COMPANY HISTORY
Brief history
Thermojet began in the year 2000, when the engineer and entrepreneur Ricardo Leite Passos gathered a group of colleagues to acquire the Special Heating and Cooling Division of the company Brasimet, where they worked. The colleagues became partners. They brought with them a remote history, from the Lindberg company, which in 1977 had introduced convective heating in South America, and had been incorporated by Brasimet.
By the time of its foundation, Thermojet primarily served lass and steel industries, offering thermal input at the start-up and shutdown, with a heating characterized by the equalization of temperatures over long stretches and high thermal uniformity, far superior to that provided by the then known methods.
Born with the excellence of the companies from which it originated, Thermojet grew at a rapid pace, doubling annually in size in each of its first 10 years. Meanwhile, it began to carry out major works in plants with a capacity of tens of millions of tons per year, which it attends in an agile way with its more than 250 combustion sets.
Simultaneously, Thermojet extended its portfolio to offer a variety of solutions in Thermal Engineering, such as the preservation of refractories, mobile system for monitored oxyfuel combustion and simulation, among others.
In 2005, Thermojet filed its first patent application. It thus formalized the innovative vocation that continues to this day, materialized in a division specially dedicated to the development of technology, Æstus, which has among its products the development of the software COBRA for the management of refractory preservation in coking plants, efficient heating and cooling stations, and the consistent patent registration of burners and auxiliary devices, as a result of R&I investments amounting to 2% of revenue.
In 2014, through the incorporation of Brazilian national leader 4Pipe, Thermojet Group's portfolio integrated products and services for cleaning and inspection of pipelines.
At present Thermojet features a vast history of services for industries in various segments throughout South America, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as operations in China and the partnership with Glass Service, based in the Czech Republic, which has developed and used since 1990 a computational fluid dynamics software, CFD, refined in the simulation of refracted equipment.
Timeline
Combustion engineer Trevor Ward develops a high-speed, convective heating burner in the United Kingdom. The method is highlighted by the uniformity of temperatures provided, especially favourable to the drying of refracted units. In 1962, Mr. Ward founds Hotwork Limited UK, whose success leads to the expansion to the Americas and the founding in 1965 of Hotwork Inc. in the USA.
Lindberg Corporation, the largest thermal treatment company in the United States, founded a subsidiary in Brazil. It then introduces the convective heating in South America, with licensed technology of the American Hotwork, reference in the drying of refractories.
National parameter in services for steel and aluminium furnaces, Brasimet incorporates Lindberg do Brasil. In the same year, it becomes its largest shareholder the German Degussa AG, current Evonik, one of the world leaders in the market of chemical specialties.
Degussa resolves its metallurgy business worldwide and sells its stake in Brasimet to Brazilian partners.
As part of a business strategy, the Special Heating and Cooling Division is dismantled from Brasimet and acquired by employees, setting the foundation of Thermojet do Brasil Ltda. Thermojet then assumes all the technical assets, team of specialists and technological partnerships cultivated since the end of the 70s by Lindberg and Brasimet.
Thermojet expands its borders, performing services in diverse nationalities of South America, Central America and the Caribbean and applying its technology in partnership with RASA, current Magnesita.
Thermojet makes the deposit of its first patent, formalizing the innovative vocation that remains today with the consistent patenting of burners and auxiliary devices to the most diverse services in Thermal Engineering, as a result of R&I investments amounting to 2% of revenue.
Thermojet performs the drying and heating of Sol Coqueria Tubarão, totalling 320 ovens. Thenceforth it consolidates as the most experienced company in the thermal input to the start-up of coke batteries in Brazil, counting today with a history of initial heating of more than 1,000 ovens, by-product and heat recovery.
In the same year, Thermojet crosses the Atlantic and establishes a technology partnership and service representation of Glass Service. Headquartered in the Czech Republic and a global reference in advanced solutions for the glass industry, it stands out for the pioneering in CFD simulation, in which it operates since its foundation in 1990.
Thermojet Colômbia is founded.
Thermojet Argentina is founded.
Æstus Industrial Solutions is founded, a division specially dedicated to the development of technology.
Thermojet do Brasil moves to its own headquarters in Pindamonhangaba | SP, strategic location of quick access to the largest productive centres in Brazil.
Thermojet extends its scope of services, and also works in the area of cleaning and inspection of pipelines, incorporating 10 years of experience of the leading company, 4Pipe.
Thermojet International is founded at the strategic location of Cartagena de Indias, bringing gains in logistic agility to the Thermojet Group. In the same year, the Thermojet China unit is implanted.
Thermojet continues to lead the way in the generation of sustainable, high-performance, innovative solutions in Thermal Engineering products and services in South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Having seeded its portfolio from the drying and heating of refractories, it now also offers services such as controlled cooling, thermal comfort and refractory preservation, among others.
With a history of more than 10,000 services, executed for customers in virtually all segments of the base industry and some consumer goods industries, it continues to seek business expansion around the world.