Customer case

Hardox® HiTemp reduces maintenance intervals from months to years in coke plant

November 01, 2022 6 min read

A sliding ramp in a coke plant operated by SSAB made in Hardox® HiTemp high-temperature steel.

Case details

Product Hardox® HiTemp

Country Sweden

Company SSAB

Industry Raw material handling

When the SSAB steel mill in Oxelösund, Sweden, was looking for a new heat-resistant material in its coke plant, it didn’t have to look far. The solution was right in front of it: Hardox® HiTemp. SSAB developed this particular grade of Hardox® wear plate for abrasive conditions in high heat environments. And it doesn’t get much hotter than in a steel mill’s coke plant.

Case details

Product Hardox® HiTemp

Country Sweden

Company SSAB

Industry Raw material handling

How Oxelösund benefits

The steel is specially designed for extreme high-temp environments like coke plants
Hardox^® HiTemp outperforms basalt ceramic tiles in sliding ramp, with less cracking and servicing needed
Service life extended
Less maintenance
Safer work environment

Fire in a high-temperature coking environment.

When hit by 1.000°C (1,832°F) coke, Hardox^® HiTemp is up to the challenge

1.000 tonnes (1,102 tons) of coke per day is the average production at the mill. When the 1.000°C (1,832°F) coke comes out of the coal furnaces, it’s cooled with water and dumped on the sliding ramp – still at a very high temperature.

SSAB has so far been using 40 mm (1.575”) thick basalt ceramic tiles, 300 x 300 mm (12 x 12”), on the sliding ramp, which measures 34 by 5 m (112’ by 16’). The tiles have a lot of drawbacks, apart from being highly expensive. They are prone to cracking, resulting in maintenance stops as often as every three months with 2-3 days of downtime.

Hardox^® HiTemp high-temperature steel promotes safety and productivity

Having maintenance personnel working in the coke plant for several days is a health and safety issue. The properties of Hardox^® HiTemp promised to change this. SSAB came up with the solution to replace the ceramic tiles on the sliding ramp with steel plates that are 1,940 by 5,000 mm (76.4 by 196.9”) and 20 mm (0.787”) thick. This solution not only improves working conditions, it also allows the production to run uninterrupted.

Installing the plates of Hardox^® HiTemp high-temperature steel along the 34 m (112’) ramp was done during a scheduled maintenance stop. Based on experience from other steel tests, SSAB estimates that the ramp fitted with Hardox^®HiTemp will operate for up to 14 years without requiring any significant maintenance. This means the maintenance crew will no longer have to change tiles in this hazardous environment, allowing production to run uninterrupted for many years.

Workers in hard hats inspecting a sliding ramp made in Hardox® HiTemp at a steel mill in Oxelösund, Sweden.

Close-up of a sliding ramp made of the heat-resistant, high-temperature steel Hardox® HiTemp.

Hot wear applications where Hardox^® HiTemp makes a difference

In coke plants, Hardox^® HiTemp is a cost-effective and long-lasting solution and not just for the sliding ramp as in this case – it can also be used on quenching wagons, cooling beds, slag tippers, furnace inlet scrapers and other heat-affected equipment.

Here are other applications for Hardox^® HiTemp high-temperature steel:

Dryer drums and lifter plates inside dryers in asphalt plants
Clinker cooler plates and other liner plates in cement plants
Blast furnace components and slag buckets and slag dump bodies in steel plants
Liner plates, ash handling equipment and chain conveyers in power plants
Scrapers, screeners and liner plates in foundries
Liner plates, gypsum and clinker hammers in crushers

This is Hardox^® HiTemp

Hardox^® HiTemp is a quenched and tempered martensitic wear plate with a typical hardness of 375 HBW. Its high toughness, bendability and weldability make Hardox^® HiTemp an outstanding choice for a wide range of heat-exposed applications. It can withstand temperatures up to 500°C (930°F) for an extended time without losing its properties. Hardox^® HiTemp can be thermally cut without pre-heating thanks to its low carbon equivalent, which also makes it suitable when a lot of welding is required.

Where there’s wear, there’s Hardox^®

A piece of coking equipment showing elevated temperatures 300 to 500 degrees Celsius.

Hardox^® wear plate that can take the heat

Hardox^® HiTemp is a high-heat grade of Hardox^® wear plate that provides a cost-efficient solution for wear resistance at high temperatures in the 300-500°C (570-930°F) range.

A slag dump truck, with body made in Hardox® HiTemp, a high temperature steel.

Altus upgrades its slag dumper bodies to Hardox^® HiTemp

Can your dump trucks take the heat? The abrasive wear? When Altus switched from mild steel to Hardox^® HiTemp in its slag trucks, it virtually eliminated repairs, and got truck bodies that weigh 40% less.