Refractory Installation: Complete Guide

Refractory installation is the moment of truth for the entire lining campaign: no matter how well the brick was manufactured and how well the zone was designed, a badly installed lining fails early, while a disciplined installation routinely exceeds its design life. This article, based on the well-known plant manual “Refractory Installation Techniques in the Cement Industry” (an 86-page illustrated reference used by bricking crews and kiln maintenance teams), explains the two fundamental installation classifications for the rotary kiln — installation with rotation and installation without rotation — and then covers the complete practical procedure: the screw jack and timber batten method with wooden wedges for small kilns, the ring-by-ring methods used on large kilns, the positioning and tightening rules that guarantee a locked ring, the 90-degree rotation sequence, castable and gunning placement, inspection and quality control, safety, and the documentation that ties installation quality to lining life. The complete illustrated manual is part of the Complete Cement Technical Package, the 931-file cement engineering library from cementequipment.org.

Refractory installation work is physically demanding, geometrically exacting and economically decisive: a 5000 tpd kiln bricking campaign moves hundreds of tonnes of brick and consumes millions of dollars worth of lining material and lost production time. Every installation decision — from the bricking method to the jacking pressure to the expansion allowance — shows up months later in the shell scanning temperature profile. This guide gives the engineer and the installation supervisor the complete methodical picture they need to plan, execute and verify a first-class kiln reline.

1. The Two Classification Types of Kiln Brick Installation

The installation of refractory bricks in the cement rotary kiln is classified into two types, and the choice between them is the first decision of every bricking campaign. The classification is based on whether the kiln rotates during the installation.

Type 1: Refractory installation in the rotary kiln with rotation. In this method the kiln is rotated by its own drive (or by a barring drive) at defined steps during the bricking work, so that the crew always works on the bottom section of the kiln shell. This type of installation is only suitable for rotary kilns that have a diameter less than about 4 meters, it is only ideal for small quantities of bricks to be installed, and it requires a longer installation time compared to refractory installation without rotation, because each ring must be secured and the kiln rotated, the work area re-established, and the process repeated for every angular step. Its major advantages are the low investment cost for support and accessories and the modest bricking equipment needed: no full scaffolding, no ring platforms, no large bricking machines. The necessary requirement of kiln rotation during the installation, however, may affect other subsequent works (mechanical repairs to the shell, tyre and roller work, drive maintenance), because all such works must be coordinated with the rotation schedule, and the rotation itself creates a limited working window at each stop position.

Type 2: Refractory installation in the rotary kiln without rotation. Here the kiln is locked in one position (or rotated only for access to the very bottom section), and the crew works from the inside at the lower part of the shell, building each ring with the aid of bricking supports, jacks and platforms, progressing around the circumference as the rings are keyed. This method suits large-diameter kilns (above about 4 meters), large brick quantities and short installation campaigns, because the crews can work simultaneously on several rings and the kiln remains stationary for the mechanical works. Its equipment investment is higher: bricking rings (full-circle or segmental), hydraulic or pneumatic bricking machines for the top sections, and work platforms; but the bricking rate per day is much higher, and the campaign duration, which decides the shutdown cost, is significantly shorter. The table below summarizes the decision criteria:

Criterion	Installation with rotation	Installation without rotation
Kiln diameter	Less than 4 m	Any, typically above 4 m
Brick quantity per campaign	Small	Large
Installation time	Longer	Shorter
Equipment investment	Low (screw jacks, battens)	High (bricking rings, machines, platforms)
Interference with other shutdown works	Rotation may affect them	Minimal
Typical use	Small kilns, spot repairs, re-ringing	Large kilns, full relines

2. The Screw Jack and Timber Batten Method

For kilns installed with rotation, the standard and classic technique is the screw jack method with timber battens. The procedure starts after the old lining is removed and the shell is cleaned and inspected: the crew builds the first ring at the kiln outlet (or at the beginning of the zone being bricked), laying the bricks in the bottom arc of the shell, with the ring started from the bottom center and working outward on both sides. The bricks are laid dry (for most basic bricks) with the prescribed thickness of expansion sheet between bricks and between ring and shell, and the ring is built up to about the mid-height of the kiln cross-section on both sides.

