Technical session: modern refractory concepts for reheating furnaces

In the middle of May, another important milestone was achieved for Dalmia Seven, the joint venture between Seven Refractories and Dalmia OCL: an educational conference specially dedicated to the topic of Reheating Furnaces. The wide product portfolio, recent technical developments, and the specific competence in the field contributed to the success of the meeting.

The event was part of a larger series of lectures about monolithic refractories for a wide range of applications, such as pellet plants, lime kilns, cement kilns, steel ladles, and of course the iron and steel industry in general. The session about “Modern Refractories Concepts for Reheating Furnaces” was initially prepared for internal audiences, but soon also included clients when the interest in the topic became clear. Broadening the audience was easy: Due to the present social distancing measures in several countries, the meeting was held entirely online with video conferencing technology. In the end, approximately 100 participants joined the event from India, Bangladesh, and other countries in the region.

Giuliano Copetti, Technical Manager with Seven Refractories and since June 2019 appointed Head of Technology with Dalmia Seven, functioned as the key speaker and covered a variety of topics including refractory technology and material selection, technical characteristics of different furnace types, chemical aspects, as well as various solutions and applications.

“We were very pleased with the attendance and the outcome. While the format of the session was certainly new and might have taken some getting used to, it also had obvious advantages: the option to participate from remote locations allowed for a larger audience from several countries”, explains Giuliano Copetti. “Aside from obvious environmental aspects like a much lower carbon footprint due to less travel involved, we were able to reach out to more people and to convey our message of advanced monolithic refractories.”