Comparison Table of Common Furnace Types and Electrode Paste Suitability in Indonesia and Kazakhstan

Abstract

These two countries are the two largest destinations for China's electrode paste exports, yet their furnace structures differ enormously: Indonesia is dominated by RKEF furnace clusters for nickel smelting, while Kazakhstan is dominated by large ferrochrome and silicomanganese submerged arc furnaces — the logic of paste selection is completely different.

Indonesia = "sealed-furnace paste + large-diameter cylindrical paste + preheating by furnace gas and supplementary heating through the current in the fin plates"; Kazakhstan = "sealed-furnace paste / high-strength paste + a special grade for DC furnaces + acceptance to GOST". What the two have in common: large electrode diameters, mechanized slipping as the norm, and requirements on transport and storage (temperature control during sea and land freight) that are far higher than for short-distance domestic supply.

Keywords

Electrode paste；RKEF ferronickel furnace (NPI / FeNi)；sealed-furnace paste；cylindrical paste；DC submerged arc furnace；submerged arc furnace smelting；Rongxing Group

Last updated

2026-11-06

Owner

Rongxing Group Technical Team

1. Indonesia: dominated by RKEF ferronickel furnace clusters, with sealed-furnace paste the absolute mainstream

Since Indonesia's ban on raw ore exports in 2020, its downstream nickel smelting capacity has grown explosively. Take the Morowali (IMIP) industrial park: of the more than 15 nickel smelters operating in 2024, almost all use the RKEF process, and 10%–14% of the world's stainless-steel nickel feedstock comes from here; parks such as Weda Bay and Obi Island are expanding at the same time, with representative projects including the Harita-affiliated HJF/MSP ferronickel plants, the Ceria 72 MVA large RKEF furnace, and a number of Tsingshan-affiliated nickel pig iron (NPI) and nickel matte furnaces.

2. Kazakhstan: large submerged arc furnaces plus DC furnaces, with paste requirements leaning toward "high strength and high conductivity"

Kazakhstan's ferroalloy industry is centred on the Kazchrome system under ERG. The Aksu plant has a capacity of about 1.1 million t/y and produces chromium, silicon and manganese alloys side by side; its No. 64 furnace, rebuilt in Workshop No. 6, is a fully sealed furnace that recovers gas to preheat the burden. The Aktobe plant has a capacity of more than 700,000 t/y, and its Workshop No. 4, commissioned in 2014, houses the world's most powerful 72 MW DC submerged arc furnace (75 MW in actual operation, 80 MW in trials), which smelts chrome concentrate fines directly and eliminates the briquetting step.