At this point the screw jack comes into play. The jack is a heavy screw spindle with a bearing plate and a sharp pin arrangement, designed to press against the installed bricks through a timber batten. The timber batten is a long, straight hardwood plank placed against the inner face of the last ring of bricks, spanning the open arc; the sharp pins of the screw jack press into the batten, so that the jack force is distributed over the whole ring width. The jacks are set with their base against a fixed support (typically a steel ring or a heavy cross-beam spanning the kiln), and they are tightened progressively, forcing the bricks firmly outward against the shell, closing the ring joints and eliminating any slack that would let the ring move during kiln rotation.

The operating rules of the method are precise. The distance between the individual jacks should not be more than about 80 cm, so that no part of the ring is left unsupported; the jacks are tightened as tight as they can be, so that the bricks of the ring are pressed hard against the shell and the joints are completely closed; and every brick that is not directly pressed by the screw jacks must be inspected and tightened using wooden wedges, in order to prevent them from falling while rotating the rotary kiln. Wooden wedges are driven into the joints between the ring and the shell at the upper parts of the arc and between bricks where the jack pressure does not reach, locking the whole ring as one solid body.

3. Ring Completion, Inspection and the 90-Degree Rotation Sequence

Once the ring is built, jacked and wedged, the next step is inspection. The crew checks the entire ring: brick joints must be closed, no brick must protrude inward or outward relative to its neighbors, the expansion sheets must be in place, and the bricks at the top of the arc (which were installed last) must be firmly wedged. After the inspection, all refractory tools and equipment are removed from the rotary kiln — a critical safety and quality rule, because any forgotten jack, batten, wedge or tool would fall during rotation and damage the new lining — and the kiln is then rotated by 90 degrees. The crew re-enters, establishes the new work area at the bottom of the kiln, and continues with the same procedures as at the beginning: building the next ring, jacking it, wedging it, inspecting it, and rotating again.

This 90-degree rotation sequence continues until the zone is complete, and it explains why the method is called installation with rotation: the kiln is rotated in quarter-turn steps so that every part of the ring is installed in the bottom arc, where the bricklayer can work standing on the floor and where gravity holds the bricks in place during assembly. The sequence also determines the working rhythm of the campaign: each 90-degree step is followed by a fixed work cycle (ring building, jacking, wedging, inspection), and the kiln rotation itself must be gentle and controlled so that the newly built rings do not shift. The last ring of the zone (the closing ring or the connection to the existing lining) requires special care: it is fitted with the appropriate special brick shapes (keystone bricks, or bricks cut with diamond saws), and it is locked in place with the final jacks and wedges before the kiln is returned to service.

4. Installation Without Rotation: Ring Platforms and Bricking Machines

For large kilns and full relines, the installation without rotation uses the same ring-building logic but replaces the jack-and-batten method with mechanized aids. The kiln is positioned so that the bricks can be laid from the bottom, and the crew progresses ring by ring; when the ring reaches the upper half of the shell, the bricking is finished with the aid of a bricking ring (a full-circle steel ring, or two half rings, resting on the shell or on the installed bricks, against which the top bricks are laid) and a bricking machine — a hydraulic or pneumatic arm on a central column that presses the top bricks firmly against the shell, eliminating the manual jacks. The bricking machine reaches from the center of the kiln, swings to any angular position, and presses each top-section brick into place with controlled force, so that the crew works continuously without rotating the kiln.

The ring-by-ring method with machines achieves the highest bricking rates: experienced crews with a bricking machine can install on the order of 10,000 to 20,000 bricks per shift in a large kiln, several times the rate of the jack method, which is why the shutdown duration — and thus the campaign cost — favors the mechanized method for big kilns. The quality rules are identical to the manual method: joints closed, expansion allowances respected, key bricks correctly placed, and the top bricks of each ring locked before the machine moves to the next position. The bricking ring remains in place until the ring is complete and keyed, and it is then moved forward for the next ring.

