Cooling system for metallurgical furnaces and methods of operation

A metallurgical furnace system comprising;

• a metallurgical furnace having a furnace body at least partially defined by a refractory wall and configured for holding a molten metal therein;
• and
• a cooling system comprising:
• a coolant flow in contact with an exterior surface of one or more cooling elements for dissipating heat, each of the one or more cooling elements partially disposed within the refractory wall of the metallurgical furnace to absorb heat from the refractory wall.

A method for cooling a metallurgical furnace comprising:

• (a) embedding one or more cooling elements partially within a refractory wall of a metallurgical furnace, each of the one or more cooling elements comprising a heat absorption section disposed in the refractory wall and a heat rejection section residing outside the refractory wall;
• (b) flowing a coolant over an exterior surface of the heat rejection section of the one or more cooling elements;
• (c) absorbing heat from the refractory wall in the heat absorption section of the one or more cooling elements to generate via evaporation a vapor flow within the one or more cooling elements;
• (d) dissipating heat from the vapor flow into the coolant via condensation within the one or more cooling elements and generating a condensed liquid within the one or more cooling elements;
• (e) returning the condensed liquid to the heat absorption section of the one or more cooling elements;
• and
• (f) repeating steps (b) through (e) to provide continuous cooling to the metallurgical furnace.