According to Magneco/Metrel, the world’s largest blast furnace began production following installation of nearly 2,500 tons of the company’s Metpump refractories. The silica-bonded pumpable refractories provide lining for the new 5,500-cubic-meter working volume furnace, which is operated by Shougang Jingtang United Iron and Steel in Caofeidan, Hebei Province, China. It has a capacity of more than 5 million tons/year. Under terms of the agreement, Magneco/Metrel is providing and installing various formulations of its Metpump products to match the range of specifications required within the new blast furnace.
Designed to produce up to 14,000 tons/day of pig iron, the stave-cooled furnace vessel is approximately 50 meters high with an internal hearth-lining diameter of 15.5 meters. Magneco/Metrel’s line of Metpump refractory products are produced with advanced colloidal silica, Sol-Gel bonded, no-cement materials that can be easily and quickly applied by spray-on pumping, pouring into place or by pneumatic shotcreting.