5. Bricks, Mortar, Expansion Allowance and Installation Materials

The installation quality starts with the materials. Bricks arrive in pallets identified by shape code (standard, arch shapes, key bricks, burner pipe blocks), and the installation plan specifies the shape count per ring; every brick must be inspected before laying for edges, dimensional accuracy and cracks, and damaged bricks are rejected. Mortar is used where the lining design specifies mortar joints (mainly for alumina-silica bricks and for monolithics brick systems); the mortar must be mixed to the exact water ratio, applied in thin joints (typically 1–2 mm for basic bricks with special air-setting or heat-setting mortars), and the bricks are set without mortar where the design calls for dry rings with expansion sheet, as is the standard for basic kiln brick.

Expansion allowance is the silent master of the installation: at operating temperature the brick expands, and the lining must accommodate that expansion without crushing itself. The allowance is provided by (a) the expansion sheets between bricks (corrugated cardboard or steel plate of a calculated thickness per brick width), (b) the joint gaps at the ring ends, and (c) in some designs the compressibility of the mortar. The installation plan fixes the number and thickness of expansion sheets per zone, and the supervisor verifies them because an expansion allowance error of 1 mm per brick multiplied by 2000 bricks per ring is a ring expansion error of meters.

Installation accessories complete the material list: the timber battens, screw jacks, wooden wedges, steel wedges, brick hammers, cutting equipment (diamond saws for the final closure bricks), levels and alignment strings, and the lifting and transport equipment that feeds bricks into the kiln (conveyors, brick cars or pallet trailers, in many modern kilns a brick-loading conveyor that runs through the kiln to the working face).

6. Monolithic Installation: Castables, Gunning and Precast Blocks

A large part of the cement plant refractory installation is monolithic rather than brick: the preheater tower, riser ducts, cyclones, kiln inlet and nose ring, and the cooler side walls are installed as castable, gunned or precast systems. Castable placement follows its own strict procedure: the formwork is set with the correct thickness and anchor layout, the castable is mixed with the specified water (an error of one liter of water per batch measurably changes the strength), placed in layers and vibrated so that it fills completely around the anchors without segregation, and cured with the prescribed moisture regime before any heat is applied. Gunning and shotcreting apply the material pneumatically against the shell or the worn surface; the technique demands experience in nozzle distance, water addition at the nozzle and layer thickness per pass, because a wet gunite slumps and a dry one rebounds wastefully. Precast blocks (large factory-made monolithic pieces) are the modern fast-track solution for kiln inlet and riser sections: they arrive pre-dried and pre-baked, are lifted into position with the kiln crane, and are joined with castable or mortar, reducing the on-site water load and the heat-up time compared to cast-in-place linings.

Monolithic installation quality is verified by the same discipline as brickwork: anchor spacing and welding checked, thickness gauged, density tested on test cubes for each batch, and the as-built records kept. The interaction between monolithic and brick sections at their interface (for example, the castable kiln inlet and the first brick rings of the kiln) is a classic weak point, and the installation plan specifies the transition construction so that the two systems lock together without creating a step where material can lodge.

7. Planning the Campaign: Crews, Logistics and Rate Targets

A bricking campaign is a construction project inside a hot machine, and it is planned like one. The planning starts from the zone-by-zone brick list (brick type, shape, quantity, weight) produced by the lining design, and adds the installation time estimate: the bricking rate per shift for each method (jack method roughly 2000–6000 bricks per day per crew depending on kiln diameter; machine bricking 10,000–20,000 bricks per day), the time for scaffolding, kiln cooling, old lining removal, shell inspection, installation, inspection and heat-up. The critical path of the shutdown runs through the kiln itself: brick removal and brick installation are serial works, so the campaign plan arranges parallel crews in the preheater and cooler and schedules the kiln works as a continuous stream.

Logistics decide whether the bricking rate is achieved: bricks and expansion materials must be staged at the kiln in the exact order of the zones to be bricked, delivered through the kiln on brick cars or conveyors, and lifted by the kiln crane to the working level. The crew plan defines the teams: bricklayers, jack and wedge crew, cutters with the diamond saws, the machine operator, the crane operator, the supervisor and the quality inspector, with the rule that the quality inspector reports to the plant, not to the contractor, so that quality checks are independent. The daily report records bricks installed per ring, per zone and per day against the plan, together with all non-conformances, and the campaign is re-forecast daily so that any delay is visible while it can still be corrected.

