Germany’s Zink Körner shipped a hot-dip galvanizing furnace to Russia’s Omsk Electromechanical Factory. The new furnace has a zinc bath that is 13 meters (42.7 feet) long, 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) wide and 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep. It will be primarily used to galvanize transmission masts and polygonal poles with a zinc coating that will protect the material against corrosion for several decades. The furnace, which weighs 29 tons, will heat some 450 tons of zinc to a temperature of 460°C (860°F). Up to 12.5-meter-long poles will be dipped into the bath of molten zinc.           

The furnace for Omsk is designed for throughput rates of up to 10 tons/hour. It is equipped with 10 flat-flame burners, which Zink Körner specially developed for batch galvanizing furnaces. While using natural gas as fuel, these burners provide the same smooth and mild heating as previously only achievable by electrically heated furnaces. By implementing modulating, infinitely adjustable flat-flame burners, a wall construction with less heat transfer and a novel reflecting refractory coating, this furnace increases the energy efficiency of batch galvanizing.