Between July 27 and October 18, 2024, Wellons.RU LLC carried out works under the project for drying the refractory linings of Direct Reduction Iron (DRI) units as part of the project “Electrometallurgical Complex and Necessary Infrastructure”, namely the drying of refractory linings of transit sections No. 1–8. The works were performed under an EPC contract, including engineering, software development, selection and supply of materials and equipment, as well as direct execution of the technological process of refractory lining drying.
ENGINEERING
Under the contract for refractory lining drying, the specialists of Wellons.RU LLC developed the “Project for Drying the Refractory Linings of Transit Sections” (Stage I) with technical solutions, equipment selection, and graphical documentation. Based on this Project, before starting the actual drying, a Work Execution Plan (WEP) was prepared, including all necessary sections on work organization, technology, industrial safety measures, and other required documentation. This technical package formed the basis for the actual implementation of the drying of refractory linings of transit sections No. 1–8 and other DRI equipment.
Wellons.RU LLC specialists prepared all necessary working drawings for the manufacture of metal structures required for project implementation — such as jigs / scaffolding, upper and lower cover plates with thermal insulation — enabling the customer to fabricate them in-house.
Special mention should be made of the development of dedicated software / an automated control system for the refractory drying process. This program is an in-house development of Wellons.RU LLC and allows the drying process to run fully automatically according to the recommended schedule provided by the refractory manufacturer. The process runs without operator intervention but under visual supervision and manual data entry when parameter adjustments are required. Temperature maintenance, fuel supply, and burner ignition/shutdown are all automatic. This control system minimizes human factor influence and ensures precise adherence to the temperature schedule, including heating rate and holding times.
INSTALLATION WORKS
Works related to the manufacture of metal structures (jigs / scaffolding), fabrication of additional sealing covers / plates to ensure the equipment’s tightness during refractory drying, as well as assembly of these structures, were carried out by specialists of SoyuzTeploStroy LLC in accordance with the previously developed design.
EQUIPMENT
Wellons.RU LLC specialists prepared and commissioned a set of equipment for drying refractory linings, including:
- a two-stage diesel burner with thermal capacity up to 1.2 MW;
- a fuel supply system (1 m³ fuel tank; fine-filter with air vent; set of fuel hoses);
- flue gas and chimney system;
- instrumentation and automation system (temperature sensors / thermocouples; controllers and thermostats; control cabinets and power distribution board);
- software system for automated control of the refractory drying process.
REFRACTORY DRYING PROCESS
Temperature ramp-up is performed according to the refractory drying schedule (as recommended by the refractory manufacturer) using thermocouples installed on the unit during preparatory work.
Compliance with the drying schedule is controlled by the thermocouple showing the maximum temperature (when two or more are installed); others serve as auxiliary or backup sensors.
Burner ignition, temperature ramp rate, and temperature regulation per the recommended schedule are fully automated. The operator’s main tasks in controlling the drying process are:
- selecting the burner operating range with minimal deviation from the manufacturer’s schedule;
- monitoring temperature-plateau holding times;
- setting the temperature ramp rate.
All changes are made by adjusting setpoints in the relevant program sections.
PROCESS CONTROL AND REPORTING
The drying-process program maintains an archive with data export intervals from 1 to 15–30–60 minutes. By agreement with the client, data are typically exported every 15 minutes to reduce report volume without losing accuracy.
Regardless of automated logging, the operator keeps a manual temperature log of the refractory drying process in the prescribed form, recording every hour.
PROJECT SUMMARY
The thoroughly developed project documentation (drying project, work execution plan), auxiliary equipment (jigs, cover plates), properly selected technological equipment (burners, instrumentation and automation), and proprietary software together ensured timely completion of the refractory drying of DRI unit transit sections.
The contract scope for drying refractory linings of transit sections No. 1–8 (Agreement 1) was fully completed. Appendix 1 contains the project portfolio of the transit section drying works.
PROJECT PORTFOLIO – DRYING OF REFRACTORY LININGS, TRANSIT SECTIONS No. 1–8
