Heavy steel engineering company Cyclotherm SA in April installed two 3 t dual-fired steam boilers (Cyclotherm C7000) – which can be fired on gas or light oil – and all ancillary equipment for healthcare company Adcock Ingram’s new high-volume liquid plant in Oliphantsfontein.

Another recent project has seen Cyclotherm SA being awarded a contract to manufacture boilers and supply all ancillary equipment to the Gauteng Department of Health for the upgrading of hospital boilers throughout Gauteng. The department is in the process of remov-ing its old coal-fired boilers and replacing them with new, efficient, cleaner-burning units.

Cyclotherm SA specialises in the manufac-ture of boilers, autoclaves and pressure vessels, built strictly to specific standards and codes, not only for effective functioning but, more importantly, to ensure the safety of people and equipment.

The company continues to add new items to its product line and has no fewer than 18 boiler models that can run on oil, gas, coal or a dual-fired system.

The flexibility of the company’s boiler models extends to a range of fuels, including natural gas, sewage, Sasol product and producer gases, as well as heavy furnace or coal-tar fuels, Sasol waxy oils, diesel, illuminating paraffin or any of the light distillate fuels. In terms of capacity, the boilers range from 235 kg/h to 11 735 kg/h of steam.

“We, as a local manufacturer, with a 45-year track record of boiler installations and an increasing number of autoclave systems, believe in self-evolution and are designing a new system for our boilers. “This fully automated self-monitoring combustion system includes a new economiser technology, which promises to bring about a significant energy saving for users,” says Cyclotherm SA director Mark McJannet.

Though the boiler industry is fast growing, as it provides a cheaper source of heating for primary industry, Cyclotherm SA faces challenges as a local manufacturer, says the company. Fighting against the import of foreign, substandard, cheaper boilers, the impact of the fluctuating rand:dollar cost on imported electrical controls which are not available locally, and the ongoing price increases of raw material are highlighted by Cyclotherm SA.

“For our boiler industry to evolve and remain a high contributor to the economic development of South Africa, we need to address challenges such as the lack of knowl-edge and skills in the industry and ensure the stability of the economy, which will promote foreign investment,” adds McJannet.

Meanwhile, the company is also busy with three 25-tyre autoclaves for the tyre industry and 13 for the rubber industry.

“Lately, we’ve seen an increase in the autoclave market, especially for the tyre manufacturing industry and we have just manufactured several autoclaves of various sizes. “Control technology for autoclaves has changed somewhat over the last couple of years and we’ve included these improvements in our latest designs. “Cyclotherm SA is the preferred supplier for Michelin tyres in South Africa, which indicates the company’s superior design ability and proven record within the tyre industry,” explains McJannet.

Cyclotherm SA has built many autoclaves in the past, but only recently ventured into autoclaves bigger than 2 m in diameter. According to McJannet, the off-the-road tyre industry uses a 3-m-diameter autoclave for the retreading of this type of tyre.

“When we realised that no one else built this size locally, we decided to start working on the design of a larger-diameter autoclave, especially as we already have the manufac-turing capability in-house,” he explains.