GrafTech is pleased to introduce the Hearth Calculator to our customers. When planning a reline or new furnace project, the Hearth Calculator will help you to start estimating your investment costs.

Speeding up the planning process and potentially reducing project cost, this web-based tool, soon available on www.graftech.com, allows the project engineer, the furnace operator or the lining purchaser to enter the actual data for the blast furnace hearth in question (dimensions, number of tapholes, etc). This results in an instant budgetary cost calculation for the GrafTech™ lining!

In addition, the Hearth Calculator user can easily conclude how changing different parameters might impact the indicated cost.

But, as we all know, there is more to the cost than the initial price paid; for insight into the long term value of your lining investment, please consult our Hearth Investment Financial Model featured on our website at www.graftech.com .

Quoting Mr. Greg Hannan, General Manager, TEMCO:

"TEMCO will fully convert the 4 manganese furnaces to the HotPressed™ Refractory System technology. Our motivation has been to extend the reline life from a historical 10 year to 15+ years. We aim to achieve lower overall cost of operation with improved lining safety. The combination of quality materials, a design specific to the TEMCO operations and adopting a rigorous lining management philosophy, should ensure a successful result"

This 4-furnace FeMn & SiMn facility is located near Bell Bay, in Tasmania.

From our first meetings, which occurred in the late 90's, it became clear that TEMCO was continuously looking for ways to boost productivity and reduce costs in order to remain competitive in the international ferroalloy market.

The HotPressed™ Refractory System, with its simple and sound functional concept, was soon perceived as an important asset to achieve TEMCO's goals.

TEMCO replaced the old insulated lining system of Furnace 1 with a complete GrafTech™ lining in June, 2001. This 36 MVA unit has been running continuously since then at high productivity, either on FeMn or SiMn, with no refractory maintenance at all. In addition, all temperature readings show a stable trend, which confirms the expectation of a long and trouble-free campaign.

The superior performance of Furnace 1, and the overwhelming success of the HotPressed™ Refractory System at many ferroalloy furnaces in other parts of the world, paved the way to convert the other furnaces at TEMCO.

The next furnace to be relined was Furnace 3 (pictured below), a 54MVA unit. This GrafTech™ lining was installed in June, 2007.

As Mr. Hannan says, "TEMCO has now decided to convert the remaining two furnaces to the GrafTech HotPressed™ Refractory System. The purchase orders for Furnace 2 (33 MVA) and Furnace 5 (51 MVA) have been placed and the delivery is scheduled for 2008".

Photo is showing Mr. Xie Minjiang, CISDI procurement manager and the turnkey contractor for the furnace and Mr. Henry Yu, GrafTech discussing Shaoguan details.

In January, GrafTech signed the order for its 50th hearth wall order in China; Shaoguan #8. .

• Blow-in date: December 2008
• Hearth diameter: 1264cm
• Inner volume: 3200m³
• Design Production: 2,35 tm³/(day)
• Tapholes: 4

And as we speak, Chinese hearth wall orders #51-56 were awarded to GrafTech! One of these is the hearth wall for Shougang Jingtang #2, a new 15.5m / I.V. 5.000 cu m furnace. Now that's BIG! After having worked the last 25 years in the demanding Chinese market, Graftech has built an outstanding reputation offering excellent performance and unsurpassed value-in-use. The plant is located in the town of Maba in northern China, famous for being the original place of Zen Buddhism about 1300 years ago.

This 1 minute film will show you an abbreviated story on how the NMA™ and NMD™ HotPressed™ bricks are made. This unique process in our Lawrenceburg, Tennessee plant is in motion 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The result are carbon and semigraphite HotPressed™ bricks. These have proven to offer our customers exceptionally long, safe and trouble free campaigns. Enjoy the mini-movie at the link below: HotPressed™ Brick-The Movie

In the last 2 years alone, at least 4 break-outs per year through "micropore" carbon "big block" hearth walls were recorded around the world. Break-outs through HotPressed™ brick linings? Zero-contact us for further details. These emergencies need fast and highly qualified repair services! Needless to say, in today's marketplace, lost production will have a major impact on the bottom line for any iron and steel producer!

Pirson Refractories, the European installation experts, and Graftech can provide all furnace operators a unique offer in case of lining disasters:

• 1st assessment within 24 hours after being contacted.
• Engineering starting within 24 hours.
• Repair scenario utilizing GrafTech carbon and graphite material fully available within 48 hours!

For further information and details about these services, call or email Pirson 24 hours a day, 365 days a year:

Phone: +31 (0) 251 27 24 12 Email: smartrepair@pirsonholland.nl