Cutting work for explosion-door frames
May 2016 - De Boer Snijbedrijf cut steel to size for the production of four explosion-door frames for the granulation plant in a blast furnace installation and delivered it to N. Schoenmaker Fabricage en Montage in Castricum. De Boer Snijbedrijf cut the material for the frames from sheet steel (S355J2+N quality) with a 3.1 certificate ranging in thickness from 10 to 25 mm.
In a blast furnace, iron ore and carbon are mixed and heated so that, as a result of a number of chemical reactions, molten iron is produced. A by-product of this process is blast furnace slag or blast furnace granulate: due to the high temperatures, the heavy metal sinks and the remaining oxides, the slag, float on top. This molten slag is poured out into slag beds and it then goes through a runner to a granulation plant where the hot slag is cooled off quickly by spraying it with water. The slag solidifies and is pulverised into wet slag sand.
During the granulation process, some of the cooling water evaporates and hydrogen sulphide gas is formed. That means that there can be explosions during granulation. To limit the impact of explosions of this kind, various rubber explosion doors are located in the top of the runner and in the vapour separator. They open automatically when necessary to reduce the pressure. The explosion doors measure 4500x1900x1600 mm (l x w x h) and they weigh 2000 kg each.