To reach three decades as a going and growing concern in business is an accomplishment worth celebrating. And this is exactly what National Refractory Industries (NRI) is doing this year. Established by Managing Director Jean Lopez in 1993, who started his business in a small factory in Epping, Cape Town, NRI has now grown into a well-known operation with a number of subsidiaries nationwide.

Known for the quality of their workmanship and products, honest and reliable service delivery, it is no wonder that NRI and its various subsidiaries have been able to achieve what they have over the past three decades.

Lopez was previously at Morganite Refractory Industries working as a subcontractor before joining them full time. “But the entrepreneur in me took over and that’s where it all began for me back in 1993, I had to start my own business,” says Lopez. And this was when Lopez decided to relocate his family from Gauteng to Cape Town and the Western Cape where he knew opportunity lay.

Managing Director and founder Jean Lopez

Refractory materials: The indispensable backbone for high-temperature industrial processes. In the dynamic world of industry, where soaring temperatures are a necessity, refractory materials reign supreme. These formidable substances play an irreplaceable role in enabling a wide array of industrial processes, including the production of steel, aluminium, copper, glass, lime, cement, and ceramics. Within the refractory industry, these materials stand as the unwavering foundation, empowering manufacturing processes that thrive under extreme heat. Most of the time these go unnoticed in our daily lives.

Products manufactured, supplied and installed by NRI include fire bricks, refractory castables, ceramic fibre blankets, ceramic fibre boards, various ceramic fibre vacuum formed shapes, crucibles, alumino silicate fire bricks, gunniting and insulation materials, fondu cement, precast and fired refractory shapes, refractory metallic anchors and studs and shear studs, various refractory mortars and numerous insulation materials.

Passive fireproofing is similarly a core service offered and Cape Refractory Industries (CRI) has been reinstating fireproofing on steel structures, vessels, furnaces, boilers and tanks and by removing expired and damaged fireproof protection and replacing it with new cementitious fire protection material. The bulk of these projects have been done on petrochemical refineries.

Petrochemical refinery work includes maintenance of fluid catalytic cracking units, sulphur recovery units, waste heat boilers, primary and secondary reformers including catalyst support mushrooms, synthol loops, fired heaters and electric arc furnaces.

Products manufactured, supplied and installed by NRI include fire bricks, refractory castables, ceramic fibre blankets, ceramic fibre boards, various ceramic fibre vacuum formed shapes, crucibles, alumino silicate fire bricks, gunniting and insulation materials, fondu cement, precast and fired refractory shapes, refractory metallic anchors and studs and shear studs, various refractory mortars and numerous insulation materials

Turnkey refractory design and installation to two new Sulphur Recovery Units (SRU) at the Chevron Refinery included cyclones, ducting, burner quarls, boilers, visbreakers, chimney stacks heat exchangers and vacuum furnaces. Service to the iron and steel industries meant fire protection to the entire plant at Arcelor Mittal’s Saldanha Steel mill where CRI was tasked with the redesign, supply and installation of refractories to the roller hearth reheat furnace, general refractory maintenance including hard refractory and ceramic fibre module lining to the aforementioned roller reheat furnace.

Another important aspect of NRI’s business is servicing the petrochemical industry. Specialised refractory installations are an indispensable requirement for petrochemical plants, safeguarding uninterrupted refinery and hydrocarbon processes. In addition, selecting the appropriate refractory solutions holds the potential to decrease the consumption rate of refractory lining. Considering the substantial scale of these plants, it becomes imperative to devise strategies that minimise operating costs and environmental impact. Consequently, long-term stability of the refractory lining emerges as a paramount necessity for these expansive facilities, ensuring sustained performance and efficiency. A critical service provided by NRI is the maintenance of such facilities and thus professionalism and efficiency are the foundation for ensuring the least amount of downtime for the upkeep of these facilities.

Passive Fire Protection (PFP) plays a vital role in ensuring the safety and protection of workers, equipment, and the environment in the petrochemical industry. NRI is able to offer various solutions for a number of fireproofing needs comprising cementitious, sealants, KBS cable coatings, intumescent coating and other ad hoc materials. Applications include fireproofing of steel structures and buildings, fireproofing of walls and ceilings, fireproofing of doors and windows, fireproofing seals and gaskets, fireproofing of flooring, fireproofing of cable trays and conduit and fireproofing of ventilation systems.

“In 1997 I established the steel side of the business – Servco Steel Service Centre. This came about due to a refractory customer getting fed up with lead times and being messed about. At the time, I purchased a second-hand press brake and a new guillotine – that guillotine we still have here today.”

NRI have also become agents for Innovaterm building boilers in Africa and providing fireproofing. Further Cape Town refinery work is provided to Astron Energy.

