News & Press Releases

In October 2021, Indian steel producer JSW Steel Ltd. started up two continuous slab casters at its Dolvi plant in Maharashtra. Together, the two two-strand casters have an initial annual capacity of around 4.5 million metric tons of slabs with future capacity potential for 6 million metric tons. A number of technology packages ensure that the slabs have high internal and surface quality. Primetals Technologies supplies also a hot rolling mill to the new Dolvi expansion plant. The hot rolling mill has an annual capacity of 5 million metric tons per year. JSW Steel already operates three continuous casting plants from Primetals Technologies at its steel works in Toranagallu, Karnataka.

In early November, a KOBM converter, upgraded from a former BOF converter by Primetals Technologies, was started up in the steel plant of HBIS Group Handan Iron and Steel in Handan, China. Compared to a BOF converter, the combined blowing from top and bottom in a KOBM converter results in a better bath mixing and metallurgical reactions are closer to the equilibrium. In addition, lime injection ensures fast slag formation and excellent process and slopping control. Therefore, this process is expected to shorten the blowing process, to lower the carbon-oxygen equilibrium of the steel at tapping, improve the yield by lowering slag amount and iron oxide content in the slag, and to produce cleaner steel with minimum inclusions and impurities. The improved steel quality especially fits requirements from the automotive industry. Furthermore, the new converter has the potential to save ladle additions during tapping as well as costs for lime additions.

In November 2021, Chinese steel producer Wuzhou Yongda Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. (Wuzhou Yongda) issued the final acceptance certificate (FAC) for an EAF Quantum electric arc furnace and twin ladle furnace supplied by Primetals Technologies for a greenfield project in Wuzhou city, in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The EAF Quantum furnace is designed to handle scrap steel of very varied composition and quality. The electrical energy requirement of the electric arc furnace is extremely low because the scrap is preheated. This reduces both the operating costs and the CO₂ emissions. The twin ladle furnace sets the desired steel grades and the correct casting temperature.

A consortium consisting of Primetals Technologies Austria GmbH and YARA Environmental Technologies GmbH, both based in Austria, has been awarded by Acciaierie d’Italia a contract for a new flue-gas treating (FGT) systems for the three 160 MW boilers at its power plant No.2 in Taranto, Italy. Within this consortium, Yara will deliver the new economizer and SCR (selective catalytic reduction) DeNOx elements and Primetals Technologies will cover the DeSOx- and dedusting part. The startup of the first FGT unit is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2022 with the other two units following in short succession.

Recently, Primetals Technologies received the final acceptance certificate for the replaced laminar cooling section installed at the 2050mm hot strip mill in the Shanghai, China production site of Baoshan Iron & Steel, Co., Ltd. (Baosteel). The new laminar cooling enables Baosteel to extend its product range up to a thickness of 19 millimeters for high toughness line pipe grades at low temperature, and dual -phase and multi-phase steel grades in a thickness range of 2 to 8 millimeters. The project was executed remotely due the ongoing pandemic conditions.