Primetals Technologies replaces LD (BOF) converter for ArcelorMittal Ruhrort in Germany

• Vaicon Link 2.0 maintenance-free converter suspension offers long service life

• Newly designed horizontal measuring and sampling system

Primetals Technologies has won an order from ArcelorMittal Ruhrort GmbH to replace the LD (BOF) converter “K2”. The new turnkey converter with a tapping weight of 150 metric tons will be suspended by a maintenance-free Vaicon Link 2.0. This flexible and rugged suspension system ensures smooth loadbearing and allows for heat-related deformations. A newly developed device for horizontal measuring and sampling from the tilted converter will also be installed in Ruhrort. The new converter is scheduled to come into operation in October 2017.

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Primetals Technologies will be supplying the converter vessel, trunnion ring, suspension, slag protection and dog house gates. The scope of supply also includes the measuring and sampling device, control desks and control stations, as well as technological control systems for a horizontal sublance. The converter will be made of highly heat-resistant materials to limit heat-related deformation. The maintenance-free Vaicon Link 2.0 converter suspension is designed so that deformations do not impair the movement of the converter. The automated probe manipulator for measuring temperature and CELOX as well as for taking samples from the tilted converter is a new development from Primetals Technologies and an attractive alternative to conventional technologies in terms of safety and measurement evaluation.

The project will be implemented by a consortium led by Primetals Technologies in partnership with Buchinger Anlagen-Stahl-Rohrbau GmbH, a company based in Aurach am Hongar, Austria. Primetals Technologies will be responsible for engineering and supplying the new plant components, assembly engineering, supervision of the dismantling and assembly work and the cold test as well as commissioning and training of the operating and maintenance personnel. Buchinger will handle the disassembly of those old plant components for which there is no further use, and assembling the new plant components.

ArcelorMittal Ruhrort GmbH is one of two sites operated by ArcelorMittal in Duisburg and produced around 1.2 million metric tons of crude steel in 2014. In Ruhrort, the steel produced in the oxygen furnace plant is cast by two continuous casters. Some of the production output is shipped directly to ArcelorMittal's customers, but most of it is either processed in the billet mill or sent as input material to the wire mill at Hochfeld, the second Duisburg site. There the billets are processed to form high-quality wire rods with diameters ranging from 5.5 to 25 millimeters.