Efficient three day demolition of accretion in a kiln at a steel plant in India
Published 22/12, 2024 at 19:58Sunil Sponge is a private limited company belonging to the Sunil Group of Industries, being located in Siltara, near Raipur in the Indian province of Chhattisgarh, in the east central part of India. Sunil Steel and Sunil Sponge have modern state of the art jobbing rolling mills, being well equipped with appropriate and reliable plant and machinery. These conform to stringent process and quality control norms, starting with raw material inspection to finished steel products. The company also produces semi-finished products of iron or non-alloy steel, bar, rods, plates, sheets, etc.
Sometime ago, one of the steel plant’s kilns had to be renovated and the lining taken down. After investigating what method should be chosen, the decision was made to use a new Husqvarna DXR 145 demolition robot to do the job. After careful measurement, it was found that the machine would be able to carry out the demanding job of dismantling the lining of the sponge iron kiln. The kiln measured a maximum of 3,000mm with the opening of the kiln being 1,300mm. The DXR 145 proved to be perfectly designed for confined spaces, having the dimension of 771mm in width, 1,215mm in height and 1,932mm in length. The weight of the machine is 985kg and has a total reach of 3.7m.
Other features of the demolition robot that made the Sunil Sponge management decide to invest included the fact that it is electro hydraulic powered. Also the three part boom flexible system ensured easy movement in the kiln, with this being paramount for the operation as well as the robot’s high power to weight ratio. Another important feature was that the machine is very safe to operate. The operator can be positioned on either side, or behind the machine during operation, thereby mitigating the risk of being hit by falling debris. The robot also provides precise operation as the operator can easily see the actual area of cutting the lining. The particular robot used here was equipped with streel tracks and heat resistant hoses for working in a hot environment.
The job started with that the sponge kiln being shut down on 5 September 2024. It then had to cool down for 48h before the machine could be let in. The thickness of the lining accretion was 700mm to 900mm and the length some 25m to 30m. To demolish the kiln accretion took in total 33h with the job being completed on 9 September 2024. The following day the kiln was lit up again and putback into production.
This type of demolition job has to be done every 100 to 110 days to keep the kiln fit and running properly, with the management of the plant believing that the solution for the job is the Husqvarna DXR 145. A Sunil Sponge plant spokesperson stated that staff were overwhelmed by the performance of the Husqvarna demolition robot. It provided a safe method, as well as very effective and both time and cost saving one.
