018, we launched a new R&D Center in Piacenza, northern Italy. Fives European Combustion Center is a state-of-the-art facility and where the majority of our products development takes place.

Regarding the cement market, we started offering kiln burners in the 1950s. During that period, oil was used as a fuel to run the kilns and it led to the development of the MY atomizing. It is still the reference point regarding oil application in this industry.

30 years later, we developed one of the best performers aiming to reduce NOx emissions from the kiln: the Pillard ROTAFLAM?. This burner has been a market leader for 20 years with numerous success stories for cement as well mineral players.

Following this success, we launched the Pillard NOVAFLAM? in 2009. Specifically designed for the cement market to maximize clinker quality, to enable high alternative fuel substitution rates and limit emissions levels, it has sold over 600 units worldwide so far.

ICR: Despite the difficulties of this year, it seems that you have some achievements to celebrate.

Indeed, in 2020, not only are we celebrating Fives Pillard 100^th anniversary, but marking this milestone with the launch of the avant-garde Pillard NOVAFLAM? Evolution for the cement industry. This achievement is another proof of our dedication to our customers, offering them the best products available.

We work closely with our customers, taking into account their priorities and requirement to design our products and services that fulfill their expectations. This new product, which encompasses multiple breakthrough innovations, will offer its users numerous benefits: low emissions, best clinker quality, enhanced adaptability to kiln conditions, and unrivalled ease of adjustment to name a few.

We are committed to deliver products that combine quality and durability as our success comes from customer satisfaction. Cement industry is a small world and you need to earn the trust of your customers and partners alike. We are proud to have customers that are still using Fives Pillard?? burners that are 50 years old! We deliver on what we promise.

As mentioned above, it is essential for us as a business, but also as people, to stay close to our customers. Thanks to our and the group Fives international network, we always manage to get feedback from our customers and keep on improving our products and processes.

ICR: You also mentioned the importance of R&D.

Yes! Knowing customer needs and priorities is one thing but to turn feedback into a product you need to have a strong R&D team that supports your innovations. A center like the one we have in Piacenza, with a team of experts and Engineers ready to find new ways to optimize products and increase customers benefits is essential to stay ahead in the market. Not just in cement, but across all the industries that Fives Pillard serves. Our company Fives Pillard has shown the way forward in many aspects and has often been copied by competitors as a result. We hope to do the same thing regarding new services and products that are more environmentally friendly.

Can you tell us more about these environmentally friendly solutions?

People across the globe feel more concerned about climate change and are looking at ways to be more respectful of the environment. We can see that shift in combustion as well and the different industries we provide products for. The cement industry has the responsibility to improve their environmental footprint and drastically reduce CO₂ and other pollutant emissions. Fives Pillard with its subsidiaries, including Fives Combustion Systems will be at their side to achieve these challenges.

Fives Pillard and its teams worldwide are very much committed to take part in the fight against climate change by using the latest burner technology, providing an optimized combustion efficiency, limited NOx emissions, and a better clinker quality with improved grindability properties. Indeed, all these innovations, including sustainable engineering, are what make the Pillard NOVAFLAM? Evolution an avant-garde burner. Helping our customers to maximize their profitability while reducing their environmental footprint, the new Pillard NOVAFLAM? Evolution has also received the EU Ecolabel.

ICR: So what does the future look like for Fives Pillard?

As mentioned, part of our focus is on the development of products and services that meet our customers needs including the reduction of their pollutant emissions and carbon footprint. We are working on new fuel possibilities (hydrogen, syngas from biomass), oxygen combustion, for example.

We will also continue to innovate on our services offering and more particularly on our SMART technology package, which monitors the performance of our burners, and provides assistance regarding adjustments and preventive maintenance so as to ensure that optimal efficiency is maintained throughout the burner lifetime and customers remain satisfied.

Rahul Rajgor MD (India operations) of Fives Combustion Systems, Fives Pillard subsidiary.

