OREANDA-NEWS. January 19, 2012. On January 17, 2012 Interpipe and Italian general contractor DANIELI Company successfully have begun hot testing of the manufacturing equipment at the Dneprosteel Electric Steel Smelting Complex (ESSC). During the first melting process 100 tons of steel billets were produced.

The hot testing will be carried out on the entire production chain of ESSC including arc steel-smelting furnace, ladle furnace unit, steel vacuum degassing unit, and continuous casting machines № 1 and № 2. Over the course of the hot testing, staff will monitor the manufacturing process and conduct steel quality analyses.

Gennadiy Yesaulov, Director of Dneprosteel, commented: “To ensure the smooth progress of the hot testing process we have recruited and trained highly skilled employees, who have done extensive training at similar international metallurgical plants. Having completed the testing, Dneprosteel experts should have mastered the technicalities associated with the equipment and should be ready to take over the complex for commissioning.”

Alexander Kirichko, CEO of Interpipe, said:  “We have become witnesses to a very important national event. This was not just the first heat, but the birth of a new generation of metallurgy in Ukraine. The new plant is still making its first steps, but its foundation, made out of state-of-the-art technologies, international practices and new approaches to the culture of production, will enable us to raise the standard of the Ukrainian metallurgical industry to a whole new level. ”

The completion of hot and performance testing at Dneprosteel will last till the end of the first quarter of 2012; after that the plant will be officially commissioned. The projected production volume in 2012 will be approximately 700 thousand tons of steel billets.