The Italian steel company IRO SpA, based in Odolo in the Province of Brescia, has approved and signed off Tenova’s iEAF system following trials to test various energy consumption performance targets.

The trials, which were conducted earlier this year, found that reductions in consumption were realized across a number of areas, including electricity, reduced by 3.26% in terms of kWh/metric tls; natural gas by 2.05% (Nm3/per metric tls); oxygen by 4.31% (Nm3/metric tls); and charge carbon by 6.64% (Kg per metric tls).

For IRO, the main advantages were improved operation and a greater return on investment, claims Tenova. The Italian production technology provider describes its iEAF technology as ‘progressive, modular technology…that uses real-time mass and energy balance to reduce various furnace consumption levels while increasing yield and productivity.”

IRO installed its first electric arc furnace (EAF) in 1960 for the melting of scrap and an early continuous casting machine for billets production in the 1970s.