8. Quality Control and Inspection During and After Installation

Quality control in refractory installation is a continuous process, not a final audit. During installation, the checks are: brick condition at unpacking (no edge damage), ring alignment (each ring laid true to the kiln axis, checked with string lines and levels so that the lining does not spiral), joint closure (the closed joints must show uniform gaps, and the expansion sheet must be complete through the full ring width), key brick position (the closing bricks must be properly shaped and fitted, never hammered into a too-small opening), and the top-section wedging (no loose brick anywhere in the ring). Every finished ring is inspected and signed before the kiln is rotated or the machine advances; the inspection is the gate between two work phases.

After installation, the completed zone is inspected as a whole from inside and, where accessible, from outside: the inside walk-through verifies the surface regularity, the joint quality and the transition joints to the old lining; the shell-side inspection verifies the expansion allowances at the zone ends and the correct fit of the special blocks. The final document is the as-built lining record: zone by zone, the brick type and shape, the number of rings and bricks, the expansion sheet count, the installation method, the crews and the supervisor signatures, and the photos of the finished zones. This record is the baseline for the next campaign planning (brick quantities can be confirmed), for the brick supplier’s warranty, and for the failure analysis if a zone fails early: without the as-built record, no failure can be attributed to installation or excluded from it.

9. Safety in Refractory Installation Work

Refractory installation is performed in confined spaces, at height, with heavy loads, with hot and dusty surroundings, and with mechanical equipment — a combination that demands a strict safety program. The confined space rules apply to the kiln interior: gas testing, forced ventilation, a standby person at the entrance, and communication between the crew inside and the control outside. The kiln rotation schedule is a lockout coordination task: the drive must be under positive control, the rotation sequence announced, and no person inside while the kiln turns; the barring device or the drive is locked out during jacking work so that an accidental rotation cannot occur. Heavy lifting (brick pallets, precast blocks, the bricking machine components) uses certified slings, cranes and lifting beams with the loads marked, and the working platforms are equipped with rails and toe boards.

Personal protective equipment in the kiln includes hard hats, safety glasses, dust masks or respirators (brick dust and the fibers of insulating materials are a respiratory hazard), gloves and steel-toe boots; hearing protection near cutting and jacking operations; and heat protection during any work near still-warm sections. The emergency plan covers rescue from the kiln interior (a stretcher path through the kiln), fire prevention around the cutting and welding work, and the first-aid and evacuation arrangements for the shift. The safety record of the campaign belongs in the campaign report, because it is part of the installation quality in the widest sense: an installation rushed under unsafe conditions is an installation that cuts corners everywhere.

10. The Link Between Installation Quality and Lining Life

Every experienced kiln manager knows the pattern: two kilns with identical brick, identical operation and identical raw material, but one lining lasts 18 months and the other 11. The difference is almost always installation. The mechanisms are concrete: a ring installed with slack bricks moves during kiln rotation, the movement grinds the joints, the ground bricks loosen further, and the zone fails by mechanical wear years before its chemical life is spent. A ring with incorrect expansion allowance either crushes the bricks in operation (spalling by compression) or opens joints that admit the clinker melt and alkalis. A top section wedged with too-large wooden wedges leaves a void behind the brick that lets the hot face bow inward. An expansion sheet missing in a corner of the ring allows local brick-to-shell contact that overheats the shell.

Conversely, a disciplined installation pays for itself many times: the campaign reaches its design life, the shell temperature profile is flat (no hidden hot zones), and the brick removal at the next shutdown shows even wear across the zone — the signature of correct installation. This is why the plant’s installation specification, the inspection gates, the as-built records and the campaign audit belong to the same quality system as the brick selection itself, and why the installation procedure described in this manual is followed as literally by small plants as by large ones: the physics of the ring, the jack and the wedge does not change with the kiln size.

11. Old Lining Removal, Shell Inspection and Preparation

Before the first brick of a reline is laid, the kiln must be prepared with the same care as the installation itself. The campaign begins after the kiln has cooled following the prescribed slow cool-down (see the drying and heating up procedures in the package): the old lining is removed zone by zone, using pneumatic breakers and demolition machines for brick and castable alike, with the removal order arranged so that the shell is never left with long unsupported stretches. The removed brick and castable are classified: reusable-looking brick is normally still scrapped (refractory material is never re-used in a hot zone because its service history cannot be certified), while the debris is removed from the kiln and the plant maintains a separate disposal stream for any chrome-containing old brick, which is classified as hazardous waste.