Interview with Rahul Rajgor, MD (India operations) of Fives Combustion Systems, Fives Pillard subsidiary.

Vikas: What measures have you taken while designing this burner so that it is able to meet the requirements on NO_x emissions and improvements in clinker quality?

Fives has always been ahead of its time regarding the development of kiln burners with low emissions.

This time on the eve of a century in kiln burner solutions, we have prepared a special treat, combining all the feedback we received from our customers and our practical experience in the field and brought it to our R&D labs in France. Thanks to dedicated research, intense engineering and analysis, we have come up with a new champion in the form of the Pillard NOVAFLAM? Evolution, to deliver unparalleled performance in terms of clinker quality, emissions reduction & reduced primary air delivery.

Our Pillard NOVAFLAM? Evolution, that has just been launched, is already operational in over 40 locations around the globe and is showing fantastic results.

Vikas: In India, more and more cement plants are starting to use alternate fuels (AFR). In that context, what type of burners are you offering to the Indian Industry? Will the same burner be suitable as the AFR percentage increases?

India is a booming market for the cement industry and one priority for Fives Combustion Systems. Indeed, it offers many opportunities for replacing old generation burners with new and more improved models, delivering more benefits to the customers, including efficient AFR firing capability. The cement industry has come to us with a challenge on Alternative fuels substitution to pharma waste, liquid waste as a low CV, electronic waste, agro waste etc. We understand that demand and have delivered on our challenge. The Pillard NOVAFLAM? Evolution is the answer to utilize maximum alternative fuel percentage while maximizing the clinker quality at the same time.

The Pillard NOVAFLAM? Evolution burner enables the central injection of ASF by means of dedicated injectors, specially engineered to prevent the ??ouble flame??effect thus avoiding flying particles on the fire. The injection method is adapted according to the various ASF criteria such as density, moisture, size, combustion kinetics, etc. thus enabling us to custom design the ASF injector for each plant. Various arrangements of ASF injection are possible to achieve the best combustion, thermal efficiency and enhance higher ASF substitution.

Vikas: What are the new innovations and patents being introduced in your Pillard NOVAFLAM? Evolution kiln burner?

To enhance thermal efficiency, we introduced the V type nozzle technology for axial and radial air impulse pattern.

Introduction of Replaceable Insert tips: One can replace axial air injectors very easily enhancing operational flexibility (increase or decrease primary air flow by replacing insert tip) and the maintenance cost is lower than replacing a full tip.

RST Swirler technology with better efficiency and adjustability from 0 to 45 degrees.

Lower primary air flow (4 % – 8 %)

Introduction of an ??lternative Fuel Injection System??with an enhanced burning efficiency for solid fuel.

Airless Stabilizer with a reduced primary air requirement for cooling.

Special Alloyed Heavy-Duty burner tips with an Air Cooling arrangement resilient to heat expansion thus enhancing the burner lifespan.

Introduction of 4.0 smart functions with an optimized monitoring of kiln burning activities.

Vikas: Does your factory in India manufactures burners in India or do you assemble it here?

In India, we do complete design, engineering, manufacturing & supply for all type of burners and control systems under Fives Pillard license and complying with Fives R&D guidelines.

We are a Global Manufacturing Unit for a majority of burners products for various of the group Fives subsidiaries including Fives ITAS, Italy, Fives North American Combustion, USA and Fives Stein, France.

Our facility in Vadodara, Gujarat covers 125,000 square Feet of area and is certified ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 & ISO 45001:2018.

Fives Combustion Systems primarily serves the Cement, Oil & Gas, Steel, Aluminum and Power Industries. We operate at the upper crest of the technology of combustion solutions and have been at the forefront in providing premium equipment manufactured in India complying with international standards.

Our technological edge, an increase of global customer outreach and our renown expertise explain the success of our products. To achieve high standard quality and customer satisfaction, Fives Combustion Systems has streamlined the entire product manufacturing value chain, from R&D through production including customer delivery and support.