April 25th , 2008: A Brilliant Outlook - Completion of the largest single-line stainless steel works in the world Carinox is the name of the new stainless steelmaking plant of Ugine &ALZ in Charleroi, Belgium. The meltshop is part of the European-basedflat-product stainless-steel branch of Arcelor Mittal, the largest steelproducer in the world. Following the successful completion of allguarantee tests in March 2007, this project has come to a successfulconclusion for Siemens VAI. The Carinox plant is capable of producingapproximately one million tons of ferritic, martensitic and austeniticstainless-steel grades per year. (Click here for printer friendly version or here for the original article)

For this milestone project, Siemens VAI was re-sponsible for the overall engineering, erection,and commissioning of the steel works. This included the turnkey supply of a 160-ton electric arc furnace, a 180-ton AOD converter, a twin-180-ton-standladle-treatment station with a common furnace, a single-strand slab caster in addition to auxiliary plants and the dedusting and automation systems. The plant was compactly designed with totally optimized logistics and offers the possibility for future expansion. Electric arc furnace Raw materials are transported to the site by either rail or water transport. In the scrap yard different scrap qualities are weighed, loaded in baskets, and then transported to the EAF bay. The EAF itself has an eight-meter diameter, and as such is the largest sized furnace employed in stainless steel making. It is complimented by a 160-MVA transformer which is the most powerful in the world used in stainless steel production. A Level 3 planning system provides the setpoints to the automation system. A process model calculates a cost-optimized melting practice for each single scrap blend.The required flux and alloy additions are accurately calculated and automatically charged to the furnace. Adynamic regulation system maximizes the power in-put and monitors and controls thermal radiation. The economy of operation is further increased through the injection of oxygen and carbon/FeSi through the open slag door by means of a water-cooled lance. This promotes the formation of a foamy slag in the refining phase, which considerably improves the furnace melting efficiency through reduced energy losses. During operations, the EAF is completely enclosed within a dog house to minimize noise and dust emissions.160 tons of liquid stainless steel are tapped into a transfer ladle every 70 minutes on average. Sampling,temperature measurements, and the remaining slag quantity present in the steel is carried out before charging into the AOD. Carinox stainless steelmaking plant AOD converter Decarburization of the heat is carried out in an AOD converter. With a diameter of 5.8 meters and a heat size of 180 tons, this is currently the largest converter in the world used in the production of stainless steel. Oxygen and nitrogen or argon are blown into the heat by means of nine under-bath tuyeres installed in the side-walls. Outer annular shroud tuyeres and the application of an intelligent wear-monitoring system protect the inner pipes and maximize their lifetime. The use of a top lance accelerates initial decarburization. The Ugine & ALZ-developed TOP AOD process model allows the exact process targets to be met on the basis of input data from the EAF, raw materials, and additives.The average AOD tap-to-tap time is 70 minutes. During longer waiting times, the temperature of the converter can be maintained using a burner and heat-insula-tion hood which covers the converter opening when the converter is tilted into the horizontal position. The ferro-alloy additive-handling and -charging system is comprised of 28 bins and operates fully auto-matically. It supplies both the EAF and AOD plants. Twin-stand ladle furnace The heat is transported by crane from the AOD to one of the twin-ladle furnace stands where stirring, compositional and temperature adjustments of the heat can be carried out. The stands also serve as efficient steel buffers in the case of an unexpected production delay. Alloying materials are charged to the ladle furnacefrom a high-level alloy-bin system and each stand is equipped with a multiline wire-injection facility. 160-Ton electric arc furnace Ferro-alloy/additive-handling system 180-Ton AOD converter Twin-station ladle furnace Dedusting system Primary emissions from the EAF (1.3 million m3/h) and AOD (1.1 million m3/h) plants are cleaned in a bag-filter station equipped with pulse-jet cleaning. All other plant emissions are filtered in secondary dedusting systems. A clean-gas dust content of less than 5 mg/Nm3 conforms to the latest European regulations. Valuable solid residues can be recycled to the steel making process. Continuous slab-casting machine The continuous slab-casting machine is designed to cast more than one million tons of slabs per year at thicknesses from 150 to 250 mm and in widths ranging from 1,000 to 1,650 mm. Two tun dish cars, each equipped with a submerged entry-nozzle-changing device, preheating hoods, and a nozzle preheater, sup-port long casting sequences. A top-feeding dummy-barsystem considerably shortens downtime between two sequences. Featuring the latest mold technology, hy-draulic oscillators, electromagnetic strand stirring,and Smart Segments, the caster is ideally suited to meet all production and quality requirements. Casting speeds of up to 1.4 meters per minute are possible for ferritic and austenitic steel grades. The automation system includes automatic mold-level control, breakout prediction and dynamic cooling models for improved operational safety. A torch-cutting machine cuts the slab to lengths from 5–12 meters. Slab surfaces are ground by one of the four grinding machines. The close proximity of the Carinox plant to the Carlam hot-strip mill and the use of insulation hoods allow the slabs to be hot-charged to the rolling mill. Leading supplier With the completion of this project, the Arcelor Mittal group, the largest steel producer in the world today,has acquired a leading position in the stainless steel market. The Ugine & ALZ division in Charleroi, Belgium now supplies approximately 25% of the European market with high-quality stainless steel hot- and cold-rolled products. Concluding remarks The large production capacity of the stainless steelworks, coupled with efficient and flexible production scheduling, are key reasons for the economic feasibility of this plant. Advanced process technology, robust and reliable plant equipment, well-trained operational personnel, and the excellent cooperation between the Ugine & ALZ and Siemens VAI project teams were decisive for the overall success of this project. Slab caster     About E-CRANE WORLDWIDE E-Crane® Worldwide/Indusign nv provides design services as well as complete machine production, erection, support, and training with on-going service for the steel industry. E-Crane® is a modern, state-of-the-art engineering and heavy equipment construction company, located at Adegem, Belgium. The flexibility of the organization assures rapid response to changes, excellent product quality and short delivery times. Over the past several years, the E-Crane® product line has been updated and completed and is now supported worldwide by a dealer and service organization. The product line is modular in design allowing "standard" designs and components to be put together into a "custom" solution to meet the customer’s needs. E-Crane is the world leader for large scrap handling machines with an outreach from 24 to 45 meters. INDUSIGN NV Koekoeklaan 53 B9991 Adegem Phone: +32(0)9 3780444 Fax: +32(0)9 3780645 Website: www.indusign.be About ECI-USA E-Crane International USA is focused and committed to the E-Crane® product line. ECI-USA provides engineering, sales, marketing, product, spare parts, and management services for the support of present and future sales of the E- Crane® in North and South America. ECI-USA 1332 Freese Works Place Galion, Ohio 44833 Phone : 419-468-0090 Fax : 419-468-0074 www.ecrane-usa.com About ECI-EUR ECI-EUR (formerly known as EMTI - EMT International B.V. EMTi (Equipment & Machinery Technology International)) was founded in 1991 and is conveniantly located in Oud Gastel, The Netherlands just between two of Europes main seaports, Rotterdam and Antwerp. Also the international airports of Schiphol Amsterdam and Zaventem Brussels are within a one hour drive. ECI-EUR's main activity is the sales and support of the E-Crane® (Equilibrium Crane). The E-Crane is a multifunctional crane designed for bulk material handling, storage, process feeding at ports, harbors, scrap-processing facilities etc. Furthermore, we can supply buckets,grapples, and hooks for the E-Crane® as well as any other make of crane. We can also carry out inspections of your equipment and carry out repairs at any location required. E-Crane International EUROPE Argon 15G 4751XC Oud Gastel The Netherlands Phone ++31-165-320100 Fax ++31-165-320759 www.ecrane-eu   Source: metals & mining1-2008 Authors: Martin Hiebler, Johann Krumenacker Contact: convertersteelmaking.metals@siemens.com   Updates and Maintenance by E-Crane Worldwide • Contact Webmaster! • ©1999-2008 E-Crane Worldwide / Indusign • Koekoeklaan 53• B-9991 Adegem• Belgium • >>>> EXTRAORDINARY PRODUCTS BY EXTRA ORDINARY PEOPLE <<<<