Longlife Tuyere – New improved blast furnace tuyeres

Initial situation:

• Burning of tuyeres is the most common cause of unplanned shutdowns of blast furnaces
• A total non-productive energy consumption of about 1,500 GJ per stoppage
• High potential for reducing the non-productive energy consumption and the energy losses caused by tuyere damages (~ 1,600 TJ for Germany)

Working topics:

• Development of innovative, tuyere coatings and textures
• Conditioning of tuyere surfaces for producing a lotus-like effect in the high-temperature range (reduced wettability of tuyere surface by HM)
• Development, construction of the new Longlife Tuyeres
• Testing the Longlife Tuyeres at the industrial blast furnace

Results:

• Extension of the life time of blast furnace tuyeres
• Reduction of non-productive energy consumption
• Reduction of CO2 emissions
• Reduction of operating costs