FURNACE UPGRADE WITH HATCH TECHNOLOGY AT PT ANTAM FeNi-II IN POMALAA, INDONESIA

The existing PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) ferronickel smelter located at Pomalaa, Indonesia consists of two RKEF lines with reduction furnaces nominally rated at 17 MW and 18 MW, respectively. The low power den-sities and heat fluxes allowed both furnaces to operate with falling water film shell cooling systems. The fur-nace campaigns comprised a 5-yearly cold shut-down for metal taphole area rebuild and a 10-yearly sidewall and hearth perimeter repair. Towards the end of these campaigns the furnaces would typically be operated at below nominal power due to excessive sidewall temperatures. In January 2001 Hatch performed a smelter study which proposed options which indicated the possibility of a single furnace operation for the smelter, elimination of lime addition and transition to shielded-arc op-eration with associated efficiency and throughput gains. This paper discusses the process of uprating the second–line furnace capability from 18 MW to 32MW fol-lowing the decision by Antam to implement the recommendations proposed by Hatch. It will cover the development of scaled-up furnace design basis by Hatch and Antam with the enabling ap-plication of Hatch cooling and binding technology. To optimise the capital cost and maximise Indonesian sup-ply content and post installation support, the scope was carefully and clearly divided between Hatch an