Title

NOVAS TECNOLOGIAS em STAVES DE COBRE

THE NEW CUSTOMIZED COPPER STAVES TECHNOLOGY

Authorship

Kinzel, Klaus-Peter; Gruiter, Christian de; Maggioli, Nicolas; Oliveira, André

Kinzel, Klaus-Peter

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Gruiter, Christian de

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Maggioli, Nicolas

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Oliveira, André

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DOI

10.5151/2594-357X-30561

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Abstract

Staves Coolers de cobre proporcionaram uma excelente proteção da carcaça do alto-forno em áreas de alta temperatura. Isso resultou para que os operadores de alto-forno alcançassem alto desempenho em termos de produtividade e taxa de combustível, além de campanhas de mais de 15 anos. No entanto, nos últimos anos, alguns altos-fornos experimentaram um desgaste prematuro nos staves de cobre. Algumas dessas empresas se alinharam com Paul Wurth para investigar a causa fundamental desse fenômeno com base em todos os fatores de influência e, em seguida, propor ações corretivas. Estes resultados são discutidos e apresentados a seguir no trabalho técnico.

Copper staves have provided excellent protection of the shell in high heat areas on many blast furnaces. This has resulted in the blast furnace operators achieving high performance in terms of productivity and fuel rate as well as campaigns of more than 15 years. However in recent years, some blast furnaces have experienced severe premature wear of copper staves. Some of these concerned companies have aligned with Paul Wurth to investigate the root cause of this phenomenon based upon all the influencing factors and then propose corrective actions. According to the numerous observations, studies, simulations and analyses performed by Paul Wurth, the root cause of the observed premature failure of copper staves is mechanical abrasion from the descending burden. The design factors as well as the operating conditions have been investigated and new features have been developed in order to cope with this abrasion issue. These new copper stave developments are a large part of the solution which prevents premature wear during detrimental operational periods. The new stave design features have been tested in-situ in some blast furnaces and under accelerated conditions in a scaled down shaft model which has shown promising results. Today this new stave technology is installed successfully in several blast furnaces with close monitoring of the stave conditions. New stave exchange methodologies which make it possible for the copper staves to be exchanged quickly and without having to enter the furnace have been investigated and validated on site. High performance operation together with long campaign lifetimes are thus made possible.

Keywords

Alto-forno, Stave de cobre, Trocador de calor stave, stave

Blast Furnace, Copper Staves, Stave Exchange