Long-lived cascade chute to fill blast furnace

The cascade chute is a fail-safe means of conveying materials located at the top of a blast furnace. Raw materials, including heavy hot briquetted iron (HBI), are deposited onto the chute via the transport and conveyance systems to which it is connected. Such materials cause a great deal of abrasion and impact wear.

The chute is equipped with replaceable wearing blocks with 100 mm of KALOCER lining. They act as cushioning for the materials to ensure loading into the centre of the blast furnace beneath. Kalenborn wear protection considerably extends the lifespan of the cascade chute and guarantees fail-safe transport of materials into the furnace.

The project is being implemented by Kalenborn along with a world-leading technology and industrial goods concern which supplies high-quality product and system solutions using steel and other metals for many branches of industry including the vehicle and domestic appliances industries, aerospace, oil and gas businesses.

Manufacture of iron from iron ore is usually accomplished by means of a blast furnace, in which liquid pig iron is created using a continuous reduction and smelting process. The blast furnace is fed centrally via the cascade chute with pieces of iron ore in the form of chunks, pellets or sinter, along with coke to act as the reducing agent and other materials, such as limestone or slag-forming flux. Major abrasion and impact wear is caused in particular by the hot briquetted iron (HBI).

The wearing blocks in the cascade chute had previously been lined with 25 mm of ceramic material and were secured in place by means of bolts and stoppers. The ceramic, however, would break with the impact of the transported materials on the cascade chute. The client was seeking improved wear protection, not least in order to cope with increased quantities of HBI and to ensure fail-safe and long-lasting material conveyance to the blast furnace.

The Kalenborn experts therefore lined the wearing blocks in the cascade chute with the oxide ceramic KALOCER to a thickness of 100 mm, since this not only offers extreme resistance to abrasion and impact wear but also provides a smooth surface for good conveyance of the materials. To attach the ceramic to the blocks, KALFIX adhesive was used and the blocks themselves were then screwed to the chute with the help of brackets.

With this departure from standard wear protection towards a customer and application-specific solution, it became possible to meet the demands for a cascade chute which would last for a long time to come.

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