Exceptional service from rapid turnaround castables at Xstrata Rhovan
Article by Bob Owens - Sales Director - Durocast

Durocast is a fully South African owned and managed company. It is a leading supplier of refractory, corrosion-resistant and specialised building products. Since 1998, it has supplied various clients with a range of rapid heat-up concretes for use in various applications, including direct reduction kilns such as those operated by Mittal Steel. The application of these castables at various plants is testament to their good service record. They have substantially reduced time on the commissioning of these units.

Xstrata's Rhovan Plant is a case in point. At the beginning of 2006, Xstrata installed 170 metric tons of Durapid 65 in the hot zone of their Vanadium Kiln, which required a heat-up schedule of 36 hours to reach their operating temperature. Material was inspected in February 2007 and it was found that the Durapid 65 showed very little wear, and revealed that there was virtually no penetration by the highly corrosive sodium vanadate.

Due to various other operating concerns the Durapid 65 was removed and Xstrata Rhovan purchased another 170metric tons of material which was installed by pumping and vibrating into place. The duration of the installation took 42 hours. It was estimated that the original lining could have remained in service for a far longer period. In fact, if the plant had endured with the original lining, it is believed that they could have optimised the benefits of using the Durocast materials.

The quality and versatility of Durocast products are reflected in the company's vision. Its policy is to work closely with its clients to obtain optimal solutions to their process requirements. The company-accommodating-customer approach also sees them manufacture products to solve more specialised problems wherever necessary. - Durocast For more information visit www.durocast.co.ea or contact Dave Thomas on 0 16 454 0404.
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