“We have also expanded into fireproofing of which passive fireproofing of steel structures is an important aspect of our service offering. We furthermore supply and install reformers, boilers transfer lines and carry out general refractory maintenance. For some of the bigger jobs we supply our own inhouse quality control inspector and safety officer – having these professionals permanently employed gives us an advantage over others.”

National Refractory Industries supply various products, conduct turnkey installations and carry out several types of maintenance throughout Africa including countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius and across the Indian Ocean in Madagascar.

Subsidiaries
Other subsidiaries of National Refractory Industries include Natal Refractories (with operations in Durban and Richards Bay) – established in 1999, Servco Steel Service Centre – established in 1997, National Refractory Industries (Pty) Ltd was founded in 1971 and trades as Cape Refractory Industries.

“In 1997 I established the steel side of the business – Servco Steel Service Centre. This came about due to a refractory customer getting fed up with lead times and being messed about. At the time, I purchased a second-hand press brake and a new guillotine – that guillotine we still have here today.”

The warehouse in Cape Town

“And over the years, mainly through word of mouth, this business has developed and grown. We make our own anchors, we make our own brackets for ceramic fibre modules, our own steel moulds for precast refractory shapes. This was a relatively small part of the business that gave us an advantage for sure as it is an industry we know very well. Over the years it has developed into a much larger part of the business servicing many industries such as truck builders, baking ovens and equipment, structural steel, transport systems such as conveyors, indoor and outdoor fireplaces and braais and many more. We have also recently added two new CNC machines – both press brakes and we also have a 4kw laser profile cutting machine that we purchased in 2020 to help carry out various operations for clients. We also manufacture for Natal Refractories inhouse.”

“We furthermore supply and install shear studs to steel structured buildings in the civil industry and this led to work for the FIFA World Cup 2010 Cape Town Stadium where an anchoring system for the stadium roof was commissioned, constructed and installed by us, as well as the expansion of the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town International Airport, to name a few places that one can relate to.”

Composite beams are commonly comprised of hot rolled steel sections that collaborate with a concrete slab to form a composite system. Essential for effective force transfer between the steel section and the concrete slab, shear studs play a vital role. Typically welded to the beam, often through the deck sheet, these studs enable the concrete slab to assume the function of an expansive top flange once it has hardened. This integration results in a reinforced section that significantly bolsters the composite beam, enhancing its ability to withstand the applied loadings on the finished slab.

“We are the only people in Cape Town that do this – this is after all my background, and it’s not as easy as it looks. Many years ago, when I was still based in Johannesburg, I used to build these machines and it’s the same with the stainless steel refractory anchors – you need a certain knowhow.”

Experience
Notable clients and contracts acquired by the various subsidiaries and different divisions over the years include Corobrik in 2005 with ongoing maintenance, a PetroSA refractory and maintenance contract that was first acquired in 2006, an Algoa Brick contract first acquired in 2006. “In 2016 we became a supplier for US Cremation Equipment to supply their product for the Southern African region. This industry obviously requires very strict compliance to emission regulations which these units are one the few that conform to.”

NRI carries a considerable amount of stock for prompt delivery

In 2016 PPC Cement commissioned a big build of rotary kilns and in 2017 a Chevron contract was acquired. 2009 saw Cape Refractory Industries obtain an upgraded factory and a move to Brackenfell in the Western Cape – the current site from which it and Servco operate from. There are further warehousing facilities in the area that they operate from ensuring hedging against product shortfalls and ease of supply chain management. “It helps to have this warehouse space so that we always have stock. And our customers know this.”

During the Covid pandemic NRI quickly moved to establish itself as an essential service provider – particularly in the human cremation, medical waste incineration, and petrochemical refineries industries. With respect to crematorium work, Lopez comments: “This is about very technical airflow – it has to be odourless, smokeless and there can be no emissions – you don’t just brick up the wall.”

With the current electricity crisis that our country is experiencing, Lopez says: “Fortunately some time ago, we had installed a large generator with sufficient generation power to be able to run our entire operation during loadshedding, so this has allowed operations to continue as normal. While it didn’t get used much when we first installed it, it certainly earns its keep now. Our long serving staff are also a fundamental part of our businesses and Bernard Gxako, for example, has been with me since 1989. He actually also relocated to the Cape from Gauteng. Our Cape operations comprise of approximately 65 permanent staff – but depending on workload this can quickly go up to 130.”

Other industries serviced include the paper and pulp, sugar, glass and cement and lime industries, as well as risers, acids, cremators and incinerators, foundries, heavy clay and ceramics, copper and mineral sands.

For further details contact Cape Refractory Industries on TEL: 021 982 7484 or visit www.caperef.co.za