No6 Blast Furnace, Port Kembla Australia, was commissioned in 1996. During 2000, problems were experienced with gassing of 62 Stove. Remote internal camera inspections showed some signs of deterioration of endwall brickwork in the ceramic burner. Internal visual inspections in October 2000 revealed imminent collapse of burner endwalls. Business conditions would not tolerate the production losses that would have been associated with a conventional cold repair. The imminent need of the repair also precluded replacement of the entire burner. Innovative solutions were developed to allow the repair to be conducted in the hot condition. A newly developed refractory material was selected after a process of careful evaluation. The repair was completed in December 2000, just 8 weeks after the discovery of the extent of damage. The repair was completed in 6 days where a conventional cold repair would have taken up to 40 days. The results have been excellent.
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