Abstract
The Maringa Group operates 5 Submerged Arc Furnaces (SAF) in Itapeva, Brazil. The company is among the largest producers of manganese alloys in South America. Maringa #5 furnace is a 17 MVA furnace designed by DELP S.A. The original hearth design was made by Magnesita S.A. The furnace start-up was in 1993, and the current daily hot metal production is approximately 80 tons. The furnace has four tap holes, a rotating shell and a shell diameter of 8,5m. The grade produced is currently FeSiMn. After adding water shell cooling and changing the refractory philosophy, the latest furnace campaign started in May of 2019. In its first year, it has showed exceptional operational and lining performance. The wall and bottom lining temperatures are monitored by 72 single thermocouples. In addition, the cooling water temperature increase is monitored. This furnace was rebuilt incorporating the refractory freeze lining technology. Maringa expected that by making this critical change to their furnace they would accomplish a long and trouble-free campaign, with increased production by increased power and inner furnace volume. This well proven refractory concept is used today by several ferroalloy producers and the experiences from this together with the latest technical improvements made to the design will be discussed in this paper. Notable is that this furnace was originally installed using conventional rammed and insulated lining technology, resulting in a furnace campaign life of about 8 years. These experiences will also be described in this paper. It also elaborates on the details of the #5 furnace installation and describes the measures employed to ensure optimum furnace availability.
Published Version
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