NLMK Kaluga, a subsidiary of Russian steelmaker NLMK Group and producer of long steel products for construction, has announced that it will reduce the consumption of refractories by 25 percent due to its new steel-casting ladle with a new wall lining.
According to the company’s statement, the new ladle is designed to transport liquid steel from the steelmaking furnace along the production chain prior to casting. Inside the ladle, a working layer is created - a lining - to reduce heat loss and protect the bucket from the effects of high temperatures when in contact with liquid metal and slag. In addition, previously, NLMK Kaluga’s ladles were lined with refractory bricks, a new technique which uses liquid refractory concrete.
NLMK Kaluga’s director general Sergey Shalyayev stated that the estimated annual economic effect of the project will be about RUB 29.1 million ($494,632).
The new lining will be transferred to all eight steel-casting ladles of the electric steelmaking shop. The project is scheduled to be completed in February 2018.