| Abstract Scope |
As furnace lining concepts and designs have improved over the last century, the smelter management and maintenance approach has also changed significantly within this period. One of the fundamental approaches that have changed is the view of the furnace lining. In traditional thinking, the lining was viewed as a consumable with unpredictable service life, but a new and modern idea is to see the furnace lining as equipment that should be maintained. Simply burning through the lining and hoping for the best is no longer acceptable or economically and environmentally viable. To manage and understand the condition of the lining we need data; reliable data that continuously provides knowledge about the thickness and structural integrity of the lining. Throughout the campaign life of a furnace, successful refractory maintenance procedures will ultimately reduce relining costs, furnace downtime, waste disposal volume, and carbon footprint of the smelter. In this paper, I’ll discuss refractory deterioration and furnace refractory related failures, followed by a historical review of furnace and process vessel inspection and monitoring techniques and finally I’ll introduce Risk Based Inspection (RBI) and monitoring maintenance strategy for the furnaces. |