Commissioned research

VDZ’s many years of experience in the fields of research and technical consulting as well as our close ties to industrial practice make us your reliable partner for contract research. We offer professional and integrated consultation, support and execution of R&D projects. Alongside partners from the building materials industries, VDZ also collaborates with industry partners from related fields, for example energy companies or the steel industry, as well as with universities.

From drafting approaches and test planning to execution of complete commissioned R&D projects to obtainment of official grants – VDZ is your reliable partner for your project.

Besides publicly funded research projects, VDZ has also conducted many commissioned research projects, including:

• Investigations of low-chromate cements and their production
• Manufacturer research on the effects of grinding aids in continuous mill operation
• Size reduction and improvement of alternative fuels
  (e.g. bio-pellets and domestic waste)
• Trial grinding of clinker and/or other primary cement constituents into cement
• Trial grinding as part of grinding-plant optimisation
• Trial grinding as part of developing new innovative binders
• Classifier trials
• Process simulation for high-temperature processes and comminution plants
• Trials for optimising alternative fuels
• Trials for emissions reduction
• Studies on the production and use of calcined clays

Accurate and meticulous project planning is of superior importance when pursuing top-quality research results or development projects. VDZ’s interdisciplinary scientific workforce will advise you from definition of project goals all the way through the entire test planning.

Early consideration of all required target variables while taking into account the boundary conditions can present a substantial workload. This can be tackled using common test planning methods (e.g. Ishikawa fishbone diagram). Unlike frequently adopted “one-factor-at-a-time” approaches, statistical test planning is capable of significantly reducing test workloads and thus the inherent costs. It can indicate mutual effects (and disruptions) of test parameters on each other at an early stage. Statistical planning thus offers considerable benefits in terms of results quality and execution efficiency. Besides the pure test planning, cost estimates and workload estimates can also be compiled.

The close collaboration between VDZ’s laboratories and pilot technology centres and the interdisciplinary scientific support is reflected in the high quality of the research results. Short paths between the scientific disciplines facilitate rapid and targeted action to overcome even unanticipated issues.

In addition to planning and execution, VDZ will also gladly handle project coordination for projects involving several project partners (e.g. joint research). Whether tests have been conducted by third parties or by VDZ, the results can be evaluated and summarised. Numerous common methods are available to do so (such as statistical test evaluation).