Industrial manufacturing has slowed dramatically with plants closing or reducing operations to the lowest levels ever seen. As the situation grows ever more challenging, companies tend to focus on short-term decision-making and react instinctively; shopping for the lowest-priced solution, believing that is the right approach. Often that may be the right approach, but in the case of refractory materials, tackling today’s challenges from a different perspective may uncover a better solution.
Companies are now operating plants at less than 100% capacity. Furnaces are shut down or operated fewer days of the week, production shifts are eliminated, and in extreme cases, plants are closed and production is moved to another location. When we talk to these customers they all speak of operating at X% of production, where X is significantly less than 100.
This statement sounds true yet it may disguise an opportunity to make decisions that yield a better result.
Take the case of a secondary aluminum plant. The production superintendent states that he shut down one of two furnaces and is operating at 50% production. What he really meant to say was that the plant was running at 50% capacity to achieve 100% production. Of course, the one operating furnace is running at 100% capacity! This scenario seems obvious, however decisions are made on the belief that the plant is operating at 50% production and lost production time is not a factor. The reality is the furnace that is operating probably needs to be running at 100% and lost production time IS a factor.
When faced with furnace refractory repairs in this situation, should any of that production be sacrificed? Does Thermbond enable the plant to minimize production down time more economically than using conventional refractory? In tough economic times, these questions are worth exploring more deeply as they might bring forth surprising answers.
Testimonial from an engineer specialist in the Petrochemical industry:
"We have successfully used Thermbond Formula 6B for ethylene cracking furnace burner tile for over 15 years. A great improvement in tile life was a very positive result... We have seen very good results with Formula 12L in our FCCU cracking risers, flue gas line downstream of our quench water sprays, tertiary separator inlet plenum, and tertiary separator cyclones since 2003.... We appreciate all the guidance and technical help you have given us over the years to help us improve performance in our facility. We plan to include Thermbond products on our approved refractory materials list for a long time to come."
New Thermbond Application in the Cement Industry
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Sales Manager, Mexico, Caribbean
and Latin America, William O'Connell |
Last month, we featured an application report for the Cement Industry utilizing Thermbond for the burner pipe and entrance to the outlet rings in satellite coolers. Our European installation manager, Burckhard Vitt reported 15-18 months of service from the burner pipe that "usually" only lasts 9-12 months.
Thanks to the success of that application, two major cement plants in Mexico are now evaluating Thermbond for use in some of the critical areas of the process, i.e. nose ring, burner tube, riser, tertiary air duct, & the cyclones. Through a local Stellar Distributor, they placed an order for 480 units of Thermbond material.
Stellar Materials' Latin American Sales Manager, William O'Connell was on-site at one of the cement plants and at the corporate offices of the other plant in February, to promote Thermbond. The trial installation is scheduled for March. Bill said, "I expect Thermbond to provide substantially better service than the installation of conventional low and ultra low cement castables or high alumina phos-bonded plastics."
Stellar's special high abrasion-resistant Formula 2104-L is scheduled to be installed in the nose ring, burner pipe and riser duct. These areas also suffer severe thermal shock, due to the secondary air coming from the cooler, and passage of the cement clinker over the nose ring as it is being discharged from the kiln. The entrance or down chute to the cooler and firing hood also experience these same conditions of high abrasion and thermal shock.
They intend to use Formula 4-L and Formula 5-L for the entrance chute, sidewalls and curb areas of the grate cooler and the upper areas of the riser. They also expressed strong interest in applying Formula 6-AG, a Thermbond gunning material, as a veneer in the cyclones, to eliminate the build up of alkali dust & raw material feed on the vessel side walls. Thermbond refractory castables have the ability to chemically bond and adhere to existing pre-fired refractories whether they be alumina brick, castables or plastics. This unique chemical bond of Thermbond will inherently resist adherence of the raw meal in this application.
Due to the quick chemical set and no prolonged heat cure, Thermbond allows for shorter turnarounds to do critical repairs in areas experiencing a reduced service cycle.
Look for a follow-up report on this application in a future Thermbond Bulletin. We look forward to Thermbond's use in many more Cement Plant applications and the Rock Products Industry.
Thermbond Workshops
In 2007 and 2008, Stellar Materials presented two very successful Thermbond Workshops. Topics covered included:
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Refractories 201 and 301 (advanced technical sessions), presented by Jens Decker, VP Engineering
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Thermbond advantages in HPI, Aluminium, Waste Incineration and Boilers, presented by Thermbond market specialists
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Thermbond installation and equipment
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Thermbond manufacturing, production and quality control
The workshops were held at our Michigan manufacturing facility and also included a plant tour and a gunning demonstration. Everyone had a great time and learned valuable information about Thermbond. It was an excellent opportunity to share knowledge and interact with Stellar employees, customers, contractors and distributors from around the world.
Stellar is planning another workshop this fall. If you are interested in attending an upcoming Thermbond Workshops in Whitmore Lake, Michigan, please email our Marketing Coordinator at ashley.garcia@thermbond.com .
Your input is very important to us. We welcome your comments and suggestions regarding workshop topics and activities.
We look forward to hearing from you, and we hope to see you at a future workshop!
A special offer to you from Stellar's Marketing Department:
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