Avoidance of Hazardous Substances via Low-Emission MgO-C Technology Shown With the Example of a Ladle Lining Refractory

摘要

With increasing focus on health and environmental issues associated with steel production, refractory material suppliers have been put to the challenge of improving ecological aspects of MgO-C bricks.Over the last decades, magnesia carbon refractories have been used in steel producing aggregates with great success owing to their unique properties in terms of excellent slag corrosion and thermal shock resistance, high refractoriness as well as low thermal expansion [1-3]. Since the advent of MgO-C based refractories in the late 1970s and early 1980s there has been a debate on the principles of the two major bonding systems used for this kind of high temperature materials [4,5]. In those days, the development of pitch bonding technology was mainly based in Europe, while refractory production using synthetic phenol-formaldehyde resins predominantly goes back to the work of Japanese material scientists and product developers [5].The general differences and similarities of resin and pitch bonding for basic refractories are discussed in terms of production and application; special emphasis is put on emission topics and environmental issues. Concerning the emission of organic and inorganic substances, a direct comparison between resin and pitch technology as well as recent developments in this field are presented and discussed under health, safety, environmental and economic aspects.