Vacuuming, separating, clarifying: disposal technology from Müller

As one of the German market leaders for disposal technology Müller Umwelttechnik employs 175 people and has obtained its safety valves from HEROSE for five years now.

Whether Canalmaster or Pipemaster, simply the names of their special vehicles indicate the main field in which Müller Umwelttechnik is active: wet waste disposal, sewer cleaning and pipe shut-off technology. The family business employs about 175 employees in tranquil Schieder Schwalenberg between the Teutoburg Forest and Weserbergland. The company celebrated its 60th birthday on 1 June. For about five years, HEROSE has been a regular supplier of safety valves.

Disposal technology is by far Müller’s largest business unit. Due to the variety of disposal tasks in sewage and sink trap cleaning, in pit and tank emptying, industrial cleaning, petrol and oil deposit cleaning, etc., Müller generally does not manufacture wet waste disposal vehicles in series; rather, it mainly manufactures them according to individual cutomer’s requirements, taking into account approved components with various capacities, sizes and equipment. Since its foundation, the company has produced about 4,000 vehicles. Exports account for about 30 %; the ratio between municipal and private customers is 50 : 50. The Müller Umwelttechnik product system is characterised by a high number of self-developed components.

Shell construction inspection

Tour of the company premises with Mohammed Abdel Rahim, Müller’s production
manager. The 30-year-old industrial engineer knows the vehicles that are produced in the workshops as if they were his own children: “That one is going to Norway, that one to Hannover and the one back there to Croatia.” Rahim explains Müller’s success as one of the market leaders in Germany. “Of course, on the one hand we deliver top quality. Our vehicles simply must not break down; this can be decisive for business survival, especially for private companies. On the other hand, we also offer our customers an very unusual service – shell construction inspection. This sometimes results in emergency engineers’ meetings,” explains Rahim with a smile, “but we just have to put up with that and we also love to do it.”

With regard to Müller shell construction inspection, it is important to note that the vehicles are already 70 % complete, but customers can still submit change requests – even extremely large ones. Production manager Rahim: “Sometimes we have to completely replan everything.” The delivery time for Müller vehicles is currently three months. A team is always comprised of three employees “depending on the complexity of the order”, and the team “fully assembles” a vehicle, as the experts say. Three Type 06217 HEROSE valves unmistakably protrude from above behind the driving cab of the Canalmaster in front of us, which will be sent to the paint shop in the next few hours to be given the typical Müller orange colour. The vehicle is a so-called Canalmaster with a water treatment system. In these vehicles, the wet sludge sucked up into the tank is separated into its components parts: water and sand. Rahim: “Because the extracted water can instantly be reused in the ongoing flushing, the transport dimensions are smaller – the vehicle can wait longer before it needs to be emptied and can be used for a longer period of time.” A discharge plunger is used to separate sand and dirt and for the subsequent discharge of the material outside the vehicle.

0.5 bar pressure

Rahim: “The pressure behind this plunger which pushes it forward is 0.5 bar. If, for example, a stone causes the plunger to tilt, the pressure behind it could significantly increase in a very short amount of time, which would turn the plunger into a deadly bullet that could easily break through the vehicle’s steel tank.” To keep this from happening, each vehicle is equipped with three HEROSE safety valves as a safeguard against excess suction which immediately directs any excess pressure to the outside of the vehicle. Why does Müller like to work with HEROSE products? Production manager Rahim: “Firstly because the quality of the products is excellent. This is extremely important to us, especially for a component which under certain circumstances can save lives. HEROSE always adheres to the arranged delivery dates and is highly flexible whenever we have a special request.”

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Photos: Müller Umwelttechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Carsten Wurr