RHI Bulletin > 2 > 2008, pp.

4246

Roland Krischanitz, Klaus Dsinger, and Peter Rampl

Monolithic Lining TechnologiesA Comparative

Assessment
Introduction
In all industrial processes, minimizing downtime is crucial
to the economic success of the production unit and reducing refractory lining repair time provides a valuable contribution to the overall plant profitability. In the cement industry, monolithic refractories are widely used for the repair as
well as the original lining of the preheater, kiln hood, and
cooler. Compared to bricked lining solutions, monolithics
offer many advantages in terms of installation time and the
shape complexity that can be generated, especially in the
case of complex lining geometries. However, there are also
disadvantages that have to be considered when planning a
repair or lining with monolithic refractories. Firstly, the time
necessary for curing and complete dry out as well as a
more critical sensitivity to proper preheating have to be
taken into account. Additionally, many monolithic installation techniques utilize expensive and sometimes bulky
machinery and preparing the site prior to the lining operation can be time-consuming.
Recently, a significant amount of research has been devoted
to overcoming all these obstacles. Different installation
methods and new bonding systems have been developed
and products are currently available that can be rapidly preheated as well as gunning mixes that achieve even better
properties than cast materials.
This paper summarizes the latest developments in cement
kiln monolithics and focuses on how to select the appropriate technique for the repair or lining work to be performed.
The advantages and disadvantages of the various technologies are described and matched with the different installation requirements.

Lining Technology Developments

Conventional Castables
Although conventional castables (CC) were the developmental starting point, they are still widely used in the
cement industry because of their simplistic composition and
application. A wide range of CC for every type of application are available under the brand name COMPRIT. These
mixes are not very sensitive to climatic influences (i.e., setting time) and mistakes during application (e.g., too much
water addition). However, the high cement level in CC negatively influences the properties of the final concrete. The
high quantity of mixing water required results in a higher
porosity and lower density concrete, which makes it more
susceptible (permeable) to infiltration by alkaline salts. Furthermore, the high calcium oxide content provided by the
cement is a disadvantage regarding the refractoriness and
chemical resistance of the material.
Low Cement Castables
The initial simple mix of raw materials and high alumina
cement has been constantly developed and the next step
was the introduction of low cement castables (LCC) (i.e.,
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CaO 2.5%) with a reduced cement level, well-known under

the brand name DIDURIT. In order to guarantee the setting
and curing behaviour certain additives had to be included,
such as dispersing agents and setting conditioners. By
reducing the cement content and consequently the amount
of water required for processing the castables, the properties were improved significantly. However, a more sensitive
processing is associated with this advantage and deviations
in the amount of water added have a much greater influence on the final properties than in the case of CC.
Ultra Low Cement Castables
The next development was the introduction of ultra low
cement castables (ULCC) (i.e., CaO 1.0%) such as DIDURIT
170 onto the market. By further reducing the cement content the properties were further improved. In order to guarantee the workability of these mixes, the formulation had to
be adapted and more complex combinations of dispersing
agents and setting conditioners were introduced. Due to the
very low porosity and high density of the final product it
was necessary to add fibres to enable the water to be
released during the drying and heating-up procedure and to
avoid steam explosions due to high vapour pressure. As a
consequence of the complex raw material concept, with its
numerous additives and the low amount of water necessary
for mixing, the workability of ULCC is more difficult and
requires skilled installation personnel. It also has to be
taken into account that due to the high additive levels these
castables are subject to a much faster aging process, leading to a reduced activity of the additives that are necessary
for correct setting and hardening. Therefore the recommended shelf life is approximately 8 months.
No Cement Castables
The most recent development was the introduction of no
cement castables (NCC) (i.e., CaO 0.2). This type of castable is nearly cement-free and a binder, not water, is used to
temper the material and provides significant advantages
during the heating-up procedure. In addition, due to the
very low CaO content, the refractoriness and sulphur resis
tance has been increased. Another benefit is the long shelf
life of NCC. Due to the fact that the binder is supplied separately, the castable can be stored for a nearly unlimited
period without having to accept losses in the concrete setting properties. However, the most promising advantage is
the possibility of rapid heating up. As trials have demonstrated, nearly all the water is already released at 200 C.
This makes these new castables very interesting for areas
where correct drying and heating up is very difficult or only
possible with considerable effort and thus in practice rarely
performed correctly, for example in the kiln hood, clinker
cooler, and burner pipe. An unanswered question that still
has to be resolved is the workability of the castable. In this
context the binder could pose some problems as once frozen it cannot be used any more and therefore must be protected against temperatures below 5 C. Since the majority

RHI Bulletin > 2 > 2008

of main repairs in the cement industry are performed during the winter this could cause significant complications.

