A guy on site once said that his wish is for heaven to be the place he most enjoys – a Furnace. Well, that’s contradictory to the idea of heaven – isn’t it? But weirdly though, I can relate.
A furnace is a special place when its being repaired or built from scratch. Not to say that it’s not so special when it’s operational. I often stand in awe when I appreciate a process. It’s tremendous. It’s as though I can connect deeper, in that moment than I am able to with many other things that life offers. It was with this level of thinking that I endeavored to get involved with improving the environment for Refractories. Starting with a focus on burners, getting them efficient and servicing them to the benefit of the process – ultimately, to the advantage of the refractory lining.
This idea took me down the Thermal Engineering and Co-Generation path. Where I realized CO2 can be harvested, while working towards a optimal environment for my refractories to work in – it made me smile. Not the shoulder hunching, hand rubbing, bubbling chuckle kind of smile, but instead a smile that illustrates pride. I know people have been going on about clean fuels, clean power generation and C02 extraction. And now, I am also on this band wagon. The plan was clear and our humble company strategized towards Efficient Refractories ! One of our partners affectionally introduced our new venture as Refractories Re-Imagined.
I saw a refractory lining, recently, with immense damage due to dirty fuel. The CO2 content in the lining was far too high to start with. Yes – they should have had a better LC or NC lining in there, as a basic starting point – but that was not the only issue to resolve. We proposed a solution that offers Gasification of the oil – extraction of Sulphur and a range of impurities, and convert the burner to a gas fired unit. And the kicker is the re-bates on CO2 – clients effectively get paid ridiculous amounts of money for this.
To summarize: Clean fuels, stable operations, tremendous environmental benefits, and Refractories with improved serviceability. All because of a passion for refractories. Get hold of us at barnie@pbe-projects.com or janita@pbe-projects.com to enjoy the journey with us.
