Tenova, an Italian metals and mining engineering solutions provider, installed and switched on the world’s largest, new Consteel® electric arc furnace (EAF) at Acciaieria Arvedi’s steelworks in Cremona, Italy, according to a company announcement on Sept 30.
The new EAF module has a tapping size of 300mt and is designed to reach a power-ON time of 37 minutes, with a charge mix including up to 30pc HBI or other scrap substitutes. The furnace was installed on Sept 17 and replaces the previous Consteel® module built in 2008.
According to Tenova’s statement, the new EAF has been designed with the intention of matching the increased capacity of Arvedi’s downstream continuous casting and hot rolled, hot rolled pickled, galvanized, and pre-painted rolling mill lines.
The company’s Consteel® EAF benefits from a 4 metre-wide “slip-stick” continuous horizontal conveyor feed of ferrous scrap housed in a tunnel, which also serves a dual purpose as a fume evacuation system, Tenova told Davis Index in a written statement.
Once the fumes are combusted in the evacuation system/tunnel, the “sensible heat” serves to pre-heat the ferrous scrap feed and increase efficiency of the electric arc furnace, achieving a heat of 411mt/ hour (c.3.6mn mt per annum).
Tenova note that this productivity would not have been achievable using the batch-charging process, given that the system cannot simultaneously melt and decarbonise, but has been aided by a jointly developed electro-magnetic stirring system with ABB.
Silvio Reali, Tenova Senior Vice President, commented that “after just a few days from the start-up, the furnace is already operating on three shifts achieving high production rate and performances.”
Arvedi Cremona operates two scrap yards, each one dedicated to an EAF, two EAFs for primary metallurgy, one fitted with Consteel ® technology, four ladle furnaces for secondary metallurgy, one VOD (Vacuum Oxygen Decarburization) furnace, and two rolling mills.
The company’s rolling mills include three hydrochloric acid pickling lines (two continuous and one push pull type), three hot dip galvanizing lines, two pre-painting lines, one rolling mill used for the production of ultrathin galvanized gauges, and eight slitting lines.