State of the art for prolonging blast furnace campaigns^*

État de l’art et modes opératoires en matière de prolongation de la durée de vie de campagne des hauts-fourneaux

Abstract

The shut down of a large sized blast furnace for a relining period of two to three months results in considerable losses of production. This report discusses the main wear reasons and plant engineering, material-specific and process technology measures to limit the wear progress during a running campaign. The choice of the cooling systems, the refractory materials and the blast furnace design are the main points in the report. Of great importance are the durability of the hearth which at least determines the campaign length, the hot metal flow in combination with the hearth construction and the properties of the charged coke. The influence of the blast furnace productivity on the campaign length will also be discussed.