Reducing Consumption of Ladle Bricks by Using New Patching Method

by Herry Ruddyana, Rudyanto Sihotang

Publisher - PT. Krakatau Steel Tbk, Indonesia

Category - General Novel

In the last two years, the life time of ladle refractory in Billet Steel Plant was rather short. The average life time of the refractory was 52 heats in 2008, and 53 heats in 2009. Many trials, therefore, are still undergoing to obtain better performance of ladle bricks by using various types and brands of bricks. The Improvement of ladle refractory-lifetime is indeed important since it is related with the cost of refractory consumption. It is clear that the higher refractory life time, the lower refractory consumption cost. One of the methods to increase the ladle refractory life time and reduce its consumption is to carry out new patching method on the refractory bricks. By performing this, the installation design of refractory bricks in ladle of Billet Steel Plant has really changed. As long as the remaining bricks on the ladle floor or wall are still in a good condition, the remaining bricks do not need to be replaced except when the ladle must be re-lined (revetment). Since the application of the improvement, a specific consumption of ladle bricks in 2010 decreased significantly from 4,76 kg/t to 3,36 kg/t.

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