Mr. Karsten Fischer, Fischer Consulting, GERMANY

The objective for the brake pad industry in near future is to be CO2 neutral by producing brake pads, which are made of thermoset compounds. Reduction of carbon dioxide pollution requires a reduction in energy demand; especially the usage of fossil fuels needs to minimize; the generation and usage of renewable electrical energy is mandatory and without any alternatives;

On the other hand, it is necessary to consider that Friction Material Production is a chemical process with temperature; a defined energy amount is requested to enables the cross-linked reaction of phenolic resin matrix;

Whatever we like to do to improve the energy efficiency, the product properties need to meet the customer requirements!

That may seem to be a contradiction, but we must find some realistic ways to slow down energy demand to produce brake pads;

In this paper, I report on possible fields of improvements concerning energy demand reduction. Manufacturing Lines for production of friction pads made of thermoset compounds are equipped with 4 process steps with temperature. Based on this fact, I suggest combining processes with temperature and in doing so to reduce numbers of process steps and consequently to achieve a reduction in energy demand.

A crucial factor concerning CO2 pollution is the usage of thermic afterburner keeping the emissions of reaction gas within the legal limits. Thermic afterburner is using natural gas which is a fossil fuel. The combustion of fossil fuels creates an additional CO2 pollution which is counterproductive in terms of CO2 footprint improvement. Therefore, a new treatment technology is strongly requested.