Special Applications
SPEEDCAST
A new special technology derived from LCC is the SPEEDCAST technology. This type of castable was developed for
fast setting within 46 hours, quick demoulding, and rapid
preheating. These types of products are ideal in applications where the moulds have to be stripped as fast as possible and/or the dry-out schedule should be initiated immediately after stripping the forms.
As with any refractory dry-out schedule the ultimate duration is influenced by many factors such as the refractory lining thickness, components in the layers of the refractory lining, and the type of equipment available for the drying-out
procedure. In order to optimize the fast firing properties of
the SPEEDCAST products it is best to use dry materials for
the insulation lining. Materials such as insulating firebricks
or block insulation enable the fastest possible dry-out programmes to be used. Due to the high level of special additives necessary to achieve the rapid setting behaviour the
shelf life of these products is not very high.
Free-Flowing Castables
Free-flowing castables, known under the brand name DIDOFLO, are a potential solution for areas where it is difficult to
process vibrating castables, for example the cyclone roof.
Nevertheless, due to the very complex formwork that is
necessary to avoid any castable leakage, this method is
time-consuming. Due to the preparation work that has to be
performed, these castables have not gained much importance.

Gunning Technologies
Dry Gunning
In the early 1920s, dry gunning technology was invented by
the American hunter and naturalist Carl Ethan Akeley. He
developed this method for modelling large animal sculptures. The principle of this machine was to transport the dry
material with compressed air to a nozzle where the optimal
amount of water is simultaneously added that enables the
material to adhere on the substrate. The definition of
gunned concrete is a concrete that is transported in a
closed tube, pneumatically sprayed on, and compacted by
the impact energy. This dry gunning method was adopted
and applied for concrete gunning. Whilst the construction of
complex formwork has become unnecessary, disadvantages
concerning the product properties in comparison to cast
concretes have to be taken into consideration as well as a
higher material loss due to rebound.

transported by a concrete pump to the nozzle. At the nozzle

the mixture is sprayed on using compressed air. The nozzle
is constricted to speed up the mixture and thereby increase
the impact energy.
RHI introduced monolithics for this type of application onto
the market under the brand name COMPAC SHOT. With this
technology the final product properties have been improved
significantly, coming close to the properties of cast concretes. A significant advantage is the high throughput with
such machines, which theoretically makes it possible to
install up to 10 tonnes/hour. However, the disadvantages
are higher investment costs as well as the fact that more
complex equipment is required. The advantages and disadvantages will be discussed in further detail in the next section.

Installation Techniques
In contrast to lining with bricks, lining with unshaped products is not a traditional installation technique. However, due
to the continual development of refractory products,
machines, and installation techniques the demands on the
lining staff have increased. It could be said that a high value
producthandled badlymay be of worse quality than a
perfectly placed lower value product.
If the manufacturing process is considered, it is evident that
compared to bricks the most important steps for monolithic
processing take place during installation (and heating) at
the customer. For bricks the mixing, shaping, compacting,
annealing/firing, and quality control is performed at the production facility; therefore, it reaches the customer as a finished product. However, for monolithics only the dry mix
preparation and initial quality control is performed at the
production facility. All the other most important quality
affecting parameters including storage, mixing with water,
shaping, installation techniques, setting, drying, and heating take place at the customer. In the following sections the
most important monolithic installation techniques are characterized.
Conventional Gunning
Conventional gunning is a dry gunning operation. The dry
material is compressed and transported by a pneumatic
rotary gunning machine (e.g., ANKERGUN) (Figure 1) to the
nozzle where water (i.e., a water/accelerator mixture) is

Wet Gunning
In the 1950s, the first trials were performed with the wet
gunning technology. The development was carried out by
the mining industry and it was subsequently applied to
refractory installation. The LCC is mixed with a defined
amount of water and transported by a double piston pump
to the installation site. Compressed air and an accelerator
are added to the mixed bulk at the nozzle. The definition of
a wet gunned concrete is where mix, comprising refractory
materials, cement, and additives, is mixed with water and

Figure 1. ANKERGUN.

