Ionic Liquid Cooling Technology ILTEC

ILTEC enables higher cooling element temperatures to be used and does not cause explosions. To provide the optimum IL for cooling purposes, we closely collaborate with proionic, Austria, who has expert knowledge and long-standing experience in IL development and production.

ILs are organic salts with a wide liquidus range and melting points typically below 100 °C. By varying the cations and anions, a wide range of ILs with different properties (e.g., melting point, viscosity, and solubility) becomes possible. As ILs allow higher cooling medium temperatures, hydration during furnace heat up and dew point corrosion can be avoided. The main advantage is that ILs do not lead to explosions if they come in contact with liquid metal, as in the case of a leakage. This is not only an important cost factor regarding furnace repair and associated standstill times, but also an essential safety improvements.

METTOP FIS provides complete ILTEC systems, namely cooling elements, cooling medium (ISIS), and cooling circuit design, as well as complete hardware delivery of all system components. The IL is circulated in a closed cooling circuit, which is specially designed with regard to the IL properties and the specific cooling application.

Various ILs are available:

• ISIS_A - "advanced", cooling medium temperatures up to 250 °C
• ISIS_B - "basic", cooling medium temperatures up to 150 °C
• ISIS_C - "cool", low ambient temperatures

 

ILTEC opens up totally new cooling possibilities in metallurgical furnaces, namely also using cooling elements in areas where water cooling is not feasible or too dangerous. Some examples for interesting applications in metallurgical furnaces are TSL lance tips, tap holes, furnace mouths, and electrode cooling.

Our main goal is customer satisfaction - therefore, METTOP FIS uses a mobile test stand for initial onsite ILTEC tests. This test stand can be easily transported to the cusomer´s site. The big advantage is that the customer can test ILTEC directly in the specific application.