£30m injection for steelworks (From The Northern Echo)
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£30m injection for steelworks
A STEEL works has commissioned a £30m pulverized coal injection plant to increase efficiency, it was announced yesterday.
In a move which is a further boost for the North-East steel industry, Sahaviriya Steel Industries UK (SSI UK) have ordered the plant for its Redcar blast furnace.
The news comes as it was announced that the rebirth of the Redcar works is already helping to stimulate supply-line companies in the region.
Siemens VAI Metals Technologies will be construct the plant, which is expected to come into operation towards the end of the year.
The new plant will enable pulverized coal to be injected into the furnace, which will reduce its coke consumption, meaning energy consumption will reduce and less raw materials will be needed to make the same amount of iron.
The order, which is worth about £30m, comes just weeks after the first slab of steel rolled off the conveyer line at the Redcar steel works in two years, after the blast furnace was shut down and the plant moth-balled at the start of 2010.
A spokesman for SSI UK said: "It is a further investment which will increase efficiency. It was always part of the plan and is due to be in place at the end of this year."
Siemens will be responsible for design and supply, as well as supervision of the installation and commissioning of the plant.
Before injection, the coal will be dried and ground by a hot gas swept roller mill.
This will produce 120 tonnes of pulverized coal per hour, making it one of the world's most productive coal mills used with a blast furnace.
A pneumatic dispensing system will inject precise amounts of pulverized coal into the blast furnace.
The injection rate can be varied from 30kg to 235kg of pulverized coal per ton of hot metal.
As well as the new investment in the steel-works, the industry is also providing a boost to others in the region.
Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK's quarry in Thrislington, County Durham, is playing an essential part in the rebirth of the steel industry on Teesside, by supplying thousands of tonnes of limestone.
The cargo required the opening of the site's railhead for the first time in 23 years
Limestone is an essential part of the steel-making process as it absorbs impurities in the blast furnace, forming liquid slag, which can then be separated from the liquid iron which goes on to make the steel.
Steve Lea, sales manager from the quarry company, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for us and we are proud to be part of the return of steelmaking in the north east.
"Not only will this bring jobs back to the plant but it will cascade down to all the companies which provide associated services and be a real catalyst for regeneration."
Comments (4)
04/05/12
Galathumpian says...
It is not often that there is a leading British technology development in iron and steel making, but this is one; known as GCI instead of PCI.
08/05/12
linzer says...
It is therefore a foreign owned technological and contracting company, just as the former British Steel is now a foreign owned steelmaker.
The same people are still there but under a different banner.
SSI and the former owners, TATA, are unlikely to have deliberately chosen an inferior system in order and so a certain partisanship must be read into Galathumpians comment.
08/05/12
Galathumpian says...
Perhaps you know something I don't.
I don't see how my comments can be remotely considered to be "partisan" as I have no connection with any of the companies involved.
I have however, on several occasions, been involved in appraising the two competing systems with operators in Europe and Japan.
11/05/12
Galathumpian says...