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RHI Bulletin > 2 > 2008

injected. Frequently, the water is only under conventional
tap pressure and therefore pressure fluctuations can occur.
The main advantage is the fact that, as for all gunning technologies, it is not necessary to install a complex formwork,
which provides a significant installation benefit in terms of
downtime. Further advantages are the easy setup and
cheap equipment, making it readily available, as well as the
mixing vessel size, which facilitates access to difficult to
reach areas. The disadvantages are the significant material
pulsation and the poorer properties of the final product
compared to cast concretes and the higher material loss
due to rebound. Other influences include the dependence
on the customer site facilities (i.e., inconsistent compressed
air pressure and polluted water). Conventional RHI gunning
monolithics are characterized by the suffix S (for the German term spritzen) in the grade name (e.g., COMPRIT
123SICS).
Shotcreting
Shotcreting is a wet gunning operation whereby the correct
amount of water is already added to the material before
transport to the nozzle. The homogenization is performed
using a paddle mixer and material transport takes place
using a double piston pump, which guarantees continuous
material transport (Figure 2). At the nozzle compressed air
and an accelerator are added to the wet mix.

final product properties depend ultimately on the skill of the

nozzleman and it relies on this gunners experience to
adjust the correct amount of accelerator addition on the
nozzle to achieve the best product properties (Figure 4).
This is not an easy job to perform considering the significant weight of the special nozzle together with the concrete
filled hose. It is a labour-intensive technology and only special mixes (i.e., LCC) can be used. The application of shotcrete technology is not beneficial until the installation is
more than approximately 20 tonnes of concrete.
Dense Gunning
Dense gunning is the latest technology available on the
market and represents a further development in dry gunning. It is a dry gunning operation with a rotor chamber
gunning machine and pneumatic material transport. As a
result the properties of dense gunning materials (e.g.,
DIDURIT DG) are very much comparable to castables and
the equipment is the same as that used for dry gunning,
only the nozzle has to be exchanged.
With the dense gunning technology it is now possible to
also apply LCC using a dry gunning method. This was made
possible by a further development of the gunning nozzle,
which enables complete wetting of the cement and all additives within the rather short nozzle (Figure 5). Conventional
nozzles inject the water through a small number of bores

The advantages are a well-defined water/material ratio, no

material pulsation, and very good physical properties. With
this technology it is also possible to install up to 10 tonnes/
hour of material depending on the lining thickness installed.
There is no other installation technique that can achieve
such figures in terms of installation speed combined with
high quality monolithic installation in addition to significantly reduced rebound compared to the dry gunning technology. As with all other gunning technologies no complex
formwork is required (Figure 3).

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The disadvantages are the complex and time-consuming

setup for small installations of only a few tonnes where the
time to prepare the site takes longer than the gunning operation itself. Furthermore, the equipment is expensive and
there are also high maintenance costs, which makes the
equipment not readily available. In addition, there is not
always sufficient well-trained staff available. The

Figure 3. Shotcrete gunning of sidewall with low rebound and

dust emission.

Figure 2. Shotcreting equipment.

Figure 4. Shotcreting nozzle with connections for air and accelerator.

RHI Bulletin > 2 > 2008

within the nozzle, generating a few rather inhomogeneous
water jets. With the adaptation of the nozzle the water jet is
much more homogeneous, thereby guaranteeing optimal
wetting of the cement and all additives within the short nozzle, which is essential in view of the low amount of cement
used.
The advantages of this technology are the reduced installation time because it is not necessary to build complex formworks, the improved physical properties compared to conventional gunning materials, the easy setup, and cheap
readily available equipment. The disadvantages are again
the notable material pulsation and dependence on the facilities at the customer site. Compared to the shotcrete technology the throughput is lower and the amount of material
loss slightly higher; however, it is still lower compared to
conventional gunning.

material. In cases where a mixer can be positioned near the

casting activities it is best to work in batches where the field
sizes to be cast equate to the mixer batch volume.
For castable installation a rather complex formwork is
required (Figure 6), which is time-consuming and thereby
increases the installation time. Furthermore, the material
has to be vibrated properly to achieve the optimal product
properties. Whilst this is not a particular issue, it can be
quite complicated. For example, installation in the cyclone
roof requires holes to be cut into the kiln shell to enable the
concrete to be correctly vibrated. In addition, for installations with high numbers of anchors (e.g., 100 anchors/m2
on burner pipes or tertiary air duct dampers) it may be difficult to position the vibrator. In such cases the use of external vibrators has to be considered. Nevertheless, cast monolithic linings, properly installed, offer the highest product
properties without the necessity for complex equipment.