With the shell bare, the shell inspection takes place: the steel plate is examined for thinning (measured with ultrasonic thickness gauges), for deformation and ovality (measured around the circumference and along the kiln axis, because the shell must be round within tight tolerances for the lining to lock correctly), for cracks around the tyre and gear areas, and for the condition of the tyre wedges and the shell plates at the zones to be bricked. Shell areas with excessive ovality are corrected (by plate replacement or by profile correction) before bricking, because a non-round shell can never produce a tight lining; the weld seams are ground flush where the old lining was anchored; and the shell surface is cleaned of scale and rust to the degree required for the new anchor welding.

The anchor and support preparation follows for the monolithic zones: the new anchor spacing is laid out from the zone design, the anchors are welded with the specified weld size and quality control (a percentage is hammer-tested and, where required, the weld is dye-penetrant tested), and the formwork references are set. The expansion allowances at the zone ends are marked on the shell so that the bricklayers and the castable crew work to the same reference marks. Finally, the kiln interior is swept clean, the lighting for the working zones is installed, the access platforms and the brick supply system are commissioned, and the installation crew receives its briefing on the zone-by-zone plan. A kiln that enters the installation phase with a certified shell, marked references and a clean interior is a kiln where the installation quality can be controlled; skipping this preparation to save two days of shutdown routinely costs two weeks of campaign life at the other end.

12. Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Which installation method should a 3.5 m diameter kiln use for a partial reline of the burning zone?

The jack and timber batten method with rotation is appropriate for this size: it needs no bricking machine, and the small quantity of bricks makes the lower bricking rate acceptable. The rotation steps are coordinated with the other shutdown works in the kiln.

Q2. Why are screw jacks spaced no more than 80 cm apart?

So that every part of the ring is pressed directly or indirectly against the shell. With wider spacing, the timber batten bends between jacks and the ring center remains slack, which allows brick movement when the kiln rotates.

Q3. What is the purpose of the wooden wedges after jacking?

The wedges lock the bricks that are not directly under the jack pressure (the upper part of the arc and the end of the ring), preventing them from falling or shifting during the 90-degree kiln rotation. They are driven between brick and shell and between bricks until the whole ring is solid.

Q4. Why is installation without rotation preferred for large kilns?

Because it is faster: with bricking rings and bricking machines the crews work continuously around the circumference without rotation stops, reaching several times the daily brick rate of the jack method, which directly shortens the shutdown duration and its production loss.

Q5. How is the expansion allowance controlled during installation?

By specification and inspection: the zone design states the number and thickness of expansion sheets per brick and per ring, the supervisor verifies them during installation, and the as-built record documents what was actually installed, so that any future lining problem can be traced to the installation data.

Q6. What checks must be completed before the kiln is rotated after building a ring?

Complete inspection of the ring (joints closed, bricks flush, wedges in place), removal of all tools and equipment from the kiln, confirmation that no person is inside, and positive control of the rotation drive. These four gates protect both the lining and the crew.

13. Final Summary

Refractory installation is a precise engineering craft with two fundamental method families — installation with rotation (screw jacks, timber battens and wooden wedges, for kilns below 4 m and small brick quantities) and installation without rotation (bricking rings and machines, for large kilns and full relines) — and a fixed discipline of ring building, jacking, wedging, inspection, rotation and documentation that applies to both. Monolithic placement, campaign planning, independent quality control, as-built records and strict safety complete the professional picture. The lining life that the plant enjoys is decided as much on the bricking scaffold as in the brick factory, and the complete 86-page illustrated manual captures every detail of the craft.

This file is part of the 931-file Complete Cement Technical Package, the comprehensive engineering library for cement professionals that includes the refractory installation manual, the refractories chapter, the drying and heating-up procedures, design handbooks and Excel tools. Get the entire package instantly with one PayPal payment and keep the complete cement engineering reference on your desk for life.

This file is part of the Complete Cement Technical Package (931 files) available from cementequipment.org. Respective rights holders; library copy for the licensed single user.