A new steel making plant, belonging to Chadormalu Mining & Industrial Co. (CMIC) and built on technological supplies and engineering provided by Tenova in consortium with SMS Concast, has been successfully started up in Ardakan, Yazd province, in central Iran.

The combined technological know-how of Italian and German plant builders has been put to good use in Iran where CMIC has developed and started up a new steelmaking plant.

The new plant is fed by DRI pellets and equipped with a 170-ton electric arc furnace and ladle furnace supplied by Tenova, plus a six-strand continuous caster from SMS Concast. Provision has been made for the installation of a vacuum degasser that will allow production of special steel grades for domestic usage and export.

Tenova’s electric arc furnace was designed to produce 1.2Mt/yr of billet from cold DRI and is equipped with a 160 MVA transformer and a chemical package with a total rated flow of 10’000Nm3/hour.

The EAF, claims Tenova, currently processes a mix of cold DRI and scrap and was designed to process hot DRI directly charged from the plant’s iron reduction reactor at a temperature up to 600°C, with an estimated productivity increase of 30% against the design target. When the hot DRI charging system is in place, Tenova’s electric arc furnace is expected to be the first in Iran to produce steel through this process.

Engineering and Commercial Services GmbH (CPG), in partnership with Parsland Mines & Industries Development Company (PAMIDCO) placed the order with Tenova.

Beyond the supply of technological equipment, Tenova developed an extensive plant engineering package for CPG including overall plant process, logistics and basic engineering of auxiliary plants and equipment.

The CMIC project was a greenfield development characterised by strong co-operation with local sub-contractors, who supplied steel structures, a distribution network and auxiliary equipment following Tenova’s basic engineering. Parts of the electric arc furnace and the ladle furnace were built in Iran based on detailed engineering from Tenova.