Patent ID: 8235710

Claim:
An apparatus for the continuous catalytic removal of binder from metallic and/or ceramic shaped bodies produced by powder injection molding, the apparatus comprising: a binder removal furnace through which the shaped bodies are passed in a transport direction, the furnace being adapted to bring the shaped bodies to a suitable process temperature; a feed facility adapted to introduce a process gas into the binder removal furnace, the process gas comprising a reactant and being adapted to aid in binder removal; at least one facility adapted to introduce a protective gas into a reaction space of the binder removal furnace; a flare adapted to burn gaseous reaction products resulting from binder removal; a transport belt adapted to transport the shaped bodies through the binder removal furnace, wherein the transport belt includes forward and return transport directions, the two directions being separated from one another by a gas-impermeable metal sheet within the binder removal furnace, wherein the gas-impermeable metal sheet minimizes a short-circuit stream of the process gas, wherein the shaped bodies rest on transport boxes having a gas-permeable bottom and gas-permeable sidewalls, and wherein between two transport boxes following in transport direction a perforated partition is provided; and one or more devices, adapted to direct flow of the process gas through the transport boxes transversely to the transport direction, comprising guide plates that are adapted to produce a largely vertically directed flow of the process gas.