Beneficiation and Utilisation of Low Grade Refractory Materials

Abstract

The present production of refractories in India is of the order of 0.75 million tons. These comprise fireclay, alumino silixates, high alumina and basic refractories and refractory cements, mortars, mortars, plastics and castables. Besides these, large tonnages of dead burnt dolomite are produced in many steel plants for fettling and repair of open-hearth and electric arc furnaces or lining L-D vessels. Of the total production of refrac-tories, steel plants consume almost 80%.By and large the refractory manufactures were coping up with the requi-rements of user industries except for the demand of some speciality refractories. However with the changing techn-ology, particularly in steel making, and greater emphasis on purity of refractories the refractory manufacturers find it exceedingly difficult to meet the stringent specifications laid down by the users.