A new dimension of cleanness

The company has an export quota of 95 % and there are AGRU customers all over the world. This is the reason why AGRU products have been issued 190 country-specific approvals for supply /disposal, storage and transportation of everything from hazardous substances to ultra-pure media. The specifications for all these approvals are stringent, so the industry leader from Upper Austria processes only top-grade thermoplastic polymers in state-of-the-art production facilities. After 1½ years of construction, AGRU has just opened a thoroughly state-of-the-art cleanroom facility for manufacturing PURAD, the piping system for ultra-pure media.

PURAD piping systems for ultra-pure media are used for high-tech applications in the semiconductor, life-sciences, foodstuffs, petrochemical and photovoltaic industries. Uncompromising quality, outstanding customer benefit and high operational dependability are the characteristics of PURAD. Whenever excellent anti-leaching properties and high chemicals resistance are essential, PURAD is the first choice.
Requirements differ from application to application, so PURAD products are manufactured from different thermoplastic polymers selected for their specific advantages. PVDF UHP is ideal for the 'transport of ultra-pure-refined media' high-end application. PURAD pipes in PP-Pure and Polypure are the best alternative for the transport of all other highly purified media. 

Access to the cleanroom is through a succession of hierarchical zones in which cleanroom classification rises from zone to zone. Access to the cleanroom itself is possibly only through personnel and materials airlocks, and protective clothing must be worn. Powerful airflows inside the airlocks cause entrapped particles to swirl free, so that they can be extracted into a filter to prevent the ingress of foreign matter from outside. The AGRU specialists cleared to work inside the cleanroom wear protective oversuits, masks, gloves and overshoes to protect the products from contamination.

A laminar air flow is maintained inside the cleanroom at all times to ensure maximum freedom from dust. This flow is a steady current of low-turbulence air directed from the ceiling to the floor and effectively acting like a vacuum cleaner. The air entering at ceiling level is immediately extracted through the perforated raised floor, re-purified and returned to the overhead injectors. So dust can never build up inside the room or collect on the floor, and the interior air remains sterile. The entire volume of air inside the room is recirculated about every two minutes.

PURAD pipes for ultra-pure media-retaining lines are hallmarked by uncompromising precision, cleanness and durability. In this respect, functionality and cost-effectiveness are two sides of the same coin. The extruded stock with diameters between 16 and 315 mm is produced on multiple extrusion lines housed on the ground-floor level of the new facility. Surface roughness, diameter, section thickness, length and cleanness are monitored continuously in a battery of precisely defined quality tests. Special extrusion systems and innovative production technology are the key to a clear technological lead. Additionally, the process data of each system part manufactured are logged by means of the batch number. This ensures 100 % traceability over many years.

PURAD fittings, valves and flanges are manufactured by AGRU on specially designed injection-moulding machines in three-shift operation in highly sophisticated processes using state-of-the-art injection-moulding techniques. The installed capacity in extrusion and injection moulding corresponds to an increase of about 30 % over the company's former cleanroom production capability. The raw material, PVDF UHP granulate, is stored in a dedicated storage facility in the new production plant. As in finished-goods storage, here too the incoming inspections are stringent and removal from stock is strictly in accordance with the first-in first-out (FIFO) principle.

For a standard of cleanness unparalleled elsewhere in the industry, AGRU has also invested in a new ultrasonic washing facility. Before being packaged, the ultra-clean PURAD components are washed with ultra-pure water and special tensides at a temperature of 70 degrees centigrade. With a system of hermetic double packaging, AGRU preserves this standard of cleanness in products destined for customers all over the world. The PURAD piping systems are stored in fully automated high-stacking stores of impressive capacity. For high-purity fittings and valves there are 2500 storage bays and 100,000 running metres of PURAD piping are always in stock. This extensive stocking of standard products and the high-efficiency global logistics network ensure outstanding delivery capability. 

No-one can gauge the quality of a product better than the manufacturer. So in plant 5, where outstanding quality and operational dependability are what count, AGRU has installed only piping systems it has manufactured itself. The compressed-air system uses AGRUAIR piping, which has an ISO class 7 rating for ultra-pure air. AGRUSAN is the product of choice for the hot-water piping in the heating system. AGRU uses its PE 100-RC AGRULINE system to pipe cooling water, drinking water, wastewater and gas into and out of the facility.

One major challenge while construction was in progress was to make sure that plant traffic could be maintained unimpeded. And working to a tight schedule, the site crew also had to contend with subsoil conditions that required some 400 piles to be driven to stabilise the ground. The celebrations marking the opening of the new cleanroom facility took place on time on June 09, 2016, to the full satisfaction of the Gruber family, owners of AGRU. The opening ceremony was held in an event framework that included guided tours of the plant and was attended by customers and business partners who travelled to Bad Hall specifically to help mark the occasion. An impressive sign of the high esteem in which they hold AGRU – the plastics experts.