For more than three decades, Glatt Ingenieurtechnik has been by its customers’ side, from laboratory through to production. These collaborations sometimes lead to ground-breaking new systems that have never previously been considered or designed. Some of these are available at the company’s headquarters in Weimar, which is why the plant manufacturer has expanded its technology centre several times in recent years.
The latest developments include, for example, a fluid bed system made entirely of glass for processing special materials with the highest purity demands or for handling corrosive process media. There is also a fluid bed system that processes powders in temperatures up to 900°C, and a synthesis reactor that produces ultrafine powders in the nanometre and micrometre range in a pulsating gas stream, coats them and/or thermally post-treats them at a temperature of up to 1300°C.
With this being the third expansion since 2009, Glatt is on track for another successful year and, on its 30th anniversary, can look back on 12 months of exceptional achievements – despite the pandemic. The new investment of around 6 million euros will also create jobs and strengthen Thuringia as a business location. At the same time, the new building consolidates the involvement of the Weimar-based experts in numerous projects in the field of cutting-edge research funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). And increased capacity also means potential capabilities for contract production.
Says Lutz Heinzl, Sales Manager: “Times like these are exciting not only for our colleagues who develop processes for manufacturing pharmaceutical, biotechnological and medical technology products for vaccines, insulin, blood plasma, biosimilars and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). We are also experiencing a strong increase in demand for processes related to particle design and particle engineering.”
Here, the focus is, for example, on the development, optimisation and functionalisation of bulk materials such as powders, granules and pellets for ingredients and additives in food and nutritional supplements or pet food, detergents, fertilisers, pesticides or industrial salts. In addition, Glatt engineers research and work on materials for high-performance batteries, 3D printing, paints and coatings, ceramics, catalysts and many other chemical and fine chemical products.
From the initial idea to turnkey production, Glatt accompanies its customers through the entire process – as a service provider or development partner in individual project phases through to general planner or contractor. As an innovative provider of complex, integrated solutions, Glatt advises on, plans and implements projects worldwide – from the expansion or modernisation of existing production facilities to the construction of entire new factory plants. The integrated service concept promises sustainable process and factory planning with cross-industry plant engineering, adapted to customers’ individual technology requirements with in-house process engineering or licensed solutions, supplemented by services for rapid market access.
As a pioneer in fluid bed and spouted bed technology, as well as patented powder synthesis in a pulsating gas stream, Glatt has many years of experience in pioneering process solutions for drying and spray granulation of liquids containing solids, instantisation by spray agglomeration of powders, micro- and matrix encapsulation of active ingredients, synthesis of novel powder systems by spray calcination, and coating/core-shell of nanoscale particles down to grain sizes in the millimetre range.
Through global demand and an excellent scientific network, the plant engineering company is researching the materials and production processes of the future. Glatt is a member of various regional innovation initiatives funded by the BMBF and maintains close links with scientific institutions, including the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Otto von Gericke University in Magdeburg and the Technical University of Hamburg Harburg. The ministries of economics, state development agencies and investment banks of the eastern German states and Berlin have lauded Glatt Ingenieurtechnik as a champion among engineering companies in eastern Germany. The jury of the business magazine WIRTSCHAFT+MARKT selected Glatt as one of the 150 most innovative companies from seven sectors in 2019.
Sustainability is one of the company’s core values: with its innovative PHOS4green recycling process, Glatt is making a decisive contribution to environmental protection. The vital element phosphorus is recovered from sewage sludge ash and converted into ready-to-use fertilisers. This not only makes domestic phosphate reserves usable, but also provides alternatives to mineral fertilisers – even with reduced heavy metal content. For more visit glatt.com
