Graphite Freezeline Solutions (GFS) is the latest addition to the Thos Begbie Holdings Group which has served the Mining and Pyrometallurgical Industry for the past 131 years.
Graphite Freezline Solutions offers products and solutions to customers requiring efficient and heat-resistant refractory materials in both Carbon and different grades of Synthetic Graphite machined to tight tolerances to suit customers’ requirements.
The GFS facility is situated on the Thos Begbie site in Middelburg and is equipped with CNC milling and routing equipment to ensure accuracy and quality repeatability.
During the past 2 decades, Thos Begbie has been the preferred supplier of water-cooled copper coolers where the graphite and carbon bricks have been applied on their site to the copper coolers before shipping out to the furnace site. Now, with GFS on site, the combined strategy is to provide a one-stop-shop to the industry
Petroleum coke is mixed with coal tar pitch and extruded and shaped into blocks which are baked to carbonise the pitch and finally heated to 3 000°C to graphitise, a process which aligns the carbon atoms to finally form graphite. This process can take from 60 to 90 days depending on the final properties required.
BENEFITS OF USING GFS GRAPHITE
The Graphite application facilitates a freezeline or accretion of frozen slag layer that protects the furnace shell and copper coolers from corrosion and abrasion thereby extending the life of a furnace.
Together with the cooling effect of the copper coolers, the Graphite lining with the accretion layer helps to prevent excessive heat loss and unnecessary wastage of energy.
The Freezeline or Accretion layer will increase or decrease in thickness until furnace conditions
stabilize.
Newly applied graphite does not require extensive curing hence savings on start-up time and return to full production capacity. Very little maintenance is required on graphite linings during operation.