ArcelorMittal Bremen has ordered a 300t twin-ladle furnace from Siemens VAI Metals Technologies.
The plant will be constructed in the works of ArcelorMittal Bremen to replace the two conditioning stands currently used for treating liquid steel.
The new ladle furnace is scheduled to come into operation in February 2012. The twin-ladle furnace will be installed directly downstream of the LD converter in the ArcelorMittal steelworks and be designed to ensure the best possible logistic links to other parts of the plant and reduce crane movements to a minimum.
A cross transfer ladle car will link up to the existing RH vacuum treatment unit. In addition, an ingot casting plant for producing special products will be served via a transverse track. In future, it is intended to use the ladle furnace to treat as many melts as possible – some 3.5Mt/y.
Its main task will be to heat the melt, achieving a heating rate of 4°C per minute for a 30-minute period of treatment.
The tapping temperature on the LD converter can be reduced by between 40°C and 60°C, which will lower the consumption of refractory material in the converter.The ladle furnace will increase the efficiency of the ladle treatment facility, and reduce operating costs.
The ladle furnace will also be able handle fine alloying work and blowing operations, which had previously taken place in the conditioning stands. The equipment supplied for this purpose will include two six-track wire feeding machines.
