Hearth Products

Alumina Corundum Sialon Bond

Blast furnace hearths are traditionally lined with high thermal conductive carbon-based materials.

Saint-Gobain Performance Ceramics & Refractories' Ceramic Cup is widely recognized as the ideal design for the hearth, typically providing over 9 years' service life alongside significant energy savings.

Detailed feedback from users has shown that the “Coranit®” grade wears very gradually over the lifetime of the hearth. 400 mm thickness of Ceramic Cup wall has been shown to last 9 years or more. After the Ceramic Cup has worn, the carbon then wears quite rapidly until an equilibrium is reached whereby the hot face is sufficiently cooled to allow a self-protecting “skull” to form.

 

Lifetime of the hearth can be increased even more using up to 600 mm Ceramic Cup wall thickness and the 3rd generation Coranit® SlagR.

Materials Solutions
Blast Furnace Area Materials Solutions
Upper stack Refrax® 20 SBF
Nitride bonded Silicon Carbide
SiC 85P
Silicon Carbide Base
 
Lower stack Sicanit Al3
Silicon Carbide Base Sialon Bond
Refrax® 20 SBF
Nitride bonded Silicon Carbide
 
Bosh and Belly Sicanit Al3
Silicon Carbide Base Sialon Bond
Refrax® 20 SBF
Nitride bonded Silicon Carbide
Coranit® 3S
High Alumina Corundum Sialon bond
Low thermal conductivity
Mortar 336
Tuyere belt MonoCoral
High Alumina
Precast Ultra-Low Cement

 

MonoGuard
High Alumina
Precast no cement
Sicanit TB
Silicon Carbide Base Sialon Bond
Hearth Coranit® AL
High Alumina Corundum Sialon bond
Coranit® SlagR
High Alumina Corundum Sialon bond
3rd generation
 
Ceramic Pad MS4F
High Alumina
   
References
Quantity of Reference Materials Date
15 MonoCHROMCOR Since 1984
27 MonoCORAL Since 1985
17 CORANIT® Since 1991
34 CORANIT® AL Since 2002
4 CORANIT® SlagR Since 2018

FAQ

How can Ceramic Cup help to save CO2 emissions and lower coke/energy consumption?

Saint-Gobain’s third generation Ceramic Cup quality Coranit SlagR has improved resistance to iron, slag alkali corrosion and wears very gradually over the lifetime of the hearth.
With its insulating effect compared to a pure carbon hearth the Ceramic Cup reduces the coke consumption and the CO2 emission at the same time.
With the CO2 certificate trading already existing in Europe and for other regions/countries to come (e.g. China*) the money saving effect will become a more and more important factor.

The key result is a constant increase of the price per ton of CO2 emissions - in one year the price per ton has more than doubled.1

Total CO2 Savings 65KT                                       Total Coke Savings 20KT

Saint-Gobain’s 3rd generation Ceramic Cup quality Coranit SlagR has improved resistance to iron, slag alkali corrosion and wears very gradually over the lifetime of the hearth.

Graph: Case study calculated on an existing blast furnace with ceramic cup (hearth diameter 11m) 

1www.ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets_en

How can the Ceramic Cup in Coranit SlagR extend the hearth wall lifetime?

The Coranit® Ceramic Cups wear very gradually over the lifetime of the hearth and is the first life of the hearth. After it is worn second hearth life with carbon wall lining continues.
The second generation Ceramic Cup quality Coranit AL with its 34 references over the last 20 years was proven to last >10 years.
Saint-Gobain’s third generation Ceramic Cup quality Coranit
® SlagR has improved resistance to iron, slag alkali corrosion and is expected to last an additional two - three years compared to its predecessor Coranit® AL.

Documents

Brochures & Flyers
Ironmaking Ceramic Cup Savings

Coranit AL extends hearth wall life by approximately 10 years, our latest development is expected to increase hearth wall life by a further 2 to 3 years.

PDF | 243.96 KB
Ironmaking Ceramic Cup Savings
Brochures & Flyers
Ironmaking Blast Furnace

Crude steel production begins with the reduction process, whereby iron ore reacts with carbon sources inside the blast furnace. It is imperative that

PDF | 1.24 MB
Ironmaking Blast Furnace
Brochures & Flyers
Ironmaking Coranit Ceramic Cup

Ironmaking production begins with the reduction process, where the iron ore reacts with the carbon sources (coke) inside the blast furnace.

PDF | 845.39 KB
Ironmaking Coranit Ceramic Cup