In February 2009, blast furnace No. 3, which had been installed in the Toranagallu steelworks of the Indian company JSW Steel Ltd. and had been equipped by Siemens VAI Metals Technologies, was commissioned successfully. With an internal volume of over 4,019 cubic meters and a nominal annual capacity of 2.8 million metric tons of iron, it is the largest blast furnace existing in India today. This increases the production capacity of JSW Steel at Vijayanagar works to around seven million metric tons of steel per year.
A cyclone separator developed by Siemens VAI is being used for the first time to clean the top gas in Toranagallu. This solution makes it possible to flexibly control the efficiency of dedusting and, as a result, to maximize the recovery of dust containing iron and avoid an excessive concentration of zinc or other heavy elements in the recycled dust.
The order to equip blast furnace No. 3 was secured by Siemens VAI in November 2005. The scope of supply and services included plant engineering and the supply of diverse core components. These included hot-blast stoves and environment control systems such as top gas recovery, waste gas cleaning and dedusting of casthouse and stockhouse. Slag granulation, furnace cooling and pulverized coal injection equipment has also been provided. Siemens also supplied casthouse equipment including all hydraulic tap-hole drills and clay guns. In conjunction with the associated process optimization systems, the Simetal BF VAiron process control system ensures optimized furnace operation and low fuel rates.
JSW Steel's furnace No. 3 is fitted with a state of the art gas cleaning system utilizing a cyclone separator developed by Siemens. In order to use the top gas for heating purposes in other parts of the integrated steelworks, the gas is cleaned in a two stage plant. In the first stage, the cyclone removes dust containing iron, which is then re-used for iron production. This enables the recovery of up to ten metric tons of iron laden dust per hour. The new cyclone from Siemens makes it possible to flexibly control the dedusting process. This optimizes iron recovery and simultaneously prevents concentration of heavy metals such as zinc which can reduce the useful life of the refractory lining.
JSW Steel, a company belonging to JSW Group (part of O. P. Jindal Group),has factories in various locations including an integrated steelworks in Toranagallu in the Indian federal state of Karnataka. The company produces a wide range of coated and non-coated alloyed steels, which are used in a large variety of applications such as the construction and manufacture of automobiles, white goods, power stations, transformers, barrages, bridges, ports, railways, refineries, oil tanks, storage containers, machines, buildings and high-voltage masts.
This project is the latest in a series of orders awarded by JSW Steel to Siemens for the Toranagallu location: two Corex plants, a continuous caster and the expansion of a hot strip mill.
With around 170 new furnaces and a large number of completely overhauled ones, Siemens is the world's leading supplier of blast furnace technology.