Cement & Mineral Processing

Nose ring, bullnose and cooler curb refractories perform to their optimum design capability when preheated with the Hotwork system.  The Hotwork process helps prevent premature refractory failure by eliminating localized overheating and thermal shock during initial dryout and preheating.  Refractory manufacturers endorse the convective drying process for all plastic, gunned and cast refractories in every part of the cement plant that contains refractory.  Heat from this high capacity system is often used to operate a raw mill for testing or production.

Refractory Dryout & Heatup

Hotwork is the pioneer of the convective heating process, which simplifies refractory dryouts and heatups.  The one-sided drying of monolithic refractories is an extremely complex transient heat and mass transfer phenomenon which includes chemical reactions throughout the dryout.  Moisture trapped in a refractory lining after a furnace or vessel rebuild is especially detrimental to optimum refractory performance.

Hotwork's convective heating method utilizes rapid heat transfer at all temperature levels.  Our patented burners produce high velocity combustion, which is accurately controlled from ambient to temperatures in excess of 2500°F (1370°C).  This high discharge rate circulates the products of combustion evenly throughout the vessel, regardless of size and configuration, producing overall temperature uniformity.  The process results in fast, even moisture removal across the entire refractory lining allowing rapid furnace startups.

Hotwork has successfully completed dryouts and heatups on: