Matteo Carollo

Abstract:

The article concerns the most recent and innovative aspects of the engineering of Kivcet furnace, utilized as lead smelter. Some of these details have already been tried on the working plants; others are in a studying phase. The four main topics examined in the article are: •The hearth of the furnace, especially with reference to the design, to the refractory materials and to skew backs with the contrast springs •The water cooled copper jackets with particular reference to the necessary tests for their acceptability, to refractory tiles of protection and to heat fluxes that can be reached in the different zones of the furnace •The sulphurous gas boiler and electrothermic gas boiler with particular reference to the design, cleaning devices and to protection against corrosion of the heat transfer surfaces •The lead tapping copper jackets especially with reference to design of the tapping block and its protection with refractory lining; besides it will be described and highlighted the necessity of mounting a tapping machine with a continuous control of the temperatures of the copper jackets to monitor possible conditions of wear and so of possible danger. Also with the implementation of these executive details, the Kivcet furnace, utilized as lead smelter, has reached a very good operative reliability and an interval from big maintenance between 2,5 and 3 years.