Casting
A comparison of the different installation techniques in
terms of the equipment complexity and installation quality
is depicted in Figure 7 and the time requirement for the different lining methods is illustrated in Figure 8.

Gunning of dense
LC concretes

Installation quality

For conventional casting the mix and predefined amount of

water are homogenized using a paddle mixer. Different methods for the material transport are possible. It depends on the
site conditions whether mixing near the installation or pumpcasting is the more appropriate solution. An advantage of
pumpcasting is that the material must not be transported by
crane or lift but is conveyed in a separate pipe, which has to
be fitted prior to the installation. With pumpcasting large volumes can be processed in a comparably short time; however,
it is not always possible to cast these large amounts of

Vibrated
LC castables

Shotcasting
Conventional
dry gunning

Machinery complexity
Figure 7. Comparison of different installation methods in terms
of equipment complexity and installation quality.

Time

Figure 5. Dense gunning nozzle with water and air connections.

Castable

Speedcast

Shotcrete

Normal
gunning

Dense
gunning

NCC

n Setup n Installation n Curing n Drying and preheating

Figure 6. Complex formwork for castable installation.

Figure 8. Comparison of different lining methods in terms of

time consumption for setup, installation, curing, as well as
drying and heating up.

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RHI Bulletin > 2 > 2008

Conclusion
Taking into consideration all the aforementioned points, no
universal solution for monolithic application exists and an
appropriate recommendation has to take all the influencing
factors into account. If only time consumption for the entire
installation (including setup, curing, and heating up) is considered, which of course is an important factor directly
influencing the downtime of a cement plant and consequently its profitability, SPEEDCAST technology and dense
gunning would be the appropriate choice, offering the fastest solution. When repairs exceed more than 100 tonnes, a
combination of pumpcasting and shotcreting is favourable
because of the tonnage that can be processed. However,
there are other important factors that make the right decision more complex including:
>> Amount of material to be installed.
>> Material shelf life.
>> Installation area.
>> Space requirements.
>> Climatic conditions during installation.
>> Available equipment.
>> Availability of skilled personnel.
>> Refractory material requirements.
All these parameters need to be considered to evaluate
each specific application.
For applications where optimal product properties are the
priority and installation speed is not so crucial, castables
are still of great significance. Furthermore, in situations
where special equipment for gunning application is not
available, castables have a role because of their good and
reliable performance. It then depends on the site conditions
whether mixing near the installation or pumpcasting is
more appropriate.
Using both these methods, all castables can be installed
whether they are cement-bonded castables or the newly

Authors
Roland Krischanitz, RHI AG, Industrial Division, Vienna, Austria.
Klaus Dsinger, RHI AG, Industrial Division, Vienna, Austria.
Peter Rampl, RHI AG, Industrial Division, Vienna, Austria.
Corresponding author: Klaus Dsinger, klaus.doesinger@rhi-ag.com

46 <

developed SPEEDCAST and NCC. However, they differ in

the demoulding and preheating properties. Whereas NCC
should be treated like typical castables, SPEEDCAST material hardens more rapidly and can thus be demoulded and
preheated sooner. Although the SPEEDCAST technology is
very promising because of the possibility for fast curing
and heating up, it represents a solution for special applications. For example for small repairs or repairs in areas
where a proper preheating is technically difficult or even
impossible (e.g., the bull nose).
In cases where mould construction is too complicated or
the geometry is too complex, gunning is the right choice.
In addition, as with pumpcasting, independent material
transport is a major advantage. Although dense gunning is
quite a new technology, considerable experience had been
gained during the last years. Since it is a superior solution
regarding the rapid setup and lining quality, it is a very
promising installation method for small and mid-scale
repairs. Using the easy and quick to setup dry gunning
equipment, it achieves product properties that are comparable to cast concretes and is an excellent compromise
between installation speed and final product quality. For
larger installations or repairs the use of shotcreting has to
be thoroughly considered because although the site preparation is comparatively very time-consuming (i.e., approximately 15 hours) it embodies the most efficient application
technique regarding throughput and the final product properties.
The application of NCC is a very promising solution as it
offers the option of fast heating up and the possibility to
reduce downtime and thereby increase plant profitability.
However, it is necessary to gain more experience in particular with harsh winter conditions when many of the
cement plants have their annual shutdown and repair.
Once successfully introduced, NCC applied by dense gunning could be a further significant step forward for the
monolithic refractory market.