Steel Making
The molten iron is delivered from the iron plant to the steel plant in rail- mounted hot metal transfer cars for charging into a series of shaking ladles, the hot metal charged being measured by crane weighing. After scrap has been added, the ladles are transported by crane to one of four shaking emplacements which are equipped with water-cooled hoods to collect the waste gases and fumes generated during the vanadium separation process. Wet scrubbers are installed to clean the fume emission.
After the extraction of vanadium as a solid slag, the metal is taken by transfer car and crane and charged to one of three basic oxygen furnaces. Normally, only two of these furnaces are operational and the third is on stand-by. A scrap metal charge is added and oxygen is blown on to the molten metal through a water-cooled copper tipped lance. Hoods fitted with a tubular water-cooling system and position immediately above each furnace collect the waste gases for delivery to a dry-plate electrostatic precipitator where pollutants are removed.
The steel is transferred by car and crane to the continuous casting plant via the ladle refining stations, where temperature adjustment, desulphurisation and final composition adjustments are carried out.
The continuous casting plant consists of four machines : one for billets, two larger machines for blooms, and one for slabs. The machines are of the bowcaster type which are equipped with curved copper moulds. The slab caster has recently been modernized to give improved product quality capabilities. Equipment for cutting to length and for block cooling follows the machines.
| Four Shaking Ladle Emplacements (Capacity) | 75 tons |
|---|---|
| Three Basic Oxygen Furnaces (Capacity) | 75 tons |
| Machine 2 Bloom Sizes (Two Strand) | 560mm x 305mm |
| Machine 3 Bloom Sizes (Two Strand) | 305mm x 255 mm |
| Machine Radius | 10,5m |
| Billet Machine - Billet Sizes (Four Strand) | 120mm to 140mm |
| Billet Machine - Radius | 5m |
| Slab Machine Slab Sizes (Single Strand) | 180mm x 1 450mm to 2000mm |
| Slab Machine Slab Sizes (Single Strand) | 250mm x 1 000mm to 2050mm |
| Machine Radius | 10,5m |
| Ladle Furnace Capacity | 75 ton ladle |
| Transformer | 13 MVA |