O-I Australia appointed Dominion Industry for a major furnace rebuild. Dominion was tasked with the complete removal and refractory replacement of O-I’s main melter, regenerators, refiner, forehearths and associated distribution channels. The main melter crown has a supersized brickwork arch, with a span of more than 7m and a length of 22m.
Specialised engineering
It required the installation of 35,000 bricks and fabrication of specialised engineered arch centres and scaffold systems to support the 160 tons of material and personnel.
The regenerator housings were 12m high and 15m long, with approximately 200,000 bricks removed and replaced.
The regenerator crowns were also installed as a brick arch with internal crown formwork.
An infill checker pack was installed in both regenerators using 75,000 special-shaped bricks.
The project used a substantial amount of machinery and a workforce of more than 100 people.
