Use of Synthetic Titanium Products for Protection of the Hearth of Rogesa Blast Furnaces

Abstract

The company Roheisengesellschaft Saar (ROGESA) is a joint venture of the AG of Dillinger Huettenwerke, the major European heavy plate producer, and Saarstahl AG, one of the most important manufacturer of long products in the world. In order to cope with increasing demand of the hot metal from both steel shops on one hand, and simultaneously increasing pressure on hot metal cost reduction, on the other hand, ROGESA had decided to enlarge No. 5 blast furnace during the relining in 1997. Its inner volume was increased to 3,067 m³ and its hearth diameter up to 12 m. Due to the geometric change, the hearth lining and the cooling system had to be newly designed. After around 8 years in operation, serious wear was detected in the hearth lining and a part of the shaft cooling. Consequently, an interim repair was necessary and carried out in the period of Dec 05/Jan 06. This paper describes the wear conditions of No. 5 blast furnace after its enlargement with focus on experiences by applying adequate measures against short-term temperature increase, especially use of titanium bearing materials. The here presented paper is a common report from Rogesa, Sachtleben Chemie GmbH (Duisburg) and the GSR (Moers).