Siemens VAI Metals Technologies received a contract from the Chinese steel producer Xingtai Iron & Steel Corp., Ltd. (Xingtai Steel) for engineering and the supply of key equipment for a 50-ton-capacity AOD stainless steel converter, a ladle furnace of the same capacity and a 4-strand billet caster. These plants will be part of a new production facility being built at Xingtai in Hebei Province which will enable the company to enter the stainless- and special-steel market for long products. The total order volume is a two-digit-million-euro figure. The new meltshop is scheduled to start up in June 2010.
Xingtai Steel, a medium-sized Chinese steel producer, has a current annual production capacity of approximately three million tons of low-allow and high-carbon steel grades. The company is the largest producer of specialized high-quality wire and rod in China and also supplies special steel components to the industry, including the automotive sector.
The scope of supply for the AOD converter includes the engineering and the supply of core components such as the tilting drive, valve station, rotary joint, tuyeres and special hydraulic components. Level 1 and Level 2 automation, including the metallurgical process model for stainless production, will also be provided. Special plant features include the VAI-CON Simple suspension system, a top lance and individual tuyere control.
Engineering and key components will be supplied for the ladle furnace as well, including the current-conducting electrode arms, the high-voltage electrical system, hydraulics, Level 1 and Level 2 automation in addition to a metallurgical process model.
The billet caster is designed to cast approximately 500,000 tons of stainless and special steel grades per year, also for ESR (electroslag refining) applications. In addition to engineering and automation, Siemens VAI will supply special equipment and technological packages. These include LevCon for the precise control of the steel level in the mold, DynaFlex for the online hydraulic adjustment of the mold-oscillation parameters, and Diamold mold tubes in support of high-speed casting. Air-mist cooling will be provided for optimized strand cooling. Mold and final EMS (electromagnetic stirrer) will ensure a fully homogenized steel composition with minimum strand segregation.
Also for this project Siemens Ltd., China will be responsible for the local manufacturing and supply of certain key components for the AOD converter and ladle furnace in addition to electrical equipment and Level 1 automation for the meltshop.
Siemens VAI had previously supplied components for one LD (BOF) converter, two ladle furnaces, two billet casters and five long-product rolling mills to Xingtai and also upgraded two of the company's existing casters.