OREANDA-NEWS. February 07, 2011. Hot testings had been started at the continuous casting machine №3 at Dneprovsky Metallurgical Plant. The first batch of continuously cast products has been manufactured. The launch of the continuous casting machine №3 has become this year’s major object of a large-scale program of technical upgrading at Dneprovsky Metallurgical Works.

The results of the new facility’s hot testing have proved it to be the first industrial casting at a newly built machine. In view of a specialist from Siemens-VAI, the company supplying the equipment, the pilot commissioning has been very successful.

Steel teeming at the continuous casting machine №3 was performed at all seven strands at a time. The first product to have been produced at a new facility was a square billet 150?150 mm. It had been sent to mill 350 to manufacture commercial rolled products. Actually the commercial casting of over 500 tons of continuously cast billets has been performed.

The construction of a new object has taken 12 months. It was built at the site of an old continuous casting machine № 3 which had been demounted with the foundation.

Today the continuous casting machine №3 with the project capacity 1.4 mln tons of products annually has been brought into commercial operation. The project batch manufacture of 15 meltings has been reached. 

Three continuous casting machines can be operated simultaneously after the commissioning of the continuous casting machine №3:

Continuous casting machine №1 — the production capacity is 1.4–1.7 mln t/annually;

Continuous casting machine №2 — the production capacity is up to 0.7 mln t/annually;

Continuous casting machine №3 — the production capacity is 1.4–1.7 mln t/annually.

So the production capacity of the continuous casting of steel department can amount to 3.5–4.1 mln t annually. The maximum production capacity of the converter shop in case two converters and a ladle-furnace facility are operated can reach 4.2 mln tons/annually.

The share of the continuous casting of steel can reach 83–97% (depending on the range of continuously cast products) contingent upon the total volume of manufactured steel.

The given parameters can be achieved after complete construction of the complex of auxiliary objects at the department of the continuous casting of steel (the implementation is planned) and after completing all works as for the logistics objects of the converter and adjacent departments). The necessity to produce the given volume of continuously cast billets will be determined by the demand of steel products market.

The reconstruction of the converter shop with the construction of the continuous casting machine will enable the following:

increase the productivity of the continuous casting of steel department;

expand the production of qualitative steel roll from continuously cast billets;

enhance the quality and competitiveness of the mill’s products;

broaden the range of products;

increase the share of the continuously cast billets by 25% due to decreasing the quantity of ingots;

oust from the technological process the production of the ingots re-rolling at blooming mills which will lead to the next:

reduce the specific consumption of rolling material in comparison with the production of rolled products from ingots;

economize about 30 kg of equivalent fuel per ton of steel roll;

generally reduce the operating costs in the conversion process;

decrease the amount of harmful emissions into the atmosphere due to the decommissioning of soakers for the heating of ingots as part of the comprehensive program